Strict Childhood..

[Georgiesmum]

Did you have a strict childhood? what things werent you allowed to do that seem so silly now? One of my friends was in a childrens home in the 1960's and we had very cold winters then but she wasnt allowed to wear a cardigan until the end of October. They also were not allowed to see any television or read any newspapers.

[Gavmacp]

In a bizarre way you can be grateful for being beaten. In some perverse way it reminded me I was still alive and could feel.
In another thread someone mentioned feeling sorry for yourself I don't think you do you just try to make sense of the nonsensical.
I just hope my friends kids will be listened to if they are scared or abused!

[sherrardk]

I carry the things' bags. They're only little & won't need me to do it much longer.

[askyourgran]

No I don't think my parents were overly strict. My father made sure to tell me and my sister whenever we went out to be home by 10pm or (10.30pm on Friday after dancing) or he'd come looking for us. They were good parents we knew we were loved and cared for and I believed when taught us to be decent that it was for our own good. I imagine institutionalised upbringing was much different.

[Mamyalynne]

Brought up to be respectful, have good table manners, and look after my own things and room.

I don't think that's strict, ust common sense and good parenting.

I have never been struck by an adult (bar once at school) nor have my children and grandchildren.

I was also allowed to be a child, climb trees, get filthy and coming home times were flexible.

[Jenarry]

My husband had a particularly cold ,strict and loveless childhood.
He tells me that he and is sister always had to go to their rooms as soon as they had their evening meal so from 6 or 7 o'clock til bedtime they were sat on their own in their rooms.
They never sat together and enjoyed an evening together watching tv or talking.
There were lots of unhappy events but a couple that stick out in his mind for being in big trouble was for washing his hair in the bathroom sink and doing his homework on the kitchen table and when he was older and was around 17 his mum used to hit the roof when the sound of his car woke her up when he was leaving early for work rather than being pleased that he was being responsible and going off to a job every day :(

[Jenarry]

around this age he used to have a curfew time of say 10pm and if he was late she used to lock him out of the house so he used to have to either sleep in his car or find a mate's place to crash at for the night. I couldnt imagine doing such a thing... he could've ended up anywhere.

[ummmm]

Teaching your child manners is not being strict. Don't talk with your mouth full, elbows off the table, don't be late.....things like that are teaching them what will be expected of them.

Strict to me is restricting them for no actual reason.

[waterboatman]

We 4 children had a fairly carefree childhood. The only thing we had to be careful of was dad's mood, mercurial to say the least.Say something one day and he'd laugh, say it another day and get knocked across the room. He had some horrible experiences during the war. Not an excuse, but a reason.

[redvanman]

A lot sticter in the 1940 I had 8 years of it

[Cloverjo]

My dad told me some terrible stories of what his own father was like. He was beaten with a whip, which my dad still keeps; his sister was locked into her room to stop her going out with "unsavoury boys", but he still talks about him with some degree of fondness. Was that normal back in the 40s and 50s?

[ummmm]

not sure it was normal but it was certainly accepted. My mother and her siblings had an awful time with their father. He was a dictator and ruined with an iron fist. They stuck by him though and we were all still jumping to his command until the day he died.

[maggiebee]

Looking back I had a very relaxed childhood in the 40/50s. Table manners were taught and I went to Sunday School every week. I lived in the country and we climbed trees, waded in streams, built dens and went out for hours in our bikes. My dad set great store by education, so we read every night, not children's books (though I did read these too) but history and the natural world. We also did spelling and tables, but it all seemed fun at the time.

[maggiebee]

PS the only thing I didn't get were cuddles - my dad was brought up in an orphanage and he found contact quite difficult.

[paddywak]

Looking back my childhood seems to have ran along the same lines as mickey's in other words we were expected to be polite and behave ourselfs.As for punishment if I'd got a penny for every time I heard dad threaten to "take his belt" to my sisters or myself I'd be rich.In fact I he'd never hit us just hand us over to mum seemed to have away of making you feel awful with out actually punishing you.It must have worked because all the kids in the family have been reared in pretty much the same way and they've all turned out OK and we all remain very close.

[dieseldick]

trt, thats terrible , sorry to hear that, how could anyman treat his children in such a way is beyond me, my own father was something similar he used to beat mum, make us stand to attention, he abused my kid sister the filthy animal ( i will never forgive him)

[woofgang]

I don't think it was actually "accepted" so much as "not talked about" I can remember hearing at primary school (I was born in 53) that "a policeman" had visited so and so's dad and tying it up in my own mind with the fact that this particular child turned up to school looking dirty and bruised. We weren't rich, far from it, but I was also taught from quite young not to comment if I saw a child at school wearing mine or my sister's cast offs.

[paddywak]

woofgang,handing clothes down was that common that nobody ever really commented about it. If there was still wear in an item it was altered to fit and reused which was a moaning point for my two sisters as being the only boy in the family I always had new clothes

[woofgang]

Handing down in families yes, these things were passed on to families who had nothing.