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11 Boomer Character Traits That Were Developed as Latchkey Kids
Retirely ^ | 2/5/25 | Ron Clendenin

Posted on 03/15/2025 12:11:33 PM PDT by DallasBiff

Coming home to an empty house, managing homework without reminders, and making your own snacks wasn’t just part of the routine—it was the training ground for life. Boomer latchkey kids didn’t have helicopter parents hovering over every decision, which meant they developed character traits that today’s hyper-scheduled kids might never experience. Independence wasn’t a choice; it was the default setting.

While some might call it “neglect,” those solo afternoons shaped resilient, resourceful adults with a unique blend of grit, adaptability, and unshakable confidence.

(Excerpt) Read more at retirely.co ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; History; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: boomers; generationx; latchkeykids; traits
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To: FLT-bird

My brother was the TV channel changing hog. He would constantly turn that knob around. He could not stick to one show. Ticked off my sister and I. My mom had to take the knob off to keep the peace.

Now he does the channel flipping by remote.


241 posted on 03/15/2025 8:03:09 PM PDT by madison10
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To: madison10

I think I might be married to your brother. Bob, is that you?


242 posted on 03/15/2025 8:05:46 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
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To: MayflowerMadam

ROFL His wife is very laid back. She just puts up with it. Really gets on my husband’s nerves on the rare occasions when we visit.


243 posted on 03/15/2025 8:10:31 PM PDT by madison10
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To: madison10

I heard a comedian say that “Men don’t want to know ‘what’s on?’; they want to know ‘what ELSE is on?”


244 posted on 03/15/2025 8:17:14 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
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To: Cold_Red_Steel
My brother was born in the mid-to-late 50s. He’s a card-carrying member of the American Communist Party. I have two sisters born earlier and two sisters born at the end of the Boomer line. All of them lean far-left. I’m the only Gen-Xer. As the Christian, Conservative-leaning-Libertarian and Military Veteran, I’m the Black-Sheep.

This sounds familiar. My brother who is 15 years older than me just regurgitates whatever the latest Leftist talking point is and always votes Democrat. Both of my big sisters do too though one of them is a little more independent minded. The other gets her views from NPR and swears she's a "moderate" though she's never voted for anything but a Democrat. LOL!

Unlike all of them who are Boomers, I'm a Gen Xer born in 1970. My views are much closer to my dad's were....staunchly anti communist.

245 posted on 03/15/2025 8:28:35 PM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: Thud
I learned to love classical music from the soundtracks of 1930’s cartoons shown on 1950’s television.

I grew up in the 70s with those same 1950s era Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoons. Yep, I picked up a lot of the great works of classical music from them....everything from the Barber of Seville to Kill the Wabbit Kill the Wabbit......

This was when you could still have characters bash each other over the head etc before the bedwetters shrieked that it would warp our minds to see such "violence". Even as little kids we understood they were CARTOONS! Idiots.

246 posted on 03/15/2025 8:31:34 PM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: PAR35

Not mine she was a VP in an insurance agency and one of the first women to be licensed for insurance in our state.


247 posted on 03/15/2025 8:37:03 PM PDT by kalee
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To: Responsibility2nd

Not all of us.


248 posted on 03/15/2025 8:41:39 PM PDT by kalee
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To: ansel12

peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese sandwiches or grilled cheese...can of soup...


249 posted on 03/15/2025 8:46:12 PM PDT by rolling_stone
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To: mass55th

My father was an electrical engineer. We had one as soon as Amana hit the market late 60s, IIRC. Same with color TV and cable.
My father also built his own computer from plans he bought from an engineering magazine. He died in the early 80s.


250 posted on 03/15/2025 8:46:35 PM PDT by kalee
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To: DallasBiff

Paper routes were good way to keep me out of trouble after school.
Back when we had an evening paper in town.


251 posted on 03/15/2025 8:50:02 PM PDT by right way right (“May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our only true hope.)
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To: MayflowerMadam

That is SO true! My dad was not like that. Radio only generation.


252 posted on 03/15/2025 9:02:15 PM PDT by madison10
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To: Cold_Red_Steel

Share this with your siblings.

An example of how the media creates false impressions is the under 30 vote in 1972, with the draft, Vietnam, the antiwar protests, all the media image of the under 30s being stoner drop outs, all the music, civil rights, and the way the media portrays America then, they voted solidly for Nixon, not to mention that 10 million boomer males served in the military making Vietnam overwhelmingly a war of volunteers, being 70% of those killed.

The Democrats got 47% of the under 30 vote in 1968 followed by them getting 46% of the under 30 vote in 1972.


253 posted on 03/15/2025 9:04:16 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: kalee
"My father also built his own computer from plans he bought from an engineering magazine. He died in the early 80s."

Pretty smart guy your Dad. My father passed in 1978 at the age of 73. He would have been 74 that October. He was born in Holland in 1904, and came to the U.S. in 1913 with his two brothers and their parents. His mother, my grandmother died in 1919. My grandfather and the three boys were naturalized in 1920.

254 posted on 03/15/2025 9:07:55 PM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: Myrddin
"It was still functional when my mom sold the house in 2005."

I'm not surprised. When I did a search for that item, I found new ones in the box for sale on eBay. I didn't know what the name of the company was, but found it through my search. As a young girl of about 10, I'd never seen anything like it before, and it stuck with me all these years.

255 posted on 03/15/2025 9:12:14 PM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: mass55th
I really liked the in counter NuTone blender. Our house was a model for the Princess houses in the area. It was wired for NuTone intercom (never installed) and lots of extra telephone wire pairs to every room in the house. My dad took advantage of all of that extra wiring. We had rotary phones everywhere.

Funny story for this evening: my dad flew to Missouri to help his elderly aunt and uncle. While out of town, he called my mom morning and evening to catch up. The morning calls always had a horrible hum. The evening calls were fine. My mom asked me to help diagnose the problem. I came by in the morning when the hum was present. After checking a few spots, I unplugged a 25 ft extension cord that went from the front door, down the wall, behind a chair and connected to a phone in the living room. The hum stopped. I traced the wiring behind the chair to find an old 4-pin phone plug and jack. It was discolored. On closer inspection, the discoloration was cat urine. The cat had been peeing on the connector every morning coupling the princess telephone power on the yellow/black pair into the tip/ring green/red pair. By afternoon, the pee had dried and the coupling wasn't apparent. I "retired" the extension cord to the trash can and replaced the plug on the phone. End of problem.

256 posted on 03/15/2025 9:43:59 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: Myrddin

Oh my, that is a funny story about the hum and the cat peeing on the connector in the mornings. One of my sisters worked for Rochester Telephone in Rochester, NY. We always had the new phones when they came out. It was part of the benefit of her working for the phone company. She retired in 1992 at the age of 50, having worked there for 32 years. She got her monthly phone service for free until the day she died in 2011.


257 posted on 03/15/2025 10:05:19 PM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: DallasBiff

..... Model rockets, c and d “engines”
Regular chess, no computers,
No computers
Bell bottoms
Woolworths
JJ Newberrys
Sears catalog
Kathy Ireland, S.I.
Where you were at the time of the JFK assassination.....


258 posted on 03/16/2025 4:32:40 AM PDT by Varsity Flight ( "War by 🙏 the prophesies set before you." I Timothy 1:18. Nazarite warriors. 10.5.6.5 These Days)
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To: ansel12

You detailed my youth pretty closely. Up until the teen years. Then it was mostly about finding, you guessed it, GIRLS.


259 posted on 03/16/2025 4:39:21 AM PDT by Kudsman (Democrats' brand is FRAUD. Elections, biology, climate, journalism, auto pen, peace, life and God. )
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To: rolling_stone

I forgot about peanut butter, today you could wipe out half a school by exposing them to that, they have probably pulled peanuts from the vending machines.

Someone needs to post a thread on peanut butter and modern kids.


260 posted on 03/16/2025 7:33:00 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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