why were people so skinny in the 70s?

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  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    Kelkat405 wrote: »
    Does it seem like kids are taller now? I walked into my child’s middle school and it seemed like kids were a lot taller than when I was in school.

    I don't know about 70s versus today but I was in middle school around '89-91 and 5'7" at the time and I was not even close to being one of the "tall girls", even though I'd been the tallest in elementary school since I hit my growth spurt very young. I think kids were pretty tall in grades 6-8 even then. Lots of boys over 6 ft.

    I do see a lot more high schoolers who truly look like adults, compared to say, 2004-2005 when I did a substitute teaching stint.

  • ilfaith
    ilfaith Posts: 16,769 Member
    I have two middle schoolers now. At that age there is such a wide range of heights and levels of physical maturity. There are boys who are shaving and girls far more "endowed" than I am...and then there are students who look like little kids. My eighth grader is tallish, and broad shouldered...his feet are the same size as my husband's, and his voice has gotten deep seemingly overnight. My sixth grader is small for his age...but considering that he's been eating me out of house and home the past few months, I am anticipating a growth spurt coming soon.

    I reached my maximum height (a hair short of 5'3") in the seventh grade (back in the early 80s). My best friend Staci was 5'7"...taller than my dad.
  • PWRLFTR1
    PWRLFTR1 Posts: 324 Member
    Disco?
  • Kelkat405
    Kelkat405 Posts: 166 Member
    ilfaith wrote: »
    I have two middle schoolers now. At that age there is such a wide range of heights and levels of physical maturity. There are boys who are shaving and girls far more "endowed" than I am...and then there are students who look like little kids. My eighth grader is tallish, and broad shouldered...his feet are the same size as my husband's, and his voice has gotten deep seemingly overnight. My sixth grader is small for his age...but considering that he's been eating me out of house and home the past few months, I am anticipating a growth spurt coming soon.

    I reached my maximum height (a hair short of 5'3") in the seventh grade (back in the early 80s). My best friend Staci was 5'7"...taller than my dad.

    I guess that’s true. That is an age where a lot of changes happen. Maybe there were just a lot of tall kids in the hall that day. Lol
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    Kelkat405 wrote: »
    ilfaith wrote: »
    I have two middle schoolers now. At that age there is such a wide range of heights and levels of physical maturity. There are boys who are shaving and girls far more "endowed" than I am...and then there are students who look like little kids. My eighth grader is tallish, and broad shouldered...his feet are the same size as my husband's, and his voice has gotten deep seemingly overnight. My sixth grader is small for his age...but considering that he's been eating me out of house and home the past few months, I am anticipating a growth spurt coming soon.

    I reached my maximum height (a hair short of 5'3") in the seventh grade (back in the early 80s). My best friend Staci was 5'7"...taller than my dad.

    I guess that’s true. That is an age where a lot of changes happen. Maybe there were just a lot of tall kids in the hall that day. Lol

    I was born in 76 and was always the tallest girl and sometimes the tallest out of everyone until high school. I stopped growing in gr 7 at 5'8
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    beaglady wrote: »
    I know my mom told me to go see Aerosmith it cost her around $5.00-$20.00.

    The first concert I went to, in either '74 or '75 was Mott the Hoople, Queen, and the 'new' band Aerosmith. Tickets were $5.00.

    First concert I went to was 1985, Born in the USA tour.
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    ktm96 wrote: »
    So I'm trying to figure out why people were so skinny about 40 years ago vs today....here are some reasons i can think of and i want to know yours:

    1. little to none high fructose corn syrup
    2. more activity.....people didnt sit on their computers and smart phones all day

    these are just two main ones i can think of, anyone else have any ideas?

    Know I'm late to the party, but the simple answer to your question: Less marketing.

    It was a lot harder back than for big-corn and big-soy to target youth. The average household had one TV with a few channels you caught on a bunny ear antenna. There were no smart phones, no PCs, definitely no internet, and kids had better things to do than buy magazines or newspapers which could have ads. All this has changed though, and now big-corn can shower you with Coca Cola while big-soy tells you it's inhumane to eat meat through PETA.

    That's literally it. I remember when I was a kid back in '93 and how big of a deal it was to have a fruit roll up (basically corn syrup and chemicals for flavor) for lunch because that's what they used to show you during morning cartoons. That and Kellog's Corn Pops. Damn I miss that cereal...

    You obviously weren't around during the '70s, so we couldn't possibly expect you to remember the TV commercials with the Lucky Charms leprechaun ("always after me Lucky Charms!"), Tony the Tiger (Frosted Flakes - "They're GRRRREEEEAAAT!!!), the Flintstones advertising Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles, Cap'n Crunch, Count Chocula, Frankenberry and Boo-Berry, the "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!" bird, Toucan Sam for Fruit Loops, etc.

    There was a short-lived cereal brand in the 70s called Pink Panther Flakes, branded with (of course) the Pink Panther. It was basically just pink-colored Frosted Flakes, and the big selling point is that the pink coloring would leach into the milk, turning that pink too.

    I can't believe I ever thought that sounded like a good thing. But I was around 10 years old at the time.
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    You obviously weren't around during the '70s, so we couldn't possibly expect you to remember the TV commercials with the Lucky Charms leprechaun ("always after me Lucky Charms!"), Tony the Tiger (Frosted Flakes - "They're GRRRREEEEAAAT!!!), the Flintstones advertising Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles, Cap'n Crunch, Count Chocula, Frankenberry and Boo-Berry, the "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!" bird, Toucan Sam for Fruit Loops, etc.

    Yeah, but my point is you had one TV, maybe two, with 5 channels tops, targeting children between the hours of 7-9am, and 3-6pm. There wasn't much room left to compete between adults and teenagers.

    The only time slot that was needed to reach a young boy in the 1970s was between 8am -noon on Saturday morning when all of us were watching cartoons. All of the cool toys and all of the sugary cereals and snacks

    PS. I was curious about the lineup, and found this, the schedule in 1976 (for all of you reminiscing Gen X'ers)!

    ABC
    8AM - The Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show
    9AM - Jabberjaw
    9:30AM - Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour
    10:30AM - The Krofft Supershow

    CBS
    8AM - Sylvester and Tweety
    8:30AM - Bugs Bunny/Road Runner
    9:30AM - Tarzan
    10AM - The Shazam!/Isis Hour
    11AM - Ark II
    11:30AM - Clue Club

    NBC
    8AM - Woody Woodpecker
    8:30AM - Pink Panther
    10AM - McDuff, The Talking Dog
    10:30AM - Monster Squad
    11AM - Land of the Lost


    You were probably as irritated as I was that when they did a cinematic treatment of Land of the Lost they turned it into a ridiculous Will Ferrell vehicle instead of doing it straight. For Saturday morning kiddie fare, it was actually very good science fiction.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help. ytegdw1qw4h2.png

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help. ytegdw1qw4h2.png

    Do you have kids? Just curious.
  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
    diet pills that kept you going were easy to get as b12 cocktail injections from most any doctor. today's prozac and pain killers make folks too mellow
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    Kelkat405 wrote: »
    ilfaith wrote: »
    I have two middle schoolers now. At that age there is such a wide range of heights and levels of physical maturity. There are boys who are shaving and girls far more "endowed" than I am...and then there are students who look like little kids. My eighth grader is tallish, and broad shouldered...his feet are the same size as my husband's, and his voice has gotten deep seemingly overnight. My sixth grader is small for his age...but considering that he's been eating me out of house and home the past few months, I am anticipating a growth spurt coming soon.

    I reached my maximum height (a hair short of 5'3") in the seventh grade (back in the early 80s). My best friend Staci was 5'7"...taller than my dad.

    I guess that’s true. That is an age where a lot of changes happen. Maybe there were just a lot of tall kids in the hall that day. Lol

    I was born in 76 and was always the tallest girl and sometimes the tallest out of everyone until high school. I stopped growing in gr 7 at 5'8

    I was also born in '76. I was about 5'4" and 130 lb at the end of grade 3...the tallest kid until halfway through 5th grade when half the boys and girls all started catching up with me. I stopped growing around the same time (7th grade) and at 5'8" too.

    My dad was 6'5" when he was younger and my mom's about 5'6", so everyone thought I'd be much taller than I am (still somewhat tall).

  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
    hroderick wrote: »
    diet pills that kept you going were easy to get as b12 cocktail injections from most any doctor. today's prozac and pain killers make folks too mellow

    Diet pills are still easy to get (there are plenty of "weight loss clinics" that are happy to prescribe phentermine to any and all patients), and as far as street drugs go, white crosses are no harder to get today than in the 70's.

    Prozac - check out the lyrics to the Stones "Mother's Little Helpers" from 1966 - while Prozac hasn't been around that long, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds in general pre-date the 70's. My mother was taking Elavil (an antidepressant) in 1971.

    Typically, pain meds tend to suppress appetite.
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help. ytegdw1qw4h2.png

    I don't know any families whose kids have one of those.

    On the other hand, I remember seeing them in the Sears Christmas catalogue every year, desperately wanting one, and never getting it.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    ccsernica wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help. ytegdw1qw4h2.png

    I don't know any families whose kids have one of those.

    On the other hand, I remember seeing them in the Sears Christmas catalogue every year, desperately wanting one, and never getting it.

    May be dependent on where you live. I've lived in single family suburban style neighborhoods since they came out and they are everywhere.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    More active and less constant eating out.
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
    edited March 2018
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    ccsernica wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help. ytegdw1qw4h2.png

    I don't know any families whose kids have one of those.

    On the other hand, I remember seeing them in the Sears Christmas catalogue every year, desperately wanting one, and never getting it.

    May be dependent on where you live. I've lived in single family suburban style neighborhoods since they came out and they are everywhere.

    They've been available for a very long time: http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1969_Sears_Wish_Book/#563/z
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    ccsernica wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help. ytegdw1qw4h2.png

    I don't know any families whose kids have one of those.

    On the other hand, I remember seeing them in the Sears Christmas catalogue every year, desperately wanting one, and never getting it.

    I know very few children who don't have one of these (or similar). But then again where I most kids get their first motorcycle or ATV before they are out of 2nd grade.
  • lkpducky
    lkpducky Posts: 17,564 Member
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help. ytegdw1qw4h2.png

    Do you have kids? Just curious.

    I sure do, they are grown now, but those things were out there when they were the appropriate age. We could have afforded them with no issue, but refused to buy them. They had various pedal cars, trikes, etc and excellent quality kids bikes.

    Our neighbors had one. Our kids rode it a few times. To be honest though, the kids had more fun when the motor broke and the kids pushed each other around in the thing.

    My kids didn’t get those kind of things either. They liked the box that the fridge came in though. I really wanted a Big Wheel when I was little but money was tight. Oh well.

    My husband would have broken the motor on purpose when he was a little bugger!

    I remember making a playhouse out of the fridge box.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited March 2018
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Well I grew up in the 70's and ate Mcdonald's once a week, ate school lunch every day (tater tots, pizza, sloppy joe's, lasagne etc.) drank soda, and ate lots of candy (went to the candy store everyday after school). So why was I so skinny? I never sat still and played till dinner time. So physical activity was the main reason.

    We didn't even have Mcdonalds here (Australia) when i was growing up in the 70's. We had Hungry jacks (Burger King) which was a 30 minute drive away.
    Take away was a once a month treat, as were school bought lunches. I brought a homemade lunch to school everyday. Dinner was cooked from scratch every night, and I don't remember ever having boxed/ready meals as a kid/teenager.

    ETA; Sitting at home on weekends watching tv was unheard of, and we had some sort of sport practice most nights of the week. We were allowed to ride our bikes all over the country side from sun up to sun down.