Albert and Sheila experienced very different childhoods when they grew up in Belfast. Take notes on the programme in a table like the one below. You might find more information for some themes than for others.

Sheila and Albert think that their childhood experiences were better than those of children today. Clare agrees with them: she thinks that children today have too many toys which they don’t really appreciate, and that children were happier in the 1930s.

Read the statements below which come from the programme. What do you think?

• ‘Going to the theatre is better than watching TV.’
• ‘Teenagers today have too much freedom — in the 1930s they were properly controlled.’
• ‘Children had more fun playing with toys they had made rather than spending lots of money on electronic games.’

Once you have written down your opinions, compare them with your friends’.

Different people will always have different opinions, even when they have looked at the same evidence: you need to weigh up the evidence yourself.

Place each of the statements below under an appropriate heading.

Headings:

• Children were happy in the 1930s.
• Children are happy today.
• Children were unhappy in the 1930s.
• Children are unhappy today.

Statements:

• Sheila left school just before she was 15.
• Albert did not get any pocket money.
• Unemployment in Belfast was high in the 1930s.
• Children today have loads of electronic games to play with.
• Children today leave school at 16 or often at 18.
• Children today watch a lot of television.
• Sheila’s father was strict about the friends she had, particularly boy friends.

Add some more statements which your friends agree about.

Look again at the statements in the first part of the activity. Do you still hold the same opinions?

Write a short discussion (50 to 150 words) of the claim that ‘children were happier in the 1930s’, considering both points of view.

Talk to an older relative or friend about their earliest memories of growing up. (It doesn’t matter how old they are, but it is important that you find out in which year they were born.)

Find out as much factual information as you can. What games did they play? Did they have any pocket money? Were they expected to do jobs around the house? Also try to find out about their opinions and feelings. Were they happy? Do they think that their childhood was better than for young people today?

It would be a good idea to discuss as a class the kinds of questions you might ask, before talking to the relative or friend.