What things were you not allowed as a kid that you can now do to your heart's content?

[BubblesInTheTub]

I know this has been done before but I love these threads.

I'll start:

• We never ever used to have Paracetamol in the house unless someone was actually ill with a cold or the like. I used to have horrendous period pains but pain relief was never available. Now I pick up Paracetamol whenever I'm in a shop (I think I've got about 20 boxes at the moment) and I take it whenever I need to.

• When I was a kid drinks were like food, you got a drink, you drank it and it was finished until the next drink. I've always needed to drink quite a lot and remember always being a bit thirsty as a kid. Nowadays I have a drink constantly on the go - a water/coke/squash just on the table for whenever I need a sip.

• When I was about 12, it suddenly became very uncool to wear a backpack. I used to walk two miles to school loaded up with really heavy shit sitting on one shoulder. Now I'm an adult and don't give a fuck what I look like, I'm happy hiking around town with all my heavy shit loaded up on my back

C'mon tell me yours!

The funny thing is that it's now perfectly acceptable to wear your bag on both shoulders even when you are 12. So you will now look quite trendy.

Food! Subsequently I’m very overweight. 🙁

Read late in to the night without using a torch (if I had had a kindle back then I would have been permanently sleep deprived ).

Fizzy drinks. My dad drank gallons but as kids we weren't allowed it. Now I have a serious diet coke addiction.

I'm sure there are others but I can't remember then right now.

Oh and having prawns just because I fancy a prawn mayo sandwich- not having to wait until Christmas Day!

Eating between meals. Never allowed when I was growing up, now I always feel a slight thrill when I have a packet of crisps/piece of fruit/slice of toast if I'm feeling peckish around 3pm.

Eat Pick & Mix sweets that have not been doused in Milton first, ditto salad. Eat roast pork.

Eat grapes - we hardly ever had them in the house and they were a very special treat
Use the phone for how long I like - without parents looking at their watches and tutting.

Something other than fruit (well, specifically golden delicious apples) as a snack.

Own towels for showers (the family of 8 shared a hand towel and a bath towel in the bathroom for a week - as a teen, I finally freaked out and kept 1 in my room for myself).

Takeaways - that was partly geography and partly budgetary - but we can get a takeaway or go out for coffee/dinner if we want now.

Making a drink and leaving it if i dont feel like finishing it.

Being able to read while eating. DM hated it and always insisted that we chatted about our day at dinner time. I would happily engage if I wasn't engrossed in a book, but once I was in that zone there was no getting me out of it that didn't result in me not speaking and bolting my food. I've gone the other way with my kids and we actually have interesting conversations about what they're reading or what is happening with them away from the table. They also know that it only applies in our house and are fine in social situations. It's not like it happens at every meal but if they are engrossed in something they're told that food is available and to eat/reheat when ready.

Staying in pjs all day and not going out. One of our favourite things to do is to just chill on a weekend, especially in the winter. We'll clear a weekend and line up movies/games/books and not go out at all. Sometimes we'll order in and not use plates. DH likes the idea of these days but he has to get dressed etc, the rest of us leave him to it. Unfortunately for him it means that he's the designated shopping person because he's dressed to go out

Eating a whole bar of chocolate (and I'm not talking about those family size bars - just one person bars like a Milky Way of Mars).

There were 3 of us and my dad always cut the bar into 3 pieces. I remember have particular trouble cutting a Wispa bar into the 3 especially as he had to ensure we all got the same amount of chocolate!

Chocolate for breakfast and going to bed when I like. Still haven't got over the novelty and I'm 37.

These are all great

Actually @Biddypop I had a very different situation from you. My mum used to insist that we should all have "proper puddings" every night after tea - crumbles, pies, cakes etc. I used to hate it, I just wanted a chocolate bar or an apple!

Chew gum.

Obviously I couldn't as a child because if I'd swallowed it, it would've wrapped round my heart. True medical fact!

Going to the loo on a long journey. We were never allowed to stop. And I just remember spending most journeys in pain. Wonder why I know have bladder problems.

Sorry. That put a dampener on things.

Going to church. I do go to church but I don't feel the need to go every Sunday. Growing up you had to be near death's door to be able to stay home. When we got old enough we then had to go in the evening as well. We also had to go when we were on holiday too if there was a church nearby.

Eating the nice fruit first before using up the manky bruised stuff (that now gets composted). We always had to cut out the bruises or eat the wrinkly apples first before we got to the nice new ones. Of course by the time we'd worked through the stuff that needed using up, the 'new' fruit was now wrinkly and old and needed using up...

Cold drinks at breakfast time.
More than a smear of butter on bread or toast.
Pudding.
More than 1 tiny lamb chop for dinner.
Fizzy pop.
Chocolate biscuits (well, not strictly true as she would buy them and keep them for herself)
Takeaways

Oh loads.....

My mother was (still is) of the opinion that what she likes or does or approves of is the only way, "Well no one wants cold drinks at breakfast do they?" She was absolutely horrified that I once bought a bottle of coke on the way to drop DD at school. I was hanging out for a cold fizzy drink as you sometimes do, and honestly you would have thought I had scored some crack!

"You dont NEED pudding/more than one lamb chop/fried bacon/any joy in life at all....." which is why if I ever want 15 lamb chops I will have them. Same for a lump of cheese off the block just for the sake of enjoying the taste.

We werent poor she is just as tight as a ducks arse when it comes to anything she doesnt like or approve of. I dont actually eat much of any of the stuff on the list, but I reserve the right to buy the lot and eat it all if I want to!

My Dad was really strict about when we could watch tv. He tried to ban it during the week totally at one point. I still feel a mix of guilt and guilty pleasure if I put the tv on before about 7pm now at 35!

Ordering more than 1 drunk in a cafe / restaurant.
Drinking fizz - ok I didn't drink it myself but Mum had the same bottle of Moet in the fridge for over 15 years! It was probably rank when she finally opened it.
Growing my hair long.

When we had been to a theme park or a museum or a zoo as children we were allowed to look in the gift shop but never buy anything Now, I always have to get something, usually just a pencil

One of my favourite memories was treating my goddaughter to a giant cuddly toy from a museum - she was THRILLED

Eating food without being constantly ill.

My parents were good but they didn't know / believe in food allergies and they weren't exactly big on it in the 80s.

I'm allergic to quite a few everyday food things and was hospitalised probably twice a year with "asthma" ie severe breathing difficulties

My parents were of the mind set that you couldn't leave the table without finishing a meal.

It wasn't until my 20s I was referred for allergy testing.

I've never been hospitalised since !! Plus I can choose to eat what I can without being fed thing I'm allergic to !!

Sweets and biscuits
Eating between meals
Having the heating on when it’s cold not just for an hour a day.

Yes, going to bed when I want. And wearing my dressing gown in the house (obvs) during the day without being asked if I'm ill.

Growing my hair long

Me too!

I am 45 with long bright red hair and my mother is appalled. According to her no woman over 40 should have long hair and although she hasnt actually said so, I suspect she is desperate for me to have a nice short neat bob in my natural mousey brown.

When I was a kid I was forced to have it cut very short in the days before cute stylish pixie cuts where a thing. I basically had a boys cut and I loathed it. Made far worse by my sister being allowed to grow hers to her waist as ma said hers was thicker and nicer than mine.