“ Kids didn’t have convenience foods? What were the little kids cooking for themselves?”
Jiffy pop. Toast.
I wasnt latchkey because the house was seldom locked even with no adults.
An hour plus of farm chores before the school bus and the same or more EVRY evening.More on weekends.
Was cooking hamburgers and heating beans on the stove by age 8 or9,no popcorn and no microwave .Baked MY favorite cakes and cookies myself a year or two later.Burnt the pudding though.
No close neighbors with kids.And working parents who had little interest in anything else.
Trying to put people in category by age is never going to be wholly correct.