Then, and now. Back to school.

There is a fashion portion so it's tangentially on topic I suppose. Funny. http://www.scarymommy.com/back.....-vs-today/

9 years ago

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15 replies

Latest reply was from Caro

rachylou

Veteran

The funniest part about it is, that it's true. There is ZERO hyperbole in that.

I'm still trying to figure out how come back to school shopping involved buying so little. Did we wear the same item of clothing every day? Wouldn't we have been ripped apart on the playground by the other beasts?

Also, children grow. I only remember two trips a year for clothes. Maybe mom bought stuff on her own and just put it in the drawers?

9 years ago

(website)

Veteran

So true I could see the brands and places as I read them!
I know I had plenty of hand me downs over the years, but no idea who the heck they came from . . . not my older brother, that's for sure lol.

9 years ago

Kristin SF

Veteran

LOVED THIS!

That thermos! What a flashback, lol.

Thanks for sharing.

9 years ago

kellygirl

Veteran

Omg, so funny!

9 years ago

Gaylene

Veteran

I'm in awe of today's moms if even a quarter of this is true! Although my kids' lunches were whole wheat bread with locally made hunter sausage (strong ethnic German community here) and Halvarti cheese packed with a container of apple juice and always in a Star Wars lunchbox. And the apple was always eaten as long as it was sliced into quarters--not sure why that made it edible...

9 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Oh, thanks for the LOL. I'm soooo glad I'm not a mom in this day and age.

I love the bits about the shopping lists (a centrifuge!), and oh yes, about school starting AFTER Labor Day! I remember when school start dates started drifting into August and I was horrified. Now it seems like halfway through August some kids are back in school. I'm glad I was a child of the 70s! Who remembers Garanimals?

9 years ago

RoseandJoan

Veteran

Wow, the 1970's version is far closer to my reality.

The girls have new uniforms, school shoes and a back to school haircut. In their lunch boxes they have left over pasta from last night, grapes and tap water.

I'm obviously not taking this parenting business serious enough

9 years ago

jackiec

Veteran

OMG this is so funny I can't even stop laughing. The best. Hahaha Pigs in Space - what a flashback!! I was jealous of the kids with wonderbread.....

But even more hilarious is the 2014 version. I can't believe half that stuff resonates with me. Hahaha soy milk is SO 90's, I think I've even said that! Hahaha. OMG I'm sending this one around. I love it (and have had the stainless steel bento boxes for a few years already....haha).

9 years ago

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

I can't imagine parents today putting themselves through so much undo stress to be trendy. It must be exhausting!

The 70's version is so memorable. We walked half a mile in the snow/ice to school in the winter. Sometimes I'd walk the opposite way to a friends house to get her first, then backtrack to go to school. No wonder I still love walking. At least it wasn't barefoot (Ha!) but I can remember using the plastic wonder bread bags as boot liners to keep our feet dry in the slush. The bus wouldn't pick us up because we "lived too close." Parents almost never drove their kids to school back then.

We used to collect soda glass bottles from around the neighborhood so we could trade them in for the deposit and have lunch/spending money. School lunch was marginally better than the bologna and cheese sandwich with yellow mustard. One of my friends mom was a lunch lady. Then she grew up and became one too - I didn't see that one coming.

9 years ago

Jules

Veteran

Yeah, I definitely feel some of the lengths we go to these days are ridiculous. But I think some of it is like having a hobby.... people make cute pancakes from pinterest and the like because it makes the drudgery more interesting and fun for themselves as much as their kids.
My husband generally handles the mornings and he makes a bunch of different breakfast stuff and worries about whether they eat it or not. I would be offering the same thing every day, something I know is acceptable to them and healthy, and if they didn't eat it, oh well! Then again, he is a morning person - I'm much more invested in making sure dinner has variety and balance, for my own sake as much as theirs!

9 years ago

(website)

Veteran

I'll be honest. My dad was a single father and dropped older brother and I off so early before sunrise at the babysitter's that I crawled into bed with her every morning for a few more hours' sleep before all the other kids arrived. Breakfast was a weekend thing, and it was grand! Dad liked to cook, but it took time. Was always worth the wait.
All the rest so hits home, though.
And I have over 40 friends who are parents now with the cakes made in fancy shapes and the bento boxes and all the trappings . . . hoo boy.

9 years ago

Eliza

Veteran

Agreed. No hyperbole at all. I was in school starting in 1960. The only time I appreciated the paucity of new clothes was sixth grade. The mini-skirt was everywhere. I was 5'1" in September and 5'6" in January. Suddenly, I was in style. Until my mother noticed how short my skirts had become...

9 years ago

rabbit

Veteran

Lol yes, the 70's one is the closest, but that was my friends' moms. I made my own lunch (strawberry jam & pb) and dinner most nights, took the city bus to school if I missed the school bus which was a long walk away, and have no memory of back to school shopping. I remember thrifting together though, but new clothes shopping was solely for when your shoes wore out or you needed a coat.

But I'm pretty sure I'm helicopter parenting my cats, so what can I say? Must be the zeitgeist.

9 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

HAH. I loved this. I was a '70s and '80s child who wore a school uniform. Marmite, liver spread or cheese on dense Dutch brown bread with KitKat and Ribena. All in a bright red lunch box that I did not enjoy carrying. And like Rabbit, as soon as we were old enough we had to make our own lunch.

9 years ago

Caro

Active Member

LOL! Yeah I saw that the other day on FB and thought it was sooo funny! I especially love the part about the lunches and the lunchboxes! There was another article on the same site about giving your kids a 70's kind of summer, which was also really cute and funny. I think generally things have changed for the better, but these kinds of articles show us that sometimes its ok to not be a perfect "helicopter" mom! Thanks for the share!

9 years ago

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