Fun Facts About My Childhood

I was browsing through some old photos on the weekend and thought I would share some of them, along with some fun facts about my childhood, with you 🙂 .

• I lived in my childhood home from birth until I was 19.
• My earliest memory is of man walking on the moon; I was 2 1/2.
• My favourite TV shows as a tiny tot were Play School, Humphrey B Bear and Adventure Island. As I got older, I turned to the Brady Bunch.
• I wore glasses from the age of three, because I had a lazy eye. The theory then was that if you made it blurry and difficult for the good eye to see, it forced the lazy eye to work; these days we know the effect wears off once you stop wearing glasses. Wearing “coke bottle bottom” glasses not only made me feel ugly, it also made me clumsy. As you can imagine I resisted wearing them as much as possible, especially for photos!

• At the kindy concert, I sang a song about traffic lights with two other little girls. I was the green traffic light and got to wear a cute mint green tutu.
• Not only was my childhood bedroom mauve, but I remember my school books for Year 1 were covered in a pretty mauve wrapping paper with a pattern of ballerinas.

• I had my first birthday party when I turned six. I still remember swinging on the gate excitedly, waiting for my guests to arrive.

• I wore my hair in two pigtails until it was cut into a shorter pageboy style when I was in Year 3. I was devastated!
• The first birthday present I actually remember receiving from my parents was my first Barbie, when I turned 7. Quick Curl Barbie wore a pink and white gingham checked dress, with sheer long sleeves. Her hair must have had fine wire in it to make it curl – it soon ended up with the look and texture of a rat’s nest!
• I was addicted to Milo.
• When I was in primary school – about Years 6 and 7 – mum used to pick us up from the shopping centre next door and give us 10c to spend at the milk bar on a bag of mixed lollies. My favourites were bananas, teeth, milk bottles and freckles. Some of the lollies were 2 for 1 cent!
• Every year my school held a fancy dress ball at Cloudland; to a little kid, it was like going to Fairyland for the night, with all the excitement of going out after dark, the beautiful lights, seeing everybody dressed up, and performing the dances we had learned specially.

• My favourite teacher was Miss McKendry when I was in Year 5. Looking back on it, I’m guessing she was probably only a year or two out of teacher’s college. She had so many great ideas that made learning fun – for example, every Friday was “A” (for Activities) Day. Various learning stations were set up around the room and we could choose which ones we wanted to do. I also loved the clothes she wore – she was very stylish!
• I went on my first school camp for a week in Year 6, to Camp Baden-Powell near Samford.
• It was around this time that I refused to brush my teeth. Ugh – see how furry they look in the pic below!

• By the time I’d finished Year 6, I’d had all the common childhood illnesses – measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox.
• Tuckshop was a treat for Fridays at primary school. My favourite order was a meat pie, with a jam and cream donut. I’m sure the food police today would be horrified, but gosh it was yummy!
• Even though it was a state school, every morning began with the reciting of the Lord’s Prayer, and we sang a hymn or sunday school type song.
• Favourite lunch time games included elastics, knucklebone jacks, and popstars.
• I think one of the first times I ever went camping was over Easter in Year 7. We went with a heap of people from mum’s Lone Parents group, to Moreton Island. It was great fun, if pretty rough – think no bathing facilities or toilets! I was very proud of my tan – I was brown as a berry – when we went back to school, but within days it all peeled off. I shudder now to think of the damage I did to my young skin that long weekend!

Now it’s your turn – tell me one fun fact about your childhood! 😉