Have we morphed into our parents, asks Sheffield Retro columnist Monica

We used to think rather smugly that we would never be like our parents.

After all, we were the rebels, the beat generation.

We were mods, rockers, or even punks.

We discovered free love, would have been at Woodstock if we could have afforded it, or knew where it was, and wore flowers in our hair!

Well, that might be pushing it a bit!

Our parents seemed old.

Mothers wore Crimplene frocks and slacks and had a shampoo and set at the hairdressers every week, with a perm every month or so.

Father wore zip-up jackets from Greenwoods. Grannies looked like proper grannies and sat in front of the fire knitting and getting the fronts of their legs burnt.

They all listened to Billy Cotton’s Band Show on the radio and were fans of Vera Lynn, Donald Peers, Josef Locke and Kathleen Ferrier.

My mother was horrified when she found that my father had surreptitiously taken me to the Capital Cinema at Sheffield Lane Top to see Bill Haley in Rock Around the Clock in 1956. Rock ’n’ Roll was the end of civilization as far as she was concerned.

And when The Beatles and Rolling Stones came on the scene, she called them ‘long-haired yobs’ although in actual fact, they were all clean looking and well-groomed with smart clothes.

It comes as a bit of a shock to find you seem to have morphed into your parents, almost without realising it.

It seems there are some ways to recognise the transition and the lockdown seems to have brought many resemblances to the fore.

Actually, it hasn’t been a lot different for many pensioners. We are creatures of habit and stayed in the house a lot anyway. In fact, our bin used to go out more than we did!

We eat our meals at the same time each day, and have a morning cup of coffee while watching Homes Under the Hammer.

We did a ‘big shop’ on the same day each week, but with our reluctance to visit supermarkets we use the home delivery service. Again, on the same day.

Clothes are a giveaway also. Forget miniskirts, bikinis and killer heels. I find that I have bought shoes for comfort with cosy names like Shoesoft and Glovefit!

I am very conscious where I walk and what surfaces I walk on. After having a few falls, I’m paranoid about tripping up! And that’s before I’ve had a drink!

I own a couple of pairs of fashionable boots like Ugg, but they are suspiciously like my mother used to buy at Timpson’s.

But having said all that, we have not yet started to dress totally like our parents did.

We follow the present fashion for tight trousers instead of the wide-legged variety that instantly say ‘old person’.

Although at present we are tending to wear the same clothes more or less all the time, with no social occasions to dress up for, our shopping habits do differ from those of our parents with our newly found expertise at ‘shopping on line’

We were, however, never likely to say to our mothers ‘Mother, what are you wearing’, as my daughter is prone to do if I wear something she considers a tad too young for me!

Our mothers dressed sensibly as befitted their age!

We say things our parents used to say like ’I wish they would turn that row down’ and ‘they won’t be doing any nostalgia shows in 50 years’ time’ - and although we complain bitterly about the rubbish on the television, we tape some of it if we do go out.

My mother used to complain about rising prices, teenagers, and buses running late, and neighbours who didn’t donkey stone their front steps, but there aren’t quite the same amount of issues when you’re at home most of the time as we are now.

I really don’t think I complain very much at the moment, it’s good simply to get through each week and what it throws at us in the way of restrictions. Cake is a great comfort.

It used to be quite usual for young men, on contemplating matrimony to be advised to look at their girlfriends’ mother, because that it how she would turn out in years to come. I wonder if they still do?

According to a survey of 2,000 adults, men start to turn into their fathers by the age of 38. Many a young man who has laughed at his father’s obsession with golf or his greenhouse, suddenly found themselves discussing their handicaps with their friends, or finding the local garden centre a fun place to visit at weekends.

Our sons used to laugh at their fathers for reading the News of the World instead of the The Sunday Times, buying clothes for comfort and not fashion, having various degrees of OCD when they insisted on sitting in the same place at the dinner table or in the pub and going to bed after News at Ten. Now they find that, having young children, they are grateful just to get to bed!

We said we would never be like our parents. But guess what, we have, almost without noticing it. But our children will be different, or will they?