Psychology of People Who Grew Up in the 1960s

[haele]

66. Not quite. I grew up a poor Southern California urban kid in the 1960's.

As a kid in the 1960's, you were still expected to respect your elders..
School days, maybe you got to play after school, but most times you were doing homework and cleaning up before and after dinner. The stereo was for background music while cleaning. The TV was for watching the news and maybe one show your parents approved of. The rest of the night was for homework, a family game or project, or to spend an hour bringing out the toys you were going to play with or reading. Then pick up and get ready for beds.

Weekends were never "carefree and casual" - you still had to get up "early" (by 06:30/07:00) on Saturday to gather up your dirty clothes to put in the laundry, make your bed, put up everything in your room, and go out and get a broom to sweep your room (including under your bed) before coming out to a cooked breakfast and a short time watching cartoons on TV if you had one.
Then you helped with heavy cleaning until late morning.
And then...the Family weekend - day trip to a park (walk or bike), home or furniture repair (basic carpentry, auto, painting, plumbing, roofing, yard work, ect...), going berry picking, walking the dog, family games, club events (camp fire, sports or hobby groups) heading to the library...

Summer was for the family camping trip, hanging out at the city park or running around the block, or a hobby jobs "for pin or sweets money", or charity work - whether or not you belonged to a church, there was always some sort of local charitable organization that needed quick hands or a kid with a bike or wagon to check on people or deliver items.

Spending the day sitting on your ass in the morning or afternoon watching TV was only for the days there was a televised sports event to watch.

I've always believed Teen Age as we know it in the US is a product of Marketing and a conservative economic push to create generations of passive drones forcing families to have two working adults and a lot of unsupervised or non-directed free time for adolescents.

Teens aren't necessarily stupid, but they can be selfish and pig-headed in thinking they're adults without understanding the responsibility on what being an adult in a community entails.

And the "Leave it to Beaver/Happy Days/Brady Bunch" BS TV was pushing on kids of the 60's and 70's was not what most of their parents experienced growing up, unless their folks were well off enough to have a housekeeper or nanny.

Most urban/suburban kids grew up with chores, neighborhood friends, and periods of family boredom where they had to read, make things, explore the local area, or otherwise figure out ways of entertaining themselves in the 1960's and 70's.