Letters from an Interested Mother – 2

Some of the things I say are worth listening too….I promise you.

It’s only now that I realise that the wise words my Mum and Dad tried to teach us were so, so true.  Isn't it funny how it takes a lifetime to realise that we have so much to learn?  My younger self thought I knew it all.  

My generation, my friends, my views, my beliefs  this was what I thought was important, we knew it all, we had cool clothes, cool music, new attitudes to the world, to food, to the environment – move over we knew it all.

I certainly have been blessed to have lived through some interesting times – the Women’s Movement, the end of the Cold War, the Germany Wall coming down, the end of the Vietnam War, the rise in the awareness of the fragility of our environment and the ever-increasing realisation that we are what we eat, and yes these were all important movements when I was a teenager.  

I've also seen the introduction of the personal computer, (my first came with 20MB (yes that’s right) of memory and used the DOS operating system).  Then the Internet, first with just a dial-up modem and now with talk of the NBN coming soon.  These changes have also changed the way we shop, socialise and interact.  Then there is the rise in social media, smartphones and the need to be electronically connected 24/7.

For my parents, the issues were bigger and believe me much more pressing – World War 2 for instance, my father was a pilot and was away from my mother for years.  I remember when my young niece questioned why they didn't keep in touch with the phone!  So much change and everything seems to be changing faster and faster, the challenge as you get older is to embrace the change and try to keep up.

There is a cute image doing the rounds on Facebook - this was childhood for a baby-boomer - that's probably me at the desk!