"Mom, what was it like when you were a kid?"

dixie_darlin

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That's the question my 6yr old son just asked me.

One of the things I told him was "We didn't have cell phones. When we were out of the house and needed to make a phone call, we had to use a pay phone."

Then, my beautiful strawberry blonde, blue eyed angel made me feel extremely old.
Deacon: "Mom.......what's a payphone?"



I think the child aged me about 10 years right then and there



 

belongstoevie

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Whew, I think I just sprouted a few gray hairs, as well!

Ah, kids... I think when I have kids, I'll have to take them to the BART station just to point out a pay phone so I'm never confronted with that!
 

rapunzel47

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A few years ago a friend of ours told us about an episode with his kids: He and a friend were chatting while their kids played on the floor (3-4 yo at the time) and one of the adults referred to a typewriter. One of the kids perked up and asked, "Daddy, what's a typewriter?" He was satisfied with Daddy's answer, "Well, sort of like a keyboard and a printer together."

You're right it does make you feel old.
 

mrblanche

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I'm glad I don't have kids.

I knew I was too old to keep on teaching high school (not really my calling, anyway) when a student said, "Mr. Blanche, did you know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?"

The kids who just graduated from high school have know only 2 Presidents.
 

weldrwomn

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My parents-in-law still "rent" their rotary phone from AT&T


I remember that I really hated using a typewriter to fill out job applications and stuff like that. Now you can apply to jobs over the internet in many cases.
 

gailc

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When I was growing up we had a party line telephone. For those unfamiliar with it-we shared a phone line with our neighbor but had different phone numbers. So you would pick up the phone and hear our neighbor talking to someone. Its was a pain as they owned a pick your own strawberry farm and for several weeks it was hard to have the phone line free to use. Can't remember when we got our own line though-it was maybe when we were 10 or 12??
 

mer636

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Just to let you all know i'm 21 and I know what a rotary phone is I can remember
my parents having one
i've used a type writer and Pay phones are all over the place still (Mind you it will cost you $.50 to use it
)

I always joke around with my mum (Since she's older than my dad) and ask her with a straight face : "So mum when you were a kid what was it like having a pet dino?"
I get a swat for that
 

starryeyedtiger

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If it makes you feel better Alycia- i'm only 23 and my 13yr old niece thinks i'm ancient
 
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dixie_darlin

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Originally Posted by WELDRWOMN

While you're at it, you might as well tell him about rotary dial phones.
Oh I wasn't even going there


Or better yet, what an answering machine with a tiny tape inside it is
 

gemlady

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Welcome to the club. We all join eventually.

Originally Posted by Mer636

I always joke around with my mum (Since she's older than my dad) and ask her with a straight face : "So mum when you were a kid what was it like having a pet dino?"
I get a swat for that
My mom may have ridden to school on a dinosaur, but I rode a wooly mammoth.
 

laureen227

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my grandmother had a party line... when my grandfather died [at home] about 15 years ago, she still had it. my aunt actually had to tell someone on the line to get off so that they could call emergency services.

the only place i ever see payphones anymore is at mass transit centers - airports, etc. & there aren't very many of them, even there. plus, i think they cost $1.00 to use.

i had a bike w/foot brakes, only single speed, growing up. that's what i'd like to have, now - but they're so hard to find!

oh, & i learned 'touch typing' in high school on a typewriter, not keyboarding.
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by Dixie_Darlin

That's the question my 6yr old son just asked me.

One of the things I told him was "We didn't have cell phones. When we were out of the house and needed to make a phone call, we had to use a pay phone."

Then, my beautiful strawberry blonde, blue eyed angel made me feel extremely old.
Deacon: "Mom.......what's a payphone?"



I think the child aged me about 10 years right then and there



I was just at the electronics store discussing the merits of DVD vs. Blue Ray. I mentioned this was going to turn out just like the big Beta vs. VHS wars of the eighties. The young clerk looked at me with obvious total lack of comprehension.
 

owenj

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I'm only 21 and sometimes I feel old when I look at all the new stuff popping up and replacing the stuff I grew up with. Heck, I used Apple II computers in elementary school. You know, with no hard drive and the 5" floppy disk. And I bet I could ask a fifth-grader today what a floppy disk is and get a blank stare in response.

I get all kinds of 90s nostalgia
and now all that stuff is old.
 

gailc

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Computers in elementary school?? I remember when we got one for the entire high school and it was appropriated by a bunch of guys!! It was such a novelty as were calculators-one you can buy at the dollar store nowdays cost $70. The term computer geeks hadn't been coined yet.
(this is waayyyy back in the early 70's)
Can't forget microwaves-my mom had to get one when they first (again early 70's) came out and the first food she cooked-baked potatoes!!
 

whisky'sdad

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I'm turning 40 in Nov and my nephews always find ways to make me feel old! Believe it or not, my 10 year old nephew knows what a corded phone looks like! My sis keeps one handy in case the power goes out.

I actually remember NOT having a microwave and thinking it was the neatest thing around when we got one!
 
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