What do you remember that your kids or grandkids would find strange?

@GardenGerty (157016)
United States
March 28, 2013 1:43pm CST
I was talking to my son's girlfriend this morning and mentioned that I actually remember my grandmother boiling a huge caldron or pot under the trees to wash her clothes in. Stirring the laundry with a stick. Then rinsing it out, and hanging it up to dry. I also remember my mom mixing up laundry starch in a bucket and we would dip our cotton things in it and hang them out. Tried to iron when damp. When we missed that target, we would sprinkle our clothes and wrap them up and put them in a plastic bag in the bottom of the refrigerator. I swear there were many times we had more clothes in the fridge than we had food. We would buy a sprinkler "rose" to put in the top of a soda bottle. I have a lot more memories where these came from, how about you?
6 people like this
30 responses
@katsmeow1213 (28719)
• United States
28 Mar 13
Mostly just the video games and computer and phone systems have changed since I was a kid. We were watching a movie yesterday and a kid had to use a rotary phone and didn't know how.. I was laughing at that.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
29 Mar 13
Grandma had a party line. We had words instead of the first two numbers on the phone numbers. Like my phone number was Pershing2 (PE2)-5776. I am pretty sure that is something yu never saw.
• United States
30 Mar 13
Only on TV.. was that when you dialed the operator and told them the number you wanted and they connected you? My FIL told me when he was a kid only rich people had phones. If they needed to use it they'd have to run to a neighbor's house.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
30 Mar 13
No we could dial our own, but I had a friend who worked for the phone company and did do switchboard.
• United States
28 Mar 13
I remember my mother sprinkling clothes. I did it some last rear when ironing. My mom never boiled clothes though.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
29 Mar 13
No more "ice boxes" but regular refrigerators. No keeping the the butter in the well or in the creek to keep it cold.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
28 Mar 13
hi PQ we had a lot of house plants so my mom had a sprinkler can she used to water the plants and she also used it to sprinkle our clothes and ironing witg flat irons oh I hated that., so glad when we got electricity on our farm and an electric iron and stove and refrigerator we were in seventh heaven and no more kerosene lamps to stink up the place but real electic lights in every room wow.
1 person likes this
@MoonGypsy (4606)
• United States
28 Mar 13
i don't really have any memories to tell my children like that. oh wait! i do remember being sick and my parents givings us herbs instead of regular medicine.
2 people like this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
28 Mar 13
I think other than the records to play music, something my children would find strange is a black and white TV with only 3 channels to choose from, plus instead of playing 24/7, stations would have a sign off music followed by static for the rest of the night.
• United States
28 Mar 13
Ahhh, I forgot about phones the rotary dialing, (a nightmare if I just did my nails) and party lines. I hated party lines...
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
29 Mar 13
The TV screens were really small too. And the whole family might gather around the radio to listen to a favorite show.
1 person likes this
• United States
29 Mar 13
Oh yeah, though my friend had a big TV, we only had a little one, the screen was probably as big as my laptop screen..lol
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (157563)
• Boise, Idaho
29 Mar 13
Oh, wash day at my grandmother's house! The big wash tub and wash board. The ringer she used to dry and rinse. And Napa soap. Can't even find it any more. I remember the bottle of bluing too. Sprinkling the clothes and rolling them up when we were ready to iron. And my idea of a good time was riding a broom handle around outside. That was my horse. My grandmother had all manner of broken toys and the kids didn't care. They were all good to play with even if a truck only had three wheels. And I had a nice wagon I would carry all my dolls and whatever I was playing with all over my grandmother's place. And my dog, Robin, the black and white cocker spaniel who was born on the same day I was and was my chum until she was 13. I would bug my grampa while he was out doing chores and make him mud pies for lunch. And the fruit I was able to eat all Summer. The raspberries, blackberries, and blackcaps, rhubarb, prunes, apricots, pie cherries, concord grapes, and gooseberries. Those were the days! Kids now days wouldn't have lasted a day!
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
30 Mar 13
What are blackcaps? We need kids who are creators and builders. I hope he learns to harness those strengths.
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@celticeagle (157563)
• Boise, Idaho
30 Mar 13
They are big black raspberries. Have a distinctive flavor. That's what my grandmother called them. This is one reason I am so stressed over his behavior. He has such potential. And to be making these bad choices is going to make it very difficult for him to real any long standing goals. It is heart wrenching to watch him be so destructive and defiant.
@celticeagle (157563)
• Boise, Idaho
29 Mar 13
I don't think my grandson would have a problem though. He is a builder and creator. If he didn't have something he would just go make it!
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@allknowing (130088)
• India
29 Mar 13
Onions stored for the rains - This is how it was during my mother's days
I do not remember my association with my grand parents but my mother had her ways. Those days the iron had to be filled with burning charcoal as there was no electricity. Pickles and preserves was the order of the day which was a regular feature every year. Then she would stack up things for the rains - huge quantities of rice, onions, dry fish, jaggery...... Onions had to be plaited and hung up. The quantity was large which would last for months. There were two varieties pink and white.I have posted an image here. I could go on and on GG to show you how different life for my mother was and we were dragged in too, to help her out!
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@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
29 Mar 13
I have seen garlic braided that way. It was not unusual for the children to have to help with the chores. Everyone had a part. Growing up my mother's family did not have water plumbed to the house. Grandpa would fill barrels at the well out in the pasture. They also had a small well with a pump on the house property for small quantities of water and a cistern to catch run off for uses other than eating and cooking. Holidays we would be huge crowds of people and the women and girls afterwards would all gather in the kitchen and would heat buckets of washing and rinsing water and wash and dry dishes together and talk.
@allknowing (130088)
• India
29 Mar 13
We too had a well and there was a drying process every year. There were experts who handled it but we had to pitch in to draw the water. After the herculean task mother would treat us to something sumptuous. She had it in her to keep her kids happy at all times. My mother was the best in the world.
@allknowing (130088)
• India
29 Mar 13
There is a huge gap between my mother's life and that of her children. All of us are doing well financially and are well placed in society.
1 person likes this
@peavey (16936)
• United States
29 Mar 13
I remember all those things. I always enjoyed ironing day in the summer. We would be barefoot, the linoleum would be cool on our feet, the iced tea nearby and the radio playing all the good songs. I remember Grandma reading by the light of a kerosene lamp and I remember going to the ice house to get a block of ice for the ice box. Grandma had a flock of chickens and now and then she would wring the neck of an older hen or rooster and we'd have chicken. She never ate it because she said she didn't like it. I know better now. I remember running boards on the cars and trucks and I remember walking to Sunday School in my new white sandals and hearing them crunch on the gravel road. Mom had a washboard and a couple of wash tubs. We would carry a lot of water into the house on wash day before we went to school. In the evenings, we would carry in wood and water before supper. When we finally got a TV (I was a teenager), it was black and white and it was a piece of furniture - a far cry from a flat screen on the wall. When we finally got a phone, it was on a party line. Lots of things my grandkids think are very strange were just part of every day life back then.
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@peavey (16936)
• United States
30 Mar 13
We raised chickens and butchered them before the move to town. My kids know how to do it, but I doubt they ever will. I raised a big garden, milked a cow, we raised pigs and rabbits and heated with wood. I cooked on a wood cookstove, so my kids are not unfamiliar with those things. They were a part of it all and they say that they miss them, but I don't know that they'd ever go back to that kind of life willingly.
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
30 Mar 13
My grand parents had chickens, and also ate wild game. They kept a shotgun behind the door to shoot varmints. Mom remembered killing chickens to eat but as she got older she said she doubted that she could do it anymore. I could not have done it. I remember spending lots of time outdoors as a kid. Things that kids seldom get to do anymore.
@AmbiePam (84628)
• United States
1 Apr 13
I'm trying to think of something, but I'm drawing a blank.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
8 Apr 13
You know, you are younger than my kids.You are probably learning from this discussion yourself. Some things I can think of might be things that are considered common expressions to you but would be strange to kids of today. Some of them are even regional. As a nineteen year old I even heard different terms from my boyfriend who just lived on the other side of town. Being a tired old lady I cannot come up with them right now. He was from Spencer and I was from Midwest City and we spoke differently. At college this kid from Minnesota would say things like "Shoot a duck". Growing up, and I am a bit older than your parents, in our area you always were asked if you wanted to "go for a coke" even if you preferred 7-up. Is it still the same?
@AmbiePam (84628)
• United States
8 Apr 13
Oh yes. You might hate coke, but if you want to go get a soda you always say let's get a coke. Heck, even if you might drink tea people say coke! And then of course there are the ridiculous debates on whether it is called soda or pop. Up until I was an adult I always said pop. I don't know when I switched, but now I say soda.
@irishidid (8688)
• United States
29 Mar 13
I remember when you could get a block of ice and chip it with an ice pick. We had one of those sprinklers too. To tenderize meat you used the edge of a plate, instant mashed potatoes didn't exist, and milk was delivered in glass bottles to our door.
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@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
30 Mar 13
We never had the block ice in our home. Our grandparents did. I think we did a lot better before we had so many instant things. I vaguely remember the milk in glass bottles, later the cartons would be delivered to the door. For a while we had it delivered in plastic bags that were inside of a cardboard box, two and a half gallons at a time. Malaseth, I had forgotten that we have not always had the different grades of milkfat.
• India
29 Mar 13
We used to get milk in glass bottles which we had to fetch from the Milk booth. There used to be a long queue. One had to get up early in the morning (say around 5:30 AM) to go to the nearest milk booth to get the daily quota of milk. This was about 35 years ago. We now have milk booths where we put in coins in the vending machine to take our supply. Milk is now also available in polypacks in three grades viz. without fat, with moderate fat and full cream milk. We still have to visit the booth. Occasionally, a milk vendor supplies the same at our doorstep with some extra charges.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
28 Mar 13
hi Farden Gerty I also re member my mom had a kerosene stove that she put this boiler thing on and heated the water and she was dipping clothes in it and wringing then out and I had no real idea why she was doing that til I was older. then I remember putting in this blue stuff in the water and wringing out the sheets. I was totally thrilled when we got electricity to our farm and she got a washer and a nice big refrigerator and no more ice chest. But she always refused to get a dryer as she loved to hang them outside in the sunshine to dry.oh and churning butter and eating real butter on baked potatoes oh and butter milk I always loved fresh buttermilk., I was never overweight as a kid as we all got lots of exercise and having a huge veggie garden took a lot of physical exercise but we always had the best veggies to eat too. and fruit apples plums strawberries, raspberries melons and watermelons . Those were the days during the recession that we lived really well on allh ome grown stuff milk eggs, beef, fruits and veggies homemade bread. wonderful to grow up on a farm.and we canned each fall too., sio had lots of jams and jellies too
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
29 Mar 13
Yes, we used bluing in the wash, or in my mom's case she bought a starch that had bluing in it. I loved to go to grandma's, we ate a huge farmer's breakfast, just about anything you could imagine from oatmeal to homemade biscuits and cornbread, and home grown bacon and eggs, and milk. Even though they had beef cattle they milked them for their home use. Grandma would let some of it sour and would have clabber milk to cook with. I could have any kind of jelly or jam I wanted. I regret that I never tried tomato preserves though.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
28 Mar 13
Oh Hatley, I have just remembered the blue thingy that was out in the wash to make the whotes look whiter than white. Thanks for bringing back the memory
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@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
28 Mar 13
Oh yes, I remember these things perfectly. At the age of about four I remember that my mother had a copper boiler. Basically a large cauldron over a gas fire and every week all the bed linens and white clothes would be washed, rinsed, then put in this cauldron to boil in soapy water. Then they were taken out with a wooden stick and dumped in cold water to rinse and rinse again before the clothes were put on the line to dry. In the winter it was he*l. Damp clothes everywhere and there was a pulley thingy with clothes lines that could lower from the kitchen ceiling and clothes would be put on this rack and then hoiseted up to the ceiling again to dry. The women had it so hard. All white clothes were starched and ironing was done on a Tuesday and Saturday, all white school shirts were ironed. Such a palavar. Housewives today really do have it easier and thank God for that!
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@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
29 Mar 13
When my first mother in law was a widow raising five boys someone gave her a mangle iron. . . she also took in ironing. A family member built her wooden clothes racks to hang the ironed clothes on. I used to have one, and for the life of me I do not remember what I did with it. It was so much sturdier than the ones you can buy. All the home made quilts come to mind as well. Grandma had a quilt rack that she would lower from the ceiling and work then pull it back up. When the quilt was done, they would disassemble the quilt rack and put it out in the barn.
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
30 Mar 13
Things have changed so rapidly that it is hard to keep up. I enjoy going to a quilt guild from time to time, it seems quilters do a good job blending old and new. I have never lived anywhere that we had coal fires.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
29 Mar 13
This is such amazing information that it should be documented. I also remeber the wooden drying racks that we called a clothes rack. Ths was placed around the dying embers of the coal fire so that the clothes could be aired and dried.
1 person likes this
• Pamplona, Spain
29 Mar 13
Hiya GG, I was never in my Grandmother´s house that often to see how she washed but in our house the Gas Boiler came out of its place every week and the very soiled working clothes were put in there as they had that iron dust sticking to them all over the place so you had to boil them first before washing them. Then we had one of those washing machines with the roller in where you pressed the clothes through there but I always used a piece of wood to push the clothes through. That way the working clothes came up really clean. From a very early age I had to wash my own clothes and I did it very well without a washing machine as that only came out once a week for all the main stuff. Nice memories those we never used starch in our house though at all as both of them worked in places where the working clothes were black and navy blue.xxx
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
30 Mar 13
It is interesting to see how different professions called for different approaches to keeping clean.
1 person likes this
• Pamplona, Spain
30 Mar 13
Hiya GG, It is really as that kind of iron dust is really awful to get rid of you have to soak those kind of clothes beforehand now as there are no gas boilers anymore. One lot of clothes I was soaking for up to a whole day and the grime still stuck so I had to renew the water and soap to lift it off altogether and then wash them at a high temperature and then they came clean there was not one of those famous soap powders that would shift that stuff I tried out the main ones and they did nothing literally nothing. Iron dust if you remember is really sticky and grimy as well it looks kind of silvery on those dark clothes.xxx
• China
29 Mar 13
It sometimes amuses us to look back on how we washed clothes.It looked a bit primitive the way to wash clothes.Here,I remember people used washing club made of wood to beat clothes before the advent of washing machine.Some used Chinese honey locust instead of soap.
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@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
30 Mar 13
I know some plants have soaplike properties and clean your clothes well. I think we would be in much better physical condition if we had to work so hard keeping our clothes clean and doing other house chores.
• China
30 Mar 13
Now the washing machine and the like reduce our labour intensity of house chores,so more and more people have to take exercise.
@Pegasus72 (1898)
31 Mar 13
I am not sure if they would find anything I remember as being strange, but sometimes I say things when I shouldn't and that might be strange to them.
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@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
8 Apr 13
Open mouth, insert foot. I am not real sure how old you are, I am thinking I read somewhere, and you are the same age as my youngest niece. I think you are pretty in touch with todays' kids, though. I know that some of our current generation would be surprised at how you manage and get along. To some kids talking about a budget is a strange thing.
@Pegasus72 (1898)
9 Apr 13
I think my husband and I both are good with younger and older people it is just in us I guess. I think it is a good quality.
@KrauseHome (36449)
• United States
30 Mar 13
Putting clothes in the freezer? I can remember wringing out clothes with the old fashioned wringers and then hanging them to dry way back, but never heard of putting them in no refridgerator. But from time to time those of us in our 40s and 50s at work will get together and talk about things, and things we remember about life that was better back then. Like being able to go to your friends house til like 10 pm at night, and no one having to worry where you were, who you were with, and would you be safe, and we played real games instead of computer games back then.
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@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
30 Mar 13
We put them in the refrigerator as it kept them moist and made the moisture more even. I think playing real games made us healthier and more social.
@Loverbear (4918)
• United States
1 Apr 13
When I was young we lived in Napa California. Our home rested on about an acre of land so it was perfect for my Mom to raise turkeys, ducks, chickens and a huge garden. We had our own phone because of father's business (he repaired television sets) and I still remember the phone number...it was Baldwin 40428..which was BA40428. I also remember Mom sprinkling the cotton clothes and rolling them up and putting them in the laundry basket waiting to be ironed. It also was a time where you knew your neighbors and were there to help them out. One particular day Mom had a formal event to attend, she had gone to the beauty shop and got her hair done. She came home and was changing her clothes when the phone rang. She grabbed it and suddenly her face went to bright red. She raced out the door, picked up a 6 foot 2X4 and raced off in her formal dress, heels, and rhinestone jewelry. Curious I went outside and stood in the front yard looking to see where Mom had gone. It didn't take long for her to reappear...she was running down the road, swinging the 2X4 wildly at...the flock of turkeys! The turkeys were running down the road, gobbling the whole trip, with Mom swinging the board at them to "encourage" them to return home. The neighbors were outside watching and laughing like crazy. I really wish we had had a movie camera, it would have been a priceless vision watching an elegantly attired woman running like a crazy person swinging a board at a dozen fully grown turkeys.
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@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
8 Apr 13
I am waiting for your book to come out. I had a friend/coworker who lived in the country and her husband raised a few hogs. She talked about being dressed for work and having to talk to the pigs to get them back in their pens. They lived right off the highway and it never would have worked to not have penned them back up, even if she was in her work clothes. She was a nurse. You knew exactly what I meant about the phone number.
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
10 Apr 13
My grandmother did things like that. My mother didn't do a lot of creative things. She always had the most modern of conveniences, but she has told stories about when she was young and in order to curl her hair she would tie rags in it, rather than using curlers. She said a lot of girls did that when she was young. I do remember when I was little sitting with a hair dryer cap on, with this big box like machine with a hose that when in to the cap to dry your hair, and you would sit there with that cap on for about a half hour until your hair was all dry. I also remember that my mom used to darn socks. If a sock had a hole in it she had this thing that she would stick inside of it and then she would sew up the hole. In today's society we either wear the socks with the holes or throw them out and by new ones. I also used to walk to school alone even when I was like 6 years old. I would never let my kids do that now.
@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
10 Apr 13
My first mother in law darned socks. My husband, her son, said not to do that as the darns were uncomfortable. Of course originally socks were wool and it would blend in and be smooth and soft. That item that went in the sock was called a darning egg, my grandmother had one. My mother in law used a light bulb. I did rag rolling for a while as they were softer than the brush rollers I had used. I do not suppose you ever saw "spoolies" for curling hair, did you? I was in a very old dorm in college and in fact the controls to the boiler were in another building. It would be so cold I would put my bonnet dryer on to keep warm. It took me much more than a half hour to get my hair dry but it was really long and thick. I even let my kids walk to school alone, or to the park, but I would not want my grand kids to.
@bunnybon7 (50975)
• Holiday, Florida
29 Mar 13
this makes me think of when i actually was teaching my 14 yrs.old gd, how to write cursive and how to tell time on a regular clock with hands on it. about 6yrs agom when i lived with them in florida. some things they dont even make them learn in school any more. she could not believe some of the things we used to do. i miss so much from then. when we saved energy, etc. most places dont even allow you to have a clothes line now to dry clothes.
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@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
30 Mar 13
There is talk everywhere about not teaching cursive. I remember when we spent lots of time practicing our hand writing. I would like to have a clothesline, but my yard just is not set for it.
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
8 Apr 13
We live in a place where it was mostly sunny when I was growing up. We didn't have dryers back then as most of our clothes were hanged outside in the sun. I remember times when my school uniform wasn't completely dry yet, and I would put them at the back of the fridge while I took a shower and got ready. I bet my kids would find that strange.
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@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
8 Apr 13
So the heat from the coils would help them dry. Yes, our kids sometimes do find it different the things we do to get by. If we are lucky they learn from our example as well and make sure to profit from our experience. I know when my daughter first moved to an apartment in Minnesota their budget was tight and coin op dryers were expensive, so she would hang everything on hangars at the top of the house, or as high as possible because heat rises. I also tend to hang rumpled stuff in the bathroom after a hot shower to straighten out.
• United States
30 Mar 13
A couple of years ago when my granddaughter was 13 years old, she called me up and told me she had to write a composition. She had to write something that her grandparents did when they were her age. I told her the price of movies, what we did for entertainment. I told her we had no private telephone lines. We shared it with someone else. Sometimes we could hear their conversations. When I told her that we did not have television, she asked," did you have computers?"
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@GardenGerty (157016)
• United States
30 Mar 13
Kids just have a hard time imagining a world that was not wired like we are. I guess I can remember a movie costing 35 cents.
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