Did you parents ever tell you they had to walk to school with a potato in their pocket to keep warm? (And other lies our parents told us.)
By The Horse
@TheHorse (219235)
Walnut Creek, California
June 18, 2023 11:49am CST
Every generation of kids "has it easy." We, the old-timers, had it rougher than they did.
When I was a child, my parents came up with some funny parent-isms.
"When I was a child, had to carry a hot potato in our pockets so we wouldn't freeze on the way to school."
"When I was a child, we had to walk a mile to school. And it was uphill both ways."
My dad even said "When I was a child, we didn't have TV. We actually read during our spare time." Well, I think that one was true.
Now that I'm an old-timer, I sometimes use the "uphill both ways" one on my littlies, just to see if they're really listening.
But when I say, "When I was young we used to play outside after school until dinner time," I mean it. And the looks of amazement I get are amusing to me.
"What? Without any grown-ups around?"
Do you remember any of your parents' favorite parent-isms? Do you think they learned some of them from their parents or grandparents, and pass them on to us kids with a wink to each other?
14 people like this
14 responses
@arunima25 (87818)
• Bangalore, India
18 Jun 23
Well, I have said the same to my daughters...we played outside till it was dark and the grown ups came to look for us. Neighborhood was a safe place then. It's true.
I also tell them that we didn't know what boredom was. We had enough simple games that we created to keep us busy despite having no gadgets. Star gazing and counting was a regular entertainer. Even that's true!
2 people like this
@TheHorse (219235)
• Walnut Creek, California
20 Jun 23
@arunima25 I think small town life used to be like that here in the US. Even in Chicago, we knew many of our neighbors. Technology may have helped change that.
1 person likes this
@arunima25 (87818)
• Bangalore, India
20 Jun 23
@TheHorse Oh! I see. The crime rates were very low during those times here. And people knew each other well in a community. Our neighbours were like our extended family.
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@TheHorse (219235)
• Walnut Creek, California
19 Jun 23
@leighnyork Can you elaborate?
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@leighnyork (1880)
•
19 Jun 23
@TheHorse here mostly it's like every parent was in the first position in every exam, I wonder if number one was the only number
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@Deepizzaguy (103237)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
18 Jun 23
I remember my parents telling me not to complain about doing housework since they had to do their chores like cleaning up their rooms even if they were tired after getting out of bed.
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@TheHorse (219235)
• Walnut Creek, California
19 Jun 23
@Deepizzaguy Mowing the dang lawn was never a real burden to me.
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@Deepizzaguy (103237)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
19 Jun 23
@TheHorse It was good advice for me not to live in the comfort zone.
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@aninditasen (16420)
• Raurkela, India
19 Jun 23
My mother was too bent upon teaching us household chores and cooking which she thought was more important than education.
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@TheHorse (219235)
• Walnut Creek, California
20 Jun 23
@aninditasen He wasn't one of those Indian men who thinks women should be "under my thumb"?
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@aninditasen (16420)
• Raurkela, India
20 Jun 23
@TheHorse My father was eager to educate us as that's how I got the chance to get a postgraduate degree.
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@LindaOHio (179521)
• United States
19 Jun 23
The potato in the pocket is a truism. They were hot; and they kept your hands warm. My parents never passed along any parent-isms to me because I lived them all. Stayed out until the street lights went on, walked a looong way to school in snow and rain, uphill part of the way...We didn't have school buses that picked us up at the driveway.
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@LindaOHio (179521)
• United States
20 Jun 23
@TheHorse Kids have it so easy these days. (except for things like bullying, peer pressure, etc.)
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@TheHorse (219235)
• Walnut Creek, California
20 Jun 23
@LindaOHio Those things have been around forever. I work in schools sometimes. I see more good behavior than bad behavior.
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@celticeagle (167228)
• Boise, Idaho
18 Jun 23
Great old stories. The potato one is smart. Up hill both ways........hehe
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@celticeagle (167228)
• Boise, Idaho
18 Jun 23
@TheHorse ..........I would have listed them.
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@TheHorse (219235)
• Walnut Creek, California
19 Jun 23
@celticeagle I am trying to think of more.
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My parents didn't tell me but I have witnessed my father walk instead of ride a cab, so he could buy my favorite food. 
@LeaPea2417 (37359)
• Toccoa, Georgia
19 Jun 23
I do remember my grandmother saying when she was young and poor, they didn't have have heaters in every room of the house, so during the cold of winter, her Mom would heat bricks and she would sleep with a warm brick at night to keep warm. I think she also said that she shared her bed with one of her sisters. They both snuggled up against a warmed brick during winter.
@LadyDuck (471670)
• Switzerland
19 Jun 23
My parents never told us lies. I know that it was true that they had no TV when they were young, as TV in Italy started in 1954, I was already born. I know that Mom had no electricity in her home when she was a little girl, it came later in the country side in Italy. I remember nothing stupid they told me.
@wolfgirl569 (106813)
• Marion, Ohio
18 Jun 23
I heard about walking to school. But part of my parents trip both ways might have been uphill
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@wolfgirl569 (106813)
• Marion, Ohio
18 Jun 23
@TheHorse They lived in southern Ohio which is very hilly.
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@TheHorse (219235)
• Walnut Creek, California
18 Jun 23
@wolfgirl569 Yep. I lived for a couple of years in Bloomington Indiana. Very hilly.
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@RasmaSandra (80108)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
18 Jun 23
My parents had it harder than that. Their memories of childhood were from growing up in Latvia and then learning how things are done in the US. So they often asked advice from others who also had children and did the best they could with me. I remember being bundled up as a toddler in a red snowsuit with a hat and shawl so all you could see of me was my eyes and I waddled like a penguin,
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
18 Jun 23
At one point in my life, I really did have to walk 3 miles to go to work, and it was uphill both ways! I had to go down a hill and then back up each direction and I couldn't spare the extra money for bus fare... so I just had to walk. Those were hard times.
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@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
18 Jun 23
@TheHorse I've heard about the baked potatoes in the pockets thing (and that the potato was eaten after getting to school) but only one of my parents had to go through that. The other one grew up in town and had a much shorter walk.
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@TheHorse (219235)
• Walnut Creek, California
18 Jun 23
@spiderdust The others must have had hard luck stories too.
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@MarieCoyle (37862)
•
19 Jun 23
My parents grew up in the depression. Times were very tough for my grandparents, they lost a child, they had another child sick for nearly a year, and 2 little girls. Grandma said there just wasn't enough warm clothing for them all, and when it was bitterly cold, she would not let the girls go to school, as they didn't have the proper clothing to keep them warm. No winks...it was a hard time for a lot of people then, but I do have to say, it was not mentioned often, as they wanted to forget that time.
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@TheHorse (219235)
• Walnut Creek, California
19 Jun 23
@MarieCoyle I think there is a lot of wisdom in what you say. I am not so sure that the children suffer, as long as they are fed and loved. Lincoln Logs are just marketable twigs. If children can find twigs to stack, leaves to be stretchers for dying bees, acorns to could, and songs to sing, they will have no clue that they are "deprived." They will learn.
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@MarieCoyle (37862)
•
19 Jun 23
@TheHorse
Both of my parents were born in 1930 as well. I think they just tried to forget how bad it really was. My mother's family had 2 girls and a boy. My uncle was the youngest during that time, and they had very few playthings. He told me once that my aunt went outside and collected a lot of little twigs/sticks. She broke them up in like-lengths for him, and they made little cabins and fences and houses and such, sort of like Lincoln logs, I think. He said that was some of the best times he ever had as a child, just making things out of those sticks, and the entire family got into it, making more and more buildings.
They had imagination. I always do as well. I fear now that children are mostly entertained by video games, when they could be learning other ways of doing things. Imaginations have to be fed, or they stop working.
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