Mummy's feeling old...

I finally parted with my beloved 'ghetto blaster', given to me when I was 11. It was over 20 years old and finally packed in. They really don't make 'em like they used to. I now have an excessive amount of music cassettes and nothing to play them on. Which got me thinking...

When Mummy was little:

* We didn't have mobile phones
* Email and internet weren't around
* Computer games came on cassettes and took 10 mins to load (Remember the noise? I played this to my kids; their baffled faces showed only confusion and pity.)
* There were only 3 channels on TV - and no CBeebies!
* No shops opened on Sundays
* Pluto was still a planet
* We had a half-penny piece
* Petrol only came in 'leaded'
* Children didn't have to use special car-seats
* If the car was full, the kids travelled in the boot (or was that just me?)
* Gay people couldn't get married
* All your rubbish went straight into binbags, no recycling
* My husband's job didn't exist
* A university education was free...

This makes me feel ancient! And I only grew up in the 80s!

I think on balance the world is a better place now. (Debt crises, pollution levels and university fees notwithstanding). I look out of the window on a glorious autumn day, and it looks pretty similar to the world I grew up in, yet my children's experience of life will be so wildly different. I feel hopeful and scared in equal measure when I think about them growing up in it.

What are my main hopes for my kids? That they will be healthy and happy, that they will respect themselves and others, and that they will make a positive contribution to society.

What are my main fears? Too many to mention! I listen to the news these days and it is so doom and gloom, with the Eurozone crisis, budget cuts and the like, most of which is so far beyond my sphere of influence that I really don't see the point in worrying about it. I'm more than happy to do specific things, like petition Lords (via the 38 Degrees NHS campaign), but the chances of me affecting whether or not Greece or America default on their loans? Aint gonna happen.

I'm not religious, but I like the sentiment of the Serenity Prayer: 'God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference'. I hope I am getting wiser as I get older...