Reply #17: Hello! Gen X-er here [View All]

[eilen]

and we took care of ourselves, did our chores and put dinner in the oven! Parents were actually allowed to get phone calls from their kids when they came home from school.

And... we did not have cable tv nor Atari, no computer, no Internet, no mp3's, no DVR/DVD/VHS, nor cellphones. We had dial phones with cords, bicycles, afterschool specials and stereos that played albums and the radio (top 40), typewriters, tag, pets and the public library We had to take our young sisters and brothers EveryWhere and would catch hell if they got hurt. We actually had to share bedrooms with them too. Back then we walked to school -- or to the bus stop. Buses did not pick kids up at their door unless you lived out in the country or rode the little bus. Our parents worked during the day and in the evenings to make ends meet and we had to be careful not to drink the milk too fast--only at breakfast. Shopping was done once a week, period. We did things ourselves (remembering searching the couch for change so I could go buy bread at the corner store for PBJ's-- in 4th grade) and were expected to entertain ourselves. When we got too annoying or whiney our parents threw us outside and said Go Play.
Sometimes in the summer, our parents would drop us off at a public park with a pool on their way to work. That was a treat because we would pack lunches and get money for the ice cream truck.

Friggin coddled millenials. grumble grumble.