Genealogy Chat

My son was watching me looking at the cenus. he is only 7 and he wanted to know why the little girls and boys on the census did not have a record of whether they'd been good or not . This made me laugh so much. Mind you, its not beyond the realms of possiblities. Next census we'll probably be adding digital photos of ourselves for future researchers so why not a record of whether the child was good that day? cheers Kim

Hiya Kim Happy New Year. Your littl'un made made me laugh!!!!!! Thinking about it though I don't know whether kids back in 1881 had the chance to be good or not, they were up chimneys and down the mines and probably permanently exhausted. Part of my family were watermen. The small ones were described as 'waterboys' - unless they were girls of course! And listening to my now deceased parents - ALL children in the 30s and 40s were good, and cleaned a hundred pairs of shoes for a penny a day, after their handful of cold gravel for breakfast! Hugs A

My father in law was telling me on the weekend how he only had the one toy and it was a wooden train that no-one got round to putting the wheels on . I think of that now whilst wading through toys, cd-roms, bits of playstation boxes to get to the kids to say good night , and on that side of things seems like a good idea! Still it must be strange, now, that the difficulty is they cannot make a decision what to play with because they have too much choice?! Night Night Kim p.s does gravel beat cornflakes in the morning , I've run out but plenty in the garden............

Hey, I'm a child of the eighties and I remember having hours of fun with a huuuuuuge cardboard box! I painted it and sellotaped wings to it and went to the moon in it. Either I was an exceptionally contented child or else my parents were really cruel and didn't buy me toys other kids had.

I've lost count of the number of times over the years that my children were given a boxed toy, the toy was put to one side, and the box was played with for the rest of the day! Mind you, I blame Playschool! A cardboard box could be a plane, a bus, a taxi, a train, etc. etc., with a paper plate for a steering wheel, and others stuck to the side for wheels! And, of course, you can join boxes together so that you can carry passengers, and someone can be the ticket inspector ....... ! You can't beat imaginative play! Janet

I didn't say you couldn't play with cardboard boxes, my daughter 's eyes light up when she sees one and immediately the scissors and selotape are out........In fact I remember putting a large box that a fridge came in on top of my brother then sitting on it . he was a tortoise apparently. ....... Never mind we didn't have play station or x box ,cardboard is more imaginative and flexible and probably less addictive and not to mention LESS expensive......... KIM

Ann Lord Shaftesbury stopped children being sent up chimneys and down mines and he died in 1871. Gary

Ooops - shows my ignorance then! I thought he died 1885, and the mines act of 1842 was for women and girls, with boys under ten not to be employed underground. I still threaten my teenagers I'll send them up the chimneys though! Happy New Year y'all. A