I'm being nice, ...just comparing notes.
Born in '52, I remember the first TV we got when I was about 4. It had a round screen, and of course was B&W (we got color about 10yrs later). We had 3 network channels, and one independent out of Minneapolis, all of which went off the air at about 11pm - 12mn with the National Anthem, and a test pattern. Saturday mornings were full of cartoons, Little Rascals, Fury, My Friend Flicka, Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger, Hop-a-long Cassidy, Sky King, etc.
My dad, who eventually became a district court judge, was born at home on a farm near Lostwood, ND. Here's a picture of the post office, which was also the general store, and other than a one room school, that was essentially the town. My mom was also born at home on a farm near Hewitt in north central MN. in a bit less desolate surroundings, and didn't have quite as far to walk to school, and sometimes got a ride on her brothers horse. We were a lot luckier. My three siblings and I were born in a hospital a block from our home where my mom was and RN. When I was 5 we moved to a home on the other end of town, so then my walk to school and back was only about 300 yards ( but still up hill both ways through a foot of snow lol).
Our breakfast was usually Cream of Wheat, or oatmeal, and an orange, or banana. A boxed cereal was a treat, but usually was something like Wheaties, Corn Flakes, or Cheerios, or Grape-nuts, very rarely a sweetened one like Frosted Flakes or Fruit Loops. We were also set free every morning, and told to be home for lunch when the noon whistle blew at the local creamery, and again when the 5 o'clock whistle blew again to get ready for supper. In the summer, once our chores were done (mowing, weeding the garden, etc)we were pretty free range kids too with some community structured time, like pee wee baseball, swimming lessons, etc. so not too much different from yours. But usually we were out trying to figure out how to make a buck or two to supplement our .25/wk allowance. So we would look for returnable pop bottles, offer to mow lawns in the summer, and shovel walks and driveways in the winter, and save up for something special we wanted, like a bike or sled, and eventually a snowmobile, motorcycle, and finally a car when I turned 16. We definitely learned and knew the value of a buck, and how to stretch it.
