He may have been a cant but he was part of my childhood. Used to love playschool. RIP Brian Cant. please log in to view this image
RIP Brian Cant, I was born in 1962 so he was very much on the soundtrack of my childhood, I was talking to my nephew who is 28 and he couldn't comprehend what it was like in the 60's and early 70's, black and white tv, only 3 channels, no all day broadcasts, limited technology, tried explaining about the telephone and how we had a shared phone line and he wouldn't believe me, he asked what did we do and I said we went out and played. I look back and in all honesty I don't think I would swap my childhood for a modern one, we may have had a lot less but I think we were happier and certainly got out a lot more, at the time they were building the housing estates we had a very dangerous but somehow exciting playground running around those building sites as kids.
It's a weird one. I wouldn't swap my childhood for the world either, and yet I wouldn't want my kids growing up in it.
I wouldn't want to swap my childhood but I would want my kids growing up in it. Society now has lost the art of human to human interaction. kids don't go out to play now they 'go online' and have an ipad stuck to their hand as they fill their faces with ****e processed food... getting fatter and fatter. They have no appreciation of community and I've personally seen kids look puzzled when someone falls over... rather than in our day where we'd instinctively rush over to help... they just don't develop social skills like we did. Gigabyte by gigabyte our society is being dismantled brick by brick to the point where at home I'm putting in place a rule where all tech is locked in a safe for a day and the router turned off so that we, as a family are forced to interact and do old school stuff like talk about our week and do stuff together. So as I said.. if I could go back in time for good, right now.... I'd give up all the iphones in an instant for a ride on my Grifter (complete with spokey dokeys) and a climb up a tree...
My niece who is 23 and lives in London went into melt down 4 weeks ago, she apparently was going completely crazy at times crying and screaming, her elder brother who works in the city had to go and sort her out, the reason was that she dropped and broke her phone. I would love to be back on my bike like it was, we used to go miles around the Northumbrian countryside and racing around the estates playing Fox and Hounds, not an inch of lycra either.
I do that. I'm conscious of being on my phone around my kids as I don't want them thinking it's the norm.I've been to parks and had a look around and parents are glued to their phone screens rather than watching/playing with their children. Also when parent go to pick up their kids from school, the kids haven't seen you all day and may have something to tell you about their day and parents again just vaguely acknwledge that they are there. I remember having an open back door (not like that) and being allowed to come and go as we please as long as we were home for tea. If anything, because of the phones I've just slagged off, children should have more freedom now as we can check up on them if they carried a phone but I cant imagine letting my kids out to just "roam the streets" and I know that makes me a hypocrite because my childhood was great as a result. I don't even know why it has changed (technology aside) as there were clearly wrong 'uns about when I was younger but my parents didn't appear to be worried about. I really want to allow my kids the freedom I had but I don't know if I can do it. It's not a problem yet as the eldest is 5 but it is something to consider
We used to tell if our mates were in by their bike being dumped on the front lawn. Nowadays it's all tech (or at least phone) based. please log in to view this image