I subscribe to Weather Bug and it keeps me informed on the weather both here, locally, and I can access other areas I am interested in knowing about. It also (for winter) gives tips on what you should wear when the wind chill is really low. Today we had a wind chill of 20 degrees and right now it's down to 18. Since our temperature is supposed to go down to about 20 tonight, the wind chill will be about 8-10 degrees. Brrr!
I was reading what they had to say about dressing for low wind chill temps and all I could think about was walking to school in Chicago (with it's almost constant high winds), snow about ankle deep or more, no boots, no hat, no gloves (keep your hands in your pockets !) and bare legs. We weren't allowed to wear pants although we could wear tights (if you owned some). While our grammer school was just a little over a block away, when I started high school, I either had to grab the L and then wait for a bus at my stop.....out in the cold, still no boots, no leggings or tights but I did wear nylons....LOL. It was about the same distance from my house to the L....four blocks but at least you could be out of the wind while walking up the stairs. I remember my hands being so cold that I could barely stand to bend my fingers. I don't ever remember having a coat or jacket that was ever warm enough and no scarves. I did, for a while, have ear muffs but gave them to one of my sisters because the metal that held the muffs on actually burned my skin.
If I gave in and decided to walk to the bus stop instead of the L (it was four blocks away), it was the waiting for the bus that got to you. We didn't have those nice wind blocking stands that many cities have now. I hated winter because I was always, always cold. Even our school contributed. There were some areas of the halls that were warm, ditto rooms where classes were held but there was always a breeze....a very cold breeze....that ran through the hallways and by then, your coat was hung in your locker. I swear that some teachers loved cold classrooms. There had to be a way they could control the temperature in them and many seemed to like it much cooler than was comfortable.
When we moved to the suburbs (oh wow! They have buses to take you to school!) No, not unless you were over a mile from the school. Actually, I think it was a mile and a quarter for high school. At least the little ones got a bus even though their school was closer. Little kids got the breaks......LOL. I hated walking through the snow because we got a LOT of it . It was a MILE from our house to the high school. I didn't drive at the time and there was no way my mother was going to drive me so early in the morning.
Think about all the things going on with the kids today. Some kids go to school looking overstuffed because they are dressed in so many layers. Even a sweater under their coats. If the kids look the least bit like they are under-dressed, the parents are afraid they will be reported for child abuse! High school age kids expect a car to get them to school. They are embarrassed to have their parents drive them....or to even be part of a car pool. Worse! Parents actually give in to them and don't want to be seen as cheap or poor to their friends and neighbors. You would think that they would worry more about their kids homework than how they get to school every day.
The way some of this information makes me feel is that I shouldn't have lived. Or, at the very least, I should have gotten frost bite. It makes me wonder why I didn't! I never, ever expected any of the things that today's kids do. I would have loved to have just the clothing they have ...to have warm feet and hands and be able to wear jeans to school. We must have been Super kids back then. No computers, no Ipads, no calculators allowed for math (we did things the hard way), we had books we used for doing homework, to learn history, civics, geometry, algebra, even a second language! No language labs for me!
I never realized just how abused we all were back then. Nothing was handed to us. We had to work for everything and we all had chores to do before anything else. It seems like many kids have never used a vacuum cleaner, filled a dishwasher, washed a floor, cleaned a bathroom... Remember doing dishes, pots and pans BY HAND? How we would have loved a dishwasher then. I know *I* would have since we had 9 in just our family, I remember scrubbing diapers and our clothes in a metal tub of hot water and then rinsing them so we could hang them outside to dry. I was thrilled when my mother got a washing machine but sure hated that mangle to squeeze the water out of the clothes. Plus, we had to wash them with soap, squeeze the soap water out of them with the mangle, then empty the soapy water out of the washing machine and rinse it then fill it with fresh water so we could get the soap out of the clothes.
I wouldn't change much about my life back then. I learned to do so much that today's kids are clueless about. I learned to cook, clean, iron (no wash and wear then!) and babysitting was one way I learned to earn some spending money. With seven kids, there was no such thing as an *allowance*. Times were tough in the 50's. Yes, compared to the way things are now, it really does make you wonder how you lived with all we suffered. We didn't even have seat belts in the cars. You wouldn't believe what we put babies in either. A seat with two curved metal *arms* that hooked over the bench seat in the car. Some of them even had a play steering wheel to keep the infant/toddler occupied.
I guess I am just disgusted with so much of the crap going on between spoiled brat kids and parents that are more worried about their image to their friends than they are about just what their kids are learning these days. How will they survive the *real world*? It's going to be shocking, I'm sure. But don't worry.....your parents will probably be able to pay for the therapy you will feel you need (and it will be all THEIR fault, I'm sure).
Ack! I'm done ranting. Love you all. Be happy. Stay warm. Stay healthy. ***Hugs***
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