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We had a phone bill and a gas & electric bill.
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we had a black and white tv, with no cable, no remote and 3 stations, abc,nbc and cbs, uhf was in its infancy, when i got my drivers license gasoline was 27 cents per gallon and cigarettes were 45 cents a pack, and mcdonalds always advertised get a meal and get change from a dollar, burger fries and drink, and change

For the most part I think the attitudes haven't changed much from gerneratio to generation or between generations.  Children still have at times exteme cases of the 'I wants, and give me it', parents can't get over how thier children's interest chages from day to day and grand parents, well they just sit back an shake their heads and wonder how folks are able to raise a family these days.

Me, I just sit back with a smile and say to myself, been there, done that.

He's so old when he went to school........They didn't HAVE history

We had no tv only radio in the 50's. But I fondly remember my Hornby clockwork trainset and my Winchester. And attitudes were different then. Could go on all night, but one example - I remember at night listening to the PanAm Constellations droning their way into Shannon airport, and my parents saying "God speed them on their journey". Nobody thinks like that today. Different times, different attitudes to life.

I remember my Mom and Dad would get groceries to feed 8 kids and themselves at the Safeway for around $25.00 a week!!

My Dad told me his Mom sent him to the country store for a loaf of bread, a pound of bologna, a pound of cheese, pint of mayo, and a six pack of pepsi. She wanted her change back, and she only sent a dollar!! In the 30's I think.

You got that right!!

????

Video games,what were those.   I grew up with Lincoln Logs,(fun to feed to the dog) Silly Putty(most went in my hair),an erector set or two,plastic army men (most of which ended up in the vacuum cleaner)and several hopelessly kinked Slinkys. I also had an arsenal of cap pistols,rifles and even a cork rifle or two.  We thought we were high tech when the etch-a-scetch came out! I built a lot of 1/24 scale models until they ruined the glue for them to stop glue sniffers. What crap.it wouldn't hold anything,my brothers knocked them to pieces.

Not a one required batteries or  an internet connection to use them. In fact,very few   came with instructions,not that I read them back then. I had better things to do like putting silly putty in my sisters hair, chasing her with a slinky or poppin'caps at my brothers. (not the same today,you have to buy real bullets)

I remember really enjoying the hot wheel cars and tracks when they first came out until my Mom found out the tracks worked great for a belt in a pinch. 

Doesn't surprise me coming from you, CarGuy!

Those were the days, building tree houses, riding our bikes to the river to go swimming, gone from sunup to sunset! You can't get children today to even go outside!   Carguy, my mom used my hot wheels tracks the same way! Ouch!

lllol... me too !!! I'm 53..reading this made me remember more and more stuff...like my first "roller" skates.. adjustable to all shoes (metal plates on metal wheels,lol) and, school started at 7:30am up to 4:30pm and just try to speak or move during class !!!! Thanks for the post, made my day!!!

Remembering back to my childhood, Barbie seemed a lot older than.  I would have pegged my Barbie for something like 33.  Barbie today looks more like 14.

Never had Hot Wheels, but I did have a Trik-Trak

Those were the days. Better than any computer

I think what I miss the most from my childhood in the 50's and 60's is the sense of optimism.

Things were good and we knew they would only get better. We would see to that. Look how that worked out!

I miss my Star Wars action figures! Gonna go buy some for my daughter.......so I can play with em!

From the time I started in first grade, (no kindergarden then) I walked several miles to and from school olong a main road.  Life was good, the only *bad times* seem to happen around my birthday.  Every year mom would plan a small birthday party, and every year I would get the measles and the party would have to be cancelled, but there would always be next year! 

 My brother and I built a one and a half story *thing* from the leftover lumber my Dad used to build the garage. It was rickety and wobbly but we had a lot of fun using hammers and nails.  Unfortunately I nelt on a rusty nail and had to get a tetanus shot. We played in old dirty chicken coops. We played with rusty things, a bunch of us kids played ball in the back yard ( I was the catcher, but standing way too close to the batter my head got banged when the kid swung the bat)...but that did not stop any of us from playing again.