People Born In The 50s, 60s, 70s & 80s Have Very Different Ideas Of What Was Bad About Their Childhood
fotoak | Shutterstock The bad things about childhood are usually swept under the rug. They’re a touchy subject no one really wants to bring up.
But all the elements of childhood paint a picture together to influence development, making the bad just as important as the good. For kids born in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, there are some particular bad memories that stand out.
People born from 1950 through the 1980s don't all agree on what was bad about their upbringing.
Kids from each decade think about what their parents were like when they evaluate their childhoods. While they seemed to have a lack of support in common, there were very different reasons they each felt that way.
People born in the 50s felt like the thing missing from their childhood was emotional support.
It was during the 1950s that the idea of a stereotypically perfect family emerged. People were eager to start families after spending years at war, and often faced pressure to do so. This was also when everyone started to move to suburban homes with white picket fences.
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This idyllic image made things difficult for children, though. Their parents played traditional breadwinner and homemaker roles, which led to sometimes strained relationships that didn’t meet their emotional needs.
1950s parents usually emphasized obedience through an authoritative parenting style. While kids were cared for, they didn’t always feel like they got the support they needed. They struggled with emotional invalidation that made their childhood difficult at times.
People born in the 60s had very little supervision, and they sometimes felt neglected.
There were some pretty big cultural changes starting in the 1960s, but they were slow to impact the average family. Most families still had parents in traditional roles who expected a lot from their children, which left kids with some of the same problems people born in the 50s faced.
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One interesting difference was that kids had more freedom in the 60s. Parents started to supervise them less closely. That sounds like it would be a dream come true for kids, but it actually put them in some situations where their safety was questionable at best.
Kids didn’t feel very secure in this era. Many suffered the consequences of emotional neglect without even realizing it. Looking back, they’re able to see that they didn’t have the connection they craved.
People born in the 70s feel like they had to be too independent as children.
The changes that started in the 60s really took root in the 70s and made family life very different. Instead of remaining at home, many mothers joined the workforce. Suddenly, 1970s kids had to learn how to take care of themselves for a pretty large portion of the day.
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This obviously put kids in a tough position. They became self-reliant when they were very young, which continued to benefit them in a lot of ways. But, at the same time, having so much responsibility so early put a lot of pressure on them.
Their relationship with their parents wasn’t great because they didn’t see them much, and they were expected to handle problems without their help. Many struggled with hyper-independence as a result and still feel like they can’t ask for help today.
People born in the 80s had to deal with parents who were there physically, but not always emotionally.
Parents were more involved in their kids’ lives in the 1980s, but that didn’t mean life was perfect. They were pretty strict and doled out harsh punishments that were sometimes physical. This hurt kids much more than it helped them.
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80s kids also knew what it felt like to fail. There were no participation trophies during this era, and their parents expected them to just move on when things didn’t go the way they hoped. It might have been useful practice for the real world, but it still stung.
The problem for people born in the 1980s was that their parents were present but not really there for them. They had to figure life out on their own while they did their best not to upset them. It wasn’t a super close, loving relationship.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
