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Back in my Day|Pad Patter 10.27.17

bestcee

bestcee

In love with places I've never been to
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
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Tonight was our church's Trunk or Treat Halloween Party.
If you haven't been to one, basically the parents sit by their car, some decorated, some not and hand out a piece of candy to the kids who come by. Some people do this instead of going trick or treating on Halloween.

Well, as we were handing out candy, I found the phrase "Back in my day" slipping out:giggle
"Back in my day, kids dressed up for Halloween." There were a bunch of kids walking around in tshirts and jeans. We asked what they were and their response: Teenagers begging for candy in the 20th century. I gave them the little Starbursts instead of the Sour Patch kids or Swedish Fish and a glare (Apparently, I was feeling unkind.).

So, have you used that phrase? Back in my Day or Back in my Time?
 
Well, I am almost 52 and a high school teacher surrounded by teenagers all day long, so I use that phrase pretty much daily :giggle
I think most recently someone was talking about trying to figure out one of the fancy graphing calculators and I said, "Back in my day, we did all that with paper and pencil". I've also used "Back in my day, we didn't have Google to help us find answers" quite often!
 
I use the phrase "when I was a kid (in high school, in college, etc)" entirely too much.

Right now I'm using "when I applied to college" the most since I'm trying to get through the process with my oldest. Seriously though... when I applied to college, I didn't go on 10+ college visits, or write stacks of essays. Seemed much less stressful back then.
 
I'm with you Courtney...so many people don't dress up here either! Maybe it's because it's still 85 degrees Halloween night and it's too hot to dress up?

Back in my day we we're allowed to dress up for Halloween at school...masks and all...and have Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas parties, where we could have jack-o-lanterns, Santa projects without everyone being offended.
Back in the day when I was little my dad would let me take a sip of his beer...CPS would have had a hayday.
Back in the day parents could let their kids be "free-range" and not worry about helicopter parents nosing around where they had no business being.
Back in the day common sense was more common than it is now.
Back in the day, people didn't wake up looking for things to be offended by...

Really wish we could go back in time...
 
Last night the kids complained there was nothing they hadn't already seen on Netflix. My reply was the good old back when I was a kid we had like 15 videos and we rewatched them til the tape was chewed & had more patience cos of the rewinding ( insert kids eye rolling)
 
bellbird said:
Last night the kids complained there was nothing they hadn't already seen on Netflix. My reply was the good old back when I was a kid we had like 15 videos and we rewatched them til the tape was chewed & had more patience cos of the rewinding ( insert kids eye rolling)
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this is probably the thing that comes out of my mouth most often... Saturday morning was "the" morning for cartoons. And we had what, like 1 or 2 stations of cartoons/kids shows after school. the whole direct tv/streaming is SO different then when we were kids. it's crazy hearing the kids say they are bored of what's available on TV. Oh and I remind them we had ONE tv for the whole house.
 
I used to think kids should dress up for Trick or Treating, and that teens were probably getting too old for it. Then a couple of years ago I read an article suggesting that we let teens be kids. Why rush them? And they could be getting up to mischief instead of trick or treating; good for them to participate in the Halloween fun.

Personally, I barely ever understood the interest in trick or treating. I only did it once in my life, when I was 16, with a friend in her neighborhood. My parents did not let us go trick or treating because they didn't want to hand out candy. I don't remember caring. I still had costumes to wear to school and plenty of treats from the grocery store. But my husband liked trick or treating, so we did it with our kids. I tried suggesting to them that they'd get better candy more easily if I just bought exactly what they want from the store, but they really like it, and the traditions our family has developed for the holiday over the years. They still do, at ages 16, nearly 14, and nearly 11. We have what we call the "candy stock exchange" after trick or treating -- with the kids and their friends loudly bargaining and trading candy in our family room -- and then we watch Clue.

I realize all that doesn't answer the question. Indeed I do say "When I was a kid..." a lot! Usually in a marveling way. Like in the t.v. examples above. My daughter was kind of astonished to hear about how I didn't watch every episode of even my favorite t.v. shows. Because she watches through Netflix or GooglePlay or whatever, on her own schedule. If I couldn't watch at the show's scheduled time for some reason, I missed out. (I didn't have a VCR until almost the end of high school).

I also like to tease my kids and ask them if they know what a typewriter is, or a record. :) They do. At least on sight. They have no experience with them. They don't know how it's much harder to hit the keys on a typewriter or the sound of a scratch causing the music to skip.
 
bbymks5 said:
Back in my day we we're allowed to dress up for Halloween at school...masks and all...and have Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas parties, where we could have jack-o-lanterns, Santa projects without everyone being offended.
Back in the day when I was little my dad would let me take a sip of his beer...CPS would have had a hayday.
Back in the day parents could let their kids be "free-range" and not worry about helicopter parents nosing around where they had no business being.
Back in the day common sense was more common than it is now.
Back in the day, people didn't wake up looking for things to be offended by...

Really wish we could go back in time...
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Well, I can't remember saying it recently (though I'm sure I have, lol), but I do have a sort of reverse story, if that makes sense. :) DS, who's 5, asked DH "In the 80s, what did you use as a bathroom?" and DH said "Wait, when?" And DS said "in the 80s. You know when you were a kid." DH was like "Dude, a bathroom. With a toilet. Like you do." DS couldn't believe there were toilets "that long ago"!!! DH told me that we must be doing something wrong, for our kids to think that toilets are a new invention! They must be so spoiled, to think they're the first generation to grow up with them!
 
Back in my day, "high school" started in Grade 9. But, my daughter started at a "high school" this year in Grade 7. And, back in my day, when you were in high school, you wore your backpack to class, and either threw it under your desk, or hung it on the back of a chair. But at my daughter's school, they are not allowed to take their backpacks to class. So there are all these 12 & 13 year olds running up and down the hall, dropping water bottles and pencil cases, and phones and gym clothes. I asked the VP why they couldn't just have a bag, and he told me it was a tripping hazard.
 
Also... someone needs to explain this to me. If you take your kid to a Trunk n' Treat, do they still go out on the 31st? Do you still get trick or' treaters in your area, or do most kids go to these other treat parties? This is not a thing where I live.
 
Juliestcyr said:
Also... someone needs to explain this to me. If you take your kid to a Trunk n' Treat, do they still go out on the 31st? Do you still get trick or' treaters in your area, or do most kids go to these other treat parties? This is not a thing where I live.
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In my parents' neighborhood, the trunk or treat is on the 31st so they only get a few trick or treaters after it's over (usually older kids).
 
well, I'm almost 60 years old so yes, I use it, maybe a little too often.
I try to avoid it in a negative context, because I remember reading an article and then talking to my dad, who is an amazingly wise guy,and that made me reflect on how we perceive things of the past.
We have a tendency to embellish some stuff , and actually things grow in proportional ways, according to my dad, there has always been the amount of bad stuff with the good stuff.
Things advance and, to some of us, part of progress is a great thing, then part of it isn't.
Not going to go to deep into it, but yes, I feel many many times that lots of the stuff "back in my days" was better, but need to acknowledge the fact that lots of the progress has been a blessing...like, for example, I would have never been able, "back in my day ", to have met so many of you, amazing people from all over the world & whom some have become my dearest of friends...or been able to get through the difficult times with my health being so fragile....
Still there are things I find difficult to accept of these days ... and even though I have a great relationship with Sarita and she explains me sometimes why this or that makes sense to people her age ...I still can't get it.
There is this thing about women wanting respect and growth, but then, some (most) of the ones who should be role models still take of most of their clothes of in magazine covers .... so when I questioned Sarita on the fact that the fight is about being recognized on talent and not being objectified, why do these women, who are talented (like Beyonce, for example, you may like more or less what she sings, but the talent of her voice is undeniable) need to practically objectify themselves? I have made, many times, Sarita change her clothes before going out, because I thought the clothing was too provocative, and with the world full of crazes (always have had them) I wont let my child (yes she is 21 but still my baby!!!) be a target..... sometimes she goes for it, sometimes she gets upset and (now at 21) goes out like that anyway.....
when she explains to me why it makes sense to them, she says men/people should respect them in all ways, and that they should have the freedom to do what they want....
It doesn't fit in my mind, and I am very liberal....
This week I saw an English comedian (Russel Howard, Brits may know him, he is quiet well known with his own TV program) talk about the horrid effects of social media, talking about how self harm in teen girls in the UK has grown to a 72% (I think) since 2011. Girls are cutting themselves, and he was saying how with the selfie society and social media, they are so exposed all the time, and said "back in my day" the only time we had to look at ourselves was school photo time.... and that play time/fun was a lot better than taking 300 photos to get one selfie to post (this was after showing a Kim Kardasian "tutorial" for girls to get the perfect selfie!!!) and how much fun or productive stuff one can be doing in the time that takes taking 300 selfies.....
anyway, I'm rambling now so I ll leave it as that !!!!!
:backing
:giggle:giggle:giggle
 
Tree City said:
Well, I can't remember saying it recently (though I'm sure I have, lol), but I do have a sort of reverse story, if that makes sense. :) DS, who's 5, asked DH "In the 80s, what did you use as a bathroom?" and DH said "Wait, when?" And DS said "in the 80s. You know when you were a kid." DH was like "Dude, a bathroom. With a toilet. Like you do." DS couldn't believe there were toilets "that long ago"!!! DH told me that we must be doing something wrong, for our kids to think that toilets are a new invention! They must be so spoiled, to think they're the first generation to grow up with them!
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:lmao ok that's pretty funny!
 
Juliestcyr said:
Back in my day, "high school" started in Grade 9. But, my daughter started at a "high school" this year in Grade 7. And, back in my day, when you were in high school, you wore your backpack to class, and either threw it under your desk, or hung it on the back of a chair. But at my daughter's school, they are not allowed to take their backpacks to class. So there are all these 12 & 13 year olds running up and down the hall, dropping water bottles and pencil cases, and phones and gym clothes. I asked the VP why they couldn't just have a bag, and he told me it was a tripping hazard.
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Backpacks? LOL what are they? In my day.. LOL we had book bags and actually I never had one of them.. we had the text books covered in brown paper bags (your family had a bit of money to throw away if you had the bought book covers) and we would have the rubber band with the hooks on them to wrap around the books. (Now perhaps that was the pre bungi cord thingy !) I had a large purse and carried alot of pens and stuff in it :)

We were not allowed to bring drinks or food in the classrooms... I don't even think there was bottled water back then (I went to school in the 60's and 70's) or a bottle to carry water in besides a thermos.

just last night Hubby and I were talking about cameras and how we would wait after mailing the film off to develop amongst other nostalgia things.

I think technology is great, but the kids today have lost out. Some of the memories are precious... like making popcorn on the stove in a pan and having to heat up the oil and putting the kernals in and stirring until popped.. it was a fun time.. I remember Mom doing that as a treat.. now you throw the bag in the micro and done. :) Lots of fun memories though.

Yup @bestcee "Back in my day.." !
 
Juliestcyr said:
Also... someone needs to explain this to me. If you take your kid to a Trunk n' Treat, do they still go out on the 31st? Do you still get trick or' treaters in your area, or do most kids go to these other treat parties? This is not a thing where I live.
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We never had trunl or treat either. I grew up in NY (Long Island) and Halloween was an all day Trick or Treat on the 31st only. Here in Virginia and when I lived in Texas and also Florida they have times of 6-8 on Halloween day for Trick or Treating. If you don't have the outside light on, no one comes to your house.

Last night hubby and I went out to dinner, and in the parking lot of the shopping area where the restaturant was, during the Summer into early fall on Saturdays they do car shows. Last night there was a Trunk or Treat, the first time we ever saw that! All the cars were handing out candy to the kids and there were kids everywhere with their parents.. so cute.

I am still under the impression from 6-8 on Tuesday night we will be having the kids trick or treating (I hope so as I just bought the candy) so I guess kids are getting extras! :)
 
cfile said:
I think technology is great, but the kids today have lost out. Some of the memories are precious... like making popcorn on the stove in a pan and having to heat up the oil and putting the kernals in and stirring until popped.. it was a fun time.. I remember Mom doing that as a treat.. now you throw the bag in the micro and done. :) Lots of fun memories though.

Yup @bestcee "Back in my day.." !
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yes to kids loosing out.
I keep insisting how lucky/proud/ relieved I am that I was able to give Sarita a childhood in a place where progress had not quiet arrived... she climbed trees to eat fruit, we cooked most of our garden, had fish brought to our door at 7am by the fishermen who had gone out at 3 or 4 am to get it, everyone knew her and she could ride her bike around the village on her own even aged 3....it changed in summer as it was (is even more so now) a very popular destination for summer in Brazil , very expensive, so we got the top tourism from other Brazilian states, plus the European and all over the world really.... so we would not let the kids out on their own far, but she did start life in a very natural and fun way....
I cringe when I see (and even in 2002 or 2003!!!) parents that give 4 or 5 years old an iPhone, people who use the tablet as a "nany" and don't do any kind of proper play absolutely whatsoever..... I'm a bit extreme on my opinions on the technology issue, I know some younger people wont share my ideas, but I reckon technology is brilliant, when used in proper dose...almost like every thing in life...
 
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