How did the war influence our parents and how they brough us up

I had a Dutch friend wh lived in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation. He father worked for the resistance and was eventually caught and shot, but before that my friend was carrying messages for the resistance when she was around 13. They were a very well off family but of course that counted for nothing under the Nazis. She was starving, and after the war was sent to England to get proper food. She recovered, went back to Holland but remained anaemic for a long time.

I am enjoying reading everyone's family stories.. so interesting. Dad did not serve as he did not come to UK until after the war. He was on a call up list as he had an English dad but he was not called.

Adding to my post - as I said my Granny was the main influence in my childhood. but also the whole extended family. Various aunts and uncles and cousins.
The house was always full of people coming and going. Servicemen were invited and there was music and dancing.
Like others have said about their Mums, I know mine enjoyed the freedom she had during the war, but she found it very hard to settle down to married life when Dad came back.
The main result for me was that I was left to my own devices a lot and became very independent. Also rather insecure.

My dad was 33 when WW2 began but failed the medical to enlist because of having had diphtheria. He joined the Home Guard in London. My mum was down in Hampshire and took in evacuees, young women, not children. They were the most loving parents we girls could have had.

my experience with my parents , was we had more discipline in the house , step out of line etc approach.
Food wise rationing and the type of food we had , things such as TV and white goods luxury's.
This last weekend seeing someone on a station platform in 40`s dress , and trying to eat a spam sandwich with pickle was the norm.
Mick

My parents married in 1939 and my Dad was an officer in the army. He was at Dunkirk and my mum always said that for years afterwards he would scream in his sleep.

After that he went out to the Middle East for five years , one of the desert rats. He told me that when they were all sitting round outside their tents one evening a German Stuka spotted them and dived down to shoot. The gun jammed and they were reprieved. He always felt that the rest of his life was a bonus after that.

My parents didn't see each other for six years and Iwas born on their seventh wedding anniversary. They had a difficult marriage - not one that I think would have survived in this day and age.

My father was in the navy, on the dreadfully dangerous N Atlantic convoys for 2 years, among other things. He never spoke about it, but was always a kind and very jolly type.

My mother was on her own in London during the Blitz and right through. She was never as naturally a jolly type as my father but was certainly not cold or distant.

They were both more strict on behaviour than nowadays, but that was normal then. And of course after rationing we were very conscious of not wasting food - something that still grieves me if I see it - in particular just lately, seeing people take so much from the hotel's breakfast buffet and then leaving much of it on their plates!
Actually it doesn't exactly grieve me - it makes me very cross!

My mother too was in the Land Army during the war, she loved it and said she felt free for the first time; it was also how she met my father. She was more affected though by her experiences in a children's home during the 1920s from the ages of about 4 to 14. It was very strict, not loving, so when she came to have her own family she had no experiences of growing up in a normal family or how a family worked. At 14 she went to live as a mother's help with a family to help in the house and care for their two boys. I got the impression that she had to work really hard there. She was very strict with us and although we were fed, clothed and warm, I don't ever remember any cuddles, or being told we were loved. She was a big fan of physical punishment and I lived in fear of her. As a result I tried to avoid her as much as I could when I was grown up. I vowed I would never bring my children up in the same way. She said many years later that she thought that her children's home experience was the way you brought children up; she knew nothing different.

Shortly after the war my parents took us abroad to live in Africa. We used to come home on long leaves and stay with my grandparents. They were the very respectable upright types and my Grandad was the local mayor. However, every week there would be a queue of ladies outside and my granny would disappear into the cellar and come out with various packages. Money would then change hands.

It is obvious to me now that she was running some sort of black market outfit. The hypocrisy!

I was born in 1937 and remember the war years very well. Life was very hard for my mum as it was for most women at that time. My sister and I had to grow up very quickly as mum had so much to cope with living near the dock area in London. We lived in a ground floor maisonette with no proper kitchen, the old cooking range being in the living room and an outdoor toilet. Our bath had a wooden shut down lid that served as her work surface in the tiny scullery. The scullery also had a large sink where we washed, a large copper and a cooker. She was one of the old type who not only cleaned the home but the door steps and the front pavement.
My step father wasn't called up as he did necessary work on aircraft hangers and similar. He was away from home a lot which was great for us as he was a very strict disciplinarian, his father having been a regular sgt major in the army.
How my mother and others managed I can only appreciate as an adult today. With food and clothes rationing, constant bombing around us and having to get us children in the shelter most nights life was very hard. I can't remember getting cuddles but she was a very kind and caring mum who kept us and the house clean, altered clothes to fit us, put cardboard in our shoes when the soles wore thin and gave us a sense of responsibility. All 3 of us girls had to help with household chores and preparing food for cooking. For that we were given a little pocket money which once I had spent on a few sweets and a comic I had to go without until the next week. In spite of all of this I had a very happy childhood who played out all day, had lots of friends and hobbies and enjoyed school.
We have to remember that women of that generation left school at a very early age. My mother at 14. They often couldn't choose a career and went into service. Once old enough to earn, they had to earn for the home to survive. Discipline and instilling good manners was the norm as was bed by 7pm after being allowed to listen to the radio.

I think that we could do with a bit more of the old values today.