Children Of The Great War Part 2

At the outbreak of war, children's routines were very much unchanged. The would get up, wash with a jug of cold water, have breakfast, go to school, finish school, do any homework given and then go out to play until told to come in. However, this changed slightly, with more and more mothers going out to work in factories and other jobs. If families weren't lucky enough to live with grandparents, many children were left to see to younger siblings whilst their mothers were at work. This meant the eldest child was usually responsible for getting their brothers and sisters up, washed, breakfast for them and all at school on time. With mothers at work some children even had to join the rest of England in queuing at shops to get the food needed for the family.

As well as doing normal school subjects, children were also expected to help with the war effort at school. This included knitting scarves and socks for soldiers at the front line, collecting tin cans for recycling, working on the school vegetable plot and even in schools in the countryside helping with the harvest. Many children would also be expected to help with the housework after school so as a result of the war, many children had more responsibility.

Saturdays were usually the first time of the week where they had plenty of time to themselves. if they were lucky, their mothers might have been able to spare the money for them to go to the cinema, if not they would more likely be found playing with their friends in the street. Saturday night was bath night, so that everyone was clean ready for church in the morning.

Sundays for children normally consisted of church with the family in the morning and then Sunday school in the afternoon. Sunday school wasn't all religious studies all afternoon, instead many in the country took the pupils on outings either to the beach or somewhere else close by. For children from poorer backgrounds, these outings were much anticipated and were more often than not the only outings they went on.

Life seemed to go on as usual for the children of the Great War, except for a few minor changes except that many children were left anxiously working about their fathers, many of whom were away fighting on the front line. They were just carrying on as usual, waiting for their fathers to return.