I found myself explaining the phenomenon of " The Baby Boomer" to a 25 year old colleague the other day...they had not heard the phrase before, and why would they? What do they know of those " oldies" that were born between 1948 and 1964.
I was born in 1962, so just came in under the wire as did one other nurse on duty, and the younger staff seemed genuinely surprised as we brainstormed baby boomer norms! Norms that would make modern parents run screaming to child protective services!
As children my sister and I would sit in a living room as my parents would chain smoke cigarettes until the walls ran brown with nicotine.
My father would drive us all home after babysitting my sister's kids on a Saturday night much the worse for drink!
No one ever Ever wore seat belts!
We used to walk 2 miles to and from school alone and in the dark with shorts on!
If you ever was allowed to use the home phone you had to sit in a cold hallway to do so ( and were timed! )
One playtime venue was the local rat infested public tip!
The coal fire heated a small square of the living room nothing else
We ate left overs on Monday and were often served things like mince, liver and onions and offal
Had a bath only on Sunday nights!
We coped with three tv channels and no daytime tv on weekdays ( unless you watched school programmes!)
Relatives and perfect strangers could reprimand you and be supported in the fact by your mother and father
Every winter there was snow