Shopping in the '60s

Our granddaughter got a new pair of shoes last night....converse! Go figure. But they're not like the ones my brothers used to wear. Those were black with the white logo on the side, high tops, white laces. (Will Smith wore a pair in "I Robot.") Her's are psychedelic, low-top, retro, very colorful....and similar to the ones we made out of our own "tennis shoes" back in the day. Of course I didn't tell her they looked like what we wore in the 60's...she wouldn't wear them.

Shopping for kids is a lot different now than it was we were were young. We went shopping once a year for school clothes. I would get two or three dresses, a pair of shoes, unmentionables, and socks. When I got into junior high, I would get the "monkey suit," (remember those, girls??), and new tennis shoes. The tennis shoes could not be worn outside of gym class.

Now it seems we go shopping all the time. Every time something new comes out the kids have to have it. I look at the girls when I go to Walnut and I see they all dress the same; same shoes, shirts, jeans, hair style. So much for being individuals!

Mom would take me shopping at Hesteds for school dresses; sometimes Kaufmanns. I usually got my winter coats at Pennys or Sears. Some things were bought at SkagWays...the old one. It was where the banquet hall is now. It's hard to imagine how small it must have been compared to the "new" one.

I would spend a couple weeks each summer in Shelton and would stay with either my Grandma or my aunt and uncle. Grandma would whip me up a couple of school dresses. She used newspapers to make a pattern and then would sew up my dresses from the same material she used to make her own dresses. She also made many quilts over her lifetime, and I would eventually see a quilt with the same material in it that she used for my dresses.

Now we seem to shop constantly for clothes and shoes. Once we hit the mall I get a knot in my stomach. There's a store for jeans, one for shirts, another for shoes, gotta have jewelery to match every shirt and pair of shoes, another for makeup, don't forget the bath stuff....and then maybe top it off with a bookbag or new book.

But.......she still wants to go shopping with me so I should maybe enjoy it while it lasts. I remember how I wanted so desperately to go shopping by myself. Well, me and my friends. That day is coming for her, too. Then I'll just be the person who drops her off and picks her up. Oh, and pays the bills.