It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passed in which The Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak — 'child hero' was the phrase generally used – had overheard some compromising remark and denounced its parents to the Thought Police.
-Not an Instruction Manual
"over thirty"
Which brings back memories of Logan's Run.