What decade is it best to grow up in?

[Doucas]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

Considering millennials own about 4% of wealth compared to 21% for baby boomers at the same age, the 60s was probably the best to grow up in..

[goats]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

Grew up in the 70s/80s. Much better for kids now. Much more things to do.
Rainy Sundays, when nobody went outside to play were shocking as a kid looking back. Only kids program on was Sesame Street, followed by church programs, then followed by the Test Card till mid afternoon. Pub was shut on a Sunday afternoon and my Dad would come home and play his records, which I hated at the time. Much better these days.

I grew up 70’s/80’s and I tend to agree with last few posts, no tv channels really, Batman on a Saturday am and if you missed it you were f*cked! No chance to see it again…..me and all my mates spent so much time out on our bikes ( choppers, grifters or bmx) and a game of football was almost mandatory after school whatever the weather. Lived in the local woods more than home. Weird how my memory messes with me thinking it was always sunny…..I was barely ever in as a 10 yr old….very different to my 10 year old now but very different times.

[goats]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

Because kids had to use their initiative and find other things to do. When I was growing up places like Heath Park, Pontcanna and countless other outside locations were populated massively by football teams on a Saturday afternoon. Now there are hardly any teams as kids prefer to stay in their rooms playing computer games and such like.

I can only speak from personal experience but at a young age I was out of the house from 10am until at least 5pm. Now kids can't go anywhere without parental supervision. That's not a criticism by the way but a reflection of current society.

When the street lights came on red it was a sign to head home for dinner

[splott parker]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

When the street lights came on red it was a sign to head home for dinner

You went home early, dinner time was midday when I was a kid, dinner ladies were just that not lunch ladies. Main meal in our house was our tea.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

While I think kids have it tough in different ways from other generations, I like the fact that things like casual racism, homophobia etc has virtually disappeared from young people. The current young are the most tolerant generation in history and will hopefully lead to a world free of prejudice, where people can be who they want to be and we can all live together in greater harmony.

[delmbox]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

I grew up in the 80's/90's and am happy with that, wouldn't fancy being a teenager much now with social media/total access to everybody 24/7 to be honest, although for them I'm sure that the thought of anything different is nightmarish because that's all the've known.

I read somewhere that we're the generation which knew what it was like growing up without the internet but also were young enough in its advent to naturally incorporate it into our lives so kind of straddled the great technological leap of the 20th Century (Our house got internet when I was 15 and I think I got my first mobile at 17). Something like that anyway, although I'm sure it was explained better

[StraightOuttaCanton]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

Was chatting to a colleague yesterday about covid (we’re into another lockdown in Canada) and he asked what I thought it’s impact might have been if it had happened 40 years ago.. vaccines would’ve probably taken longer, unemployment would probably have rocketed, no wifi so home entertainment probably affected…. On the whole I don’t think there’s a best decade… everything balances out. My kids love doing things and having experiences I can’t even begin to understand and I’ve done things that they’ll obviously never experience. In my opinion the best experiences are the shared ones

[Trigger]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

I suppose most likely I'd go for what I know. Late 90s into the 00's.

Some decent technology about and opportunities off the back of it but I've also been able to avoid so much of social media by choice, as a kid now you must seem well weird if you aren't on any of it.

Earlier decades also seem too hard. I remember when younger not having Google but I don't know who answered all my questions.

[goats]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

You went home early, dinner time was midday when I was a kid, dinner ladies were just that not lunch ladies. Main meal in our house was our tea.

Now that’s being pedantic :hehe:

[Mario Miethig]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

I grew up 70’s/80’s and I tend to agree with last few posts, no tv channels really, Batman on a Saturday am and if you missed it you were f*cked! No chance to see it again…..me and all my mates spent so much time out on our bikes ( choppers, grifters or bmx) and a game of football was almost mandatory after school whatever the weather. Lived in the local woods more than home. Weird how my memory messes with me thinking it was always sunny…..I was barely ever in as a 10 yr old….very different to my 10 year old now but very different times.

Very similar to my childhood. Was always out when it wasn’t raining and even when it was, if my mates were out, I’d go out. I had a second hand Tomahawk, then a Grifter. Our street was blocked off at one end, so we always played football in the street. When a car drove down the street, the roaming dogs would always chase it lol. That’s one thing you definitely don’t see anymore.
The street I grew up in in Canton was always full of kids, whenever I drive past there now, you hardly see a single child. Times have definitely changed!

[Cleve van Leef]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

50’s, scrumping apples, riding/making your bogie and using it on the main road, able to go anywhere on your own. Oh for the innocence of childhood again. Many other things.

[ToTaL ITK]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

Cardiff was rough during the 70's

[Vindec]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

Cardiff was rough during the 70's

It's always been rough. Teddy Boys in the 50's, Mods and Rockers in the 60's and gangs in later decades. I found the late 1950's particularly violent. I recall once being in the Regal snooker Hall in Gabalfa where a massive fight broke out with lads throwing snooker balls at each other with some serious injuries I would guess given the amount of blood involved. I scarpered quickly so am assuming ambulances must have been involved. But there were many no go areas in Cardiff at the time. The 70's was far tamer.

[alfie]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

50’s, scrumping apples, riding/making your bogie and using it on the main road, able to go anywhere on your own. Oh for the innocence of childhood again. Many other things.

Funny how you mentioned bogie. I was driving in Whitchurch yesterday and i seen a dumped pushchair. I past the same spot today and it was still there. Back in the 60's and early 70's it would be gone in seconds to make our bogies, or if you live up the valleys i think you call them gambos. Times have certainly changed.

[Raymond Holt]

Re: What decade is it best to grow up in?

I'm in my mid-thirties now, and would say that if anything, I'd probably have preferred to have been born slightly earlier, maybe only by 5-10 years. Social media came along when I was in my late teens and I think if I'd been a little bit older, I may not have been caught up in it and wasted so much time on it in the years since. Outside of that though I think the late nineties/early 00's were as good a time as any to grow up in.

Having spent the last ten years teaching teenagers I have to disagree with some who have highlighted the positives of having more to do and more technology in recent decades. More TV certainly isn't a good thing and I see first hand how addiction to consoles and mobile phones has a negative zombie-like effect on some (and I stress it is only some) teenagers. I think that boredom can often spark creativity and help develop the use of initiative. Boredom sometimes actually allows us to think a little more deeply instead of flitting from one stimulus to the next. I think the current generation of teenagers have it a lot harder than ever before in many ways; greater social expectations/pressures which destroy confidence and self-esteem, a more tolerant society yes, but a less diverse and very dull range of sub-cultures and fashions to choose from and too much constant stimulation that helps to breed anxiety and other mental health issues.