A grandmother with children in the 80s and grandchildren in the 2020s

We are better off financially as grandparents, but we should still limit the amount of clothes we buy for our grandchildren.

In the 1980s, many needed to think about reusing and repairing children's clothes because clothes were expensive, and parents of small children did not have much money to spare.

It was nice and useful to exchange and inherit clothes for children and babies. If you ask me, it is a joy to wear clothes until they're used up. 

We were particularly happy with clothes that were solid but at the same time comfortable to wear. Cotton and wool garments were the favorites.

There was also an emerging interest in how clothing production affected the environment and how the textile workers were treated. After all, our boys grew up with "Blekkulf's" message about not littering or polluting since their mother was active in the Nature Conservation Association.

Nevertheless, today I know a lot more about the environmental challenges related to clothing production and see that we have a job to do as consumers. We have to care about how the items of clothing have come to be and make good use of them. We really want to leave as few negative "footprints" as possible, but we are a bit spoiled now compared to the 80s.

We, as grandparents, can afford to buy a lot for our grandchildren now, and we have to remember that we can use the money in other ways than investing in new things!
We can contribute in other ways that benefit our grandchildren and the world.

Sissel
(Norway)