Thanks to Joey from Joefully Stated who is hosting Stream of consciousness this week.  The prompt words are Save, Safe or both

Save was a word I heard plenty of times when I was a young child growing up.  Don’t eat all your sweeties today, save some for tomorrow.   If you want that bicycle you will have to save up for it.   Save was an important concept in those days.  Grandpa saved things that we all thought was just junk in case he could use it some time in the future.  It was not a throwaway society then.  Things were built to last and you saved your old clothes to pass on to others.   Save yourself for that one special person was another mantra that was repeated to me many times by the older women in my family.   Interesting concept in this day and age!

Today SAVE is not such an important word. If it’s broken, we throw it away and buy new.  We spend our money because why save when it won’t be worth too much in the future.   There’s no room in smaller, modern houses to save the junk Grandpa might be able to use later.

What was less worried about was safety.  Children were free to play alone and unsupervised.  Teachers did not stand at the gate while children waited for parents to collect them.  At six I walked to and from school on my own.   Nobody thought it was unsafe!  I climbed the mountain with my siblings and cousins and spent hours unattended by adults on the beach.  Was it safe?  Who knows?  Strangers did talk to us and we spoke back, gave directions or helped them carry groceries.   Instinctively we knew who and who not to trust.   I rode the train alone or with siblings or friends of similar pre-teen age.  I walked home alone in the dark in my teens – nobody thought it wouldn’t be safe.   The world was different then.  By the time I became a young mother I would not dream of leaving my pre-teen child unattended on the beach.  She was taught stranger-danger from the time she could walk!  Save was a concept but not as much a when I was young.   My kids know to save money but other things?  I don’t think so.

And as far as teaching them to saving themselves for that special person?   Well – the choice is theirs – I never mentioned that kind of saving but certainly I did teach them to be picky, take precautions and above all BE SAFE.