I interviewed my dad regarding popular culture in his time
period. He grew up in Buffalo, New
York. He remembers as a child playing
outside all day. They played stick ball
and everyone wanted to be involved. No
expensive toys nor equipment was necessary and everyone had fun. Kids understood the concept of money and that
sometimes even playing “kick the can” was fun even if you didn’t have to buy
anything to play it. There was no parental supervision and everyone rode their
bikes home after the street lights went on.
In my time, you joined Little League and paid your fees and
got the uniform, had snack days when it was your turn to bring drinks and
snacks for the team. You had practice a
few times a week and games on the weekend.
You couldn’t ride your bike to practices, but your parents had to drive
you. Kids depended more on their parents
to get them to practice or play a game than having the kids take responsibility. Parents took more of a role in entertaining
their kids.
My dad also remembers black and white television with no
remote. You were lucky to own a
television. You had basically three
channels, if you were lucky. There wasn’t
always something on t.v Sometimes the
stations were “blank.” You had to wait
until the designated time for a show to be on.
Family time was important and even though watching tv was just that,
watching tv – everyone sat down and enjoyed it together.
Nowadays, we own flat screen televisions and have every
channel under the sun. We get spoiled
being able to watch whatever we want and tape it if we aren’t able to watch it
when the show is actually on. We usually
have more than one tv in the house too.
So, no one has to be together to watch what shows they want to watch.
Eating dinner as a family was very important in my dad’s
time. You never missed a meal
together. Grace was said and everyone
used their table manners. No watching tv
nor texting on telephones during his time.
You picked up your plate when you were done and everyone helped clean up
afterwards. This brought on responsibility
and made everyone aware that they were a family unit.
In today’s society, both parents work and it is hard to find
time to have a meal at home to sit together.
Now we think of where we are going out to eat and there is definitely no
clean up afterwards. The kids whip out
their cell phones and text while we are awaiting our food and usually grace is
not said out loud. Social skills are
suffering and communication isn’t like it used to be.
In my dad’s household growing up, his mom did not work. His dad was the bread winner and his mom took
care of the household duties. When his
dad came home, dinner was on the table and the paper was folded next to his
chair for when he was done eating dinner.
No thoughts of his mom ever working.
It just wasn’t right at that time unless there was divorce or being a
widow.
Both parents work now and there has to be a double income to
survive in today’s society. Usually both
parents chip in with raising kids, cleaning house and doing laundry. Not many
families have one income anymore and not many can survive without it.
Storytime was a big thing in my dad’s family. Since they didn’t own a radio, they took
turns reading at night before going to bed.
Usually the book was a classic and they would stop right when it got
into a good part so that you would look forward to it the next night. Everyone in the family would take a turn
reading each night. It was very bonding.
Having a book that records your voice and records a story is
something of a new thing. You press on a
picture and make a noise and if you press another button, it reads to you. Story time in this new age is not like it was
when we were kids and our parents read us that bedtime story.
It is interesting seeing the contrasting things from
generation to generation. With
technology in our lifetime, it really changed things a lot. Playing outside instead of video games
inside, eating dinner as a family unit compared to always eating out. There are many plus and minus with both
generations. It was definitely simpler back
when my dad grew up.
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