Don't you think that kids today have a rough deal? Yes they have better technology than we did and the world is a much easier place for travel, but they really miss out compared to how it was for us.
Back when I was a kid (sounds like I am 100 haha), nearly every family had their own veggie patch and chickens. You would always be woken by a rooster crowing somewhere and the eggs had an almost orange yoke, not the pale yellow of today's store eggs. The flavour of the food was so much more intense. One of the main things I miss, is the tartness of Granny Smith apples. Its one of the reasons I now don't eat apples. I loved the way that first bite would send that little shiver in your mouth and the sour juice would run down your chin. Tomatoes actually had a scent and flavour. Yes they made sandwiches go soggy if they were packed for lunch, but when was the last time you had a tomato that would actually do that?
Because we had a cow, I got to drink fresh warm milk and didn't die because it hadn't been pasteurised or homogenized. We would skim the cream off the top and it would be used to make butter in our butter churn. We made our own mayonnaise - 1 tin condensed milk, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper. The only takeaway stores were fish and chip shops - wrapped in newspaper and Jimmy Wah's the local Chinese shop that had the best cat I mean hamburgers. I never got to try pizza until I was in my teens and tuckshop was only on Fridays at school.
Not all food has left happy memories. For the life of me I cannot eat pea and ham soup or tomato soup. We had this constantly. Peter for the same reason cannot eat chicken soup. Because we would butcher our own animals, dad and Lenny Maroske would make sausage and black pudding... one word YUK. But the ducks that dad and I would shoot on our weekends away were lovely, even if you did have to spit out pellets while eating it.
Kids use to be more social within their neighbourhoods. It didn't matter what school that your mates went to, everyone hung out. After doing your homework, you could go and play until dark. Any small creeks meant fishing for yabbies that you would take home for mum to cook up. I was sad to see that a lot of these small creeks from my childhood are now no longer there. And you certainly wouldn't let your children wander the neighbourhood now.
Saturday mornings once we reached high school, were spent going into town to meet friends. Going to Coles to sit either in their booths or the stools at the cafe counter and having a lime spider to drink. Or getting a creamy smooth malted milk in a glass sundae type cup.
How about school holidays and being lucky enough to be home when the baker came around. It meant that we would get a cream bun. Mr Whippy and his nut sundaes - ice cream, chocolate topping, crushed nuts and wafers. Have your kids every seen a Mr Whippy? The home ice cream van just doesn't cut it.
We never had time to say we were bored. There was always something to do. I spent my childhood riding my brothers push bike, fishing, dissecting frogs, playing with the neighbourhood kids, riding my horse and dad's motorbike. We built cubby's in the bush, used ropes to play high jump, skipping and so much more.
Recently I was showing a young person where I use to live and the route I walked to and from school. They were amazed and really when you stop and think about it, not many kids do walk to and from school these days. Oh and I am not talking about a block or two. I use to walk a couple of kms.
Its sad that kids today don't get to experience the fun we had on Guy Fawkes night, or being able to pick the grapes straight from the vine of yours or your neighbours place and stamp on them in a bucket to try to make wine. Even at school they don't seem to do the art class using your Easter egg wrappers to make pictures or the string art on nail and black velvet that we did. Think about how at school we seemed to do all the basic crafts such as knitting and darning. Now its your buy and throw away society.
Today they seem to grow up too fast in some ways and they are very naive in others. Whether its because the world has gotten smaller through the media or because the world has gotten worse, we now don't allow our kids the freedom to play how we did without worrying.
Sometimes I just wish we could go back to a more simple place to live in, or maybe I just wish I could go back to a time when I could be a kid.
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