I may be showing my age a little here lol but.......
When 10 cents used to buy you a little bag of lollies at the corner shop;
When petrol used to be around 19 cents a litre;
When 40 cents would buy you a serve of hot chips at the local fish and chip shop;
When shops used to close at 12pm on a Saturday and Sundays the shops were shut completely;
When weekends used to be a time when majority of people didn't work and you could plan a family get-together with ease;
When going outside and making mud pies could entertain you for the whole afternoon;
When parents used to let the kids go bike riding alone and the kids would be gone for hours and the parents wouldn't worry;
When we used to go and spend the whole afternoon at the local rollerskating rink, skating to the Ghostbusters song and songs from Wham etc;
When there was no such thing as Playstation, Xbox and Wii and your time used to be spent reading books or colouring in and the like;
When songs on the radio didn't have to be censored and there were no songs like "Dirty Talk" that 8 and 9 year old children are singing along to;
When you didn't hear the "F" word coming out of young kids mouths and kids just out of nappies talking about things that kids have no place knowing about;
When times were simpler..............
Sitting here today I was thinking of my childhood and how simple and easy it was. Sure I used to complain that I was bored and had nothing to do sometimes but I would happily spend hours colouring in, making mud pies in the garden or my favourite,,,,absorbing myself in books. I remember as a teenager catching the bus to the library and coming home with a bag full of books on a Saturday afternoon and often sitting outside on a Sunday totally absorbed in my books. I remember when I was 10 or so and my next door neighbours and I would go bike riding down the local creek and catch tadpoles. We would be gone for hours but as long as were home for dinner our parents never worried where we were. How can the world have gotten so out of control in the last 30 years or so?
Times used to be so simple and kids used to be kids. Today life is just so complicated. I often think it is just me adding more stress than there needs to be, but today thinking about my childhood I realise how little I actually had but how satisfied I was. I often think that I would love to have brought my children up a little differently. Don't get me wrong they are fantastic kids and I think they all have good morals and values in them. None of them are troublesome kids. Sure we struggle with school but none are little terrors and get into trouble with the law. They know right from wrong. I would just like to prise them away from technology and show them a simpler way.
When we went camping for New Years, they had a great time. 3 days without an Xbox or computer etc in sight. To me it was perfect, to them not quite the same. When we arrived home after they helped us unpack, they all made beelines for their Xbox and others were straight to the computer to check their Facebook.
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Simple Living in Oregon unperson.com |
We have been watching the show "Worlds Apart" which is on Foxtel. This show takes an average American family and puts them with families in Africa, Mongolia, India, Malaysia etc. They are plunged into areas that have no running water, no electricity etc. They all struggle initially but at the end they have all been sad to leave. So many have commented that they have enjoyed the simple living, even the kids. I would love to do something like that with my children, to show them how little you need to live and to make them realise just how much they have.
While I am desperately trying to declutter, the whole thing overwhelms me. Before my divorce I lived a fairly simple existence. We never had much money (still don't lol) and we made do. My new Hubby is a little different and loves his technology. Of course my boys have just adapted to that without a problem. I am the one that feels "out" of it. I can survive quite nicely without technology and in fact prefer it. Hubby says that in today's world you can't live like that, you have to move with the times. I tell him to read some blogs and find just how many women are trying to do the same as I am and turning away to so some extent from the materialistic technology driven world of today.
To me the Amish people and the people living in remotes parts of the world are in some ways so much more fortunate than we are. They may no know about luxuries and they basically work just to survive but they are all so happy, they don't seem to have anger issues, their children are happy with very little. What is our western society teaching our children, when will our society say "Stop, enough is enough, lets get back to basics and work together to make this world a better place".
OK that is off my chest now, if you have made it this far you have done well. Lol my mind lately just seems to be in overdrive and constantly thinking,,,,this has been my morning thoughts of today. If you have got this far, I would also like to share with you a piccie. This bag is made with acrylic wool and cost me a whole $3. I love the way it has turned out. I am supposed to line it but my sewing skills kinda suck so I haven't lined it has yet. I figure it will be used mainly for evenings so it won't have much in it so I could probably get away without lining it. I can't wait to start using "real wool". At the moment I can't justify the extra money and my crochet work is still in the early "learning" stage so the cheaper wool will have to suffice for a little longer lol.
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| Sorry for the pic, not that great. |
