Generations have different good things going for them.
I grew up in a world which looked like it was going to get better forever. I was in school during it's most abundant time (and at a time when Finland was more social democratic than ever). As an example, I remember how we had a competition on who could stack up his pile of chicken bones highest. Obviously you had to eat them clean first, no cheating. We just kept going for thirds, fourths and fifths, and I think the only reason we had to stop was because the next class was starting. I remember the first years we got _used_books_ instead of fresh new ones... It was just weird. My class sizes weren't over 20 until I reached high school. I got free bus rides for years because my school was far enough for me to get a permanent ticket. I could use that ticket for what ever outside school. These days you only get enough tickets to get you to school and back. Fifteen years ago you could just turn up and see a free a doctor on the same day (assuming you did it in the daytime), these days you only get nurse and that can take hours.
My parents had a spotty work history to say the least, my dad was unemployed for a long time in the nineties, and yet I pretty much never felt any of that. These days a kid in a similar situation would not be so lucky.
Considering that Finland as a whole is a much richer country than it was those days, I keep thinking how's it possible that we can afford so much less these days.
On the other hands, safety is better. People joke a lot about "we never used helmets and we were fine". Thing is, those that are not fine are rarely here here to tell the story. Kids have a notably better chance of surviving until adulthood than before.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
We didn't gang up on people or swarm people, we had good healthy dangerous fun, and once you hit the age of 5 skinned knees and broken fingers were cool, not something to cry about.
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I think that part is and has always been largely a personality thing. There were always the "crybabies" or "scaredy cats" when I was young too and there were kids who ganged up on others, although they were looked down upon.
As to skinned knees and broken fingers, I think that's a personality thing too, and for a large part propably even genetic. Despite me and my wife making a terrible fuss over her, my daughter has always been of the type who just goes 'eh', picks herself up and keeps going whenever she hurts herself. She's just one of those kids who doesn't make worry about little falls and scrapes, unless it means she can get a pretty band-aid.
Her mother and I are like that too. We fuss over her (and each other to some extent), but take weeks or months to do anything about our own sores and ails.