Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

What did you want when you were a child?

218 replies

Twigaletta · 15/09/2020 19:51

Inspired by an article I read about a benevolent boss giving every employee their childhood dream. What did you dream of owning/having as a child?

Mine would have been a swimming pool. There were neighbours whose pool I could see from my bedroom window and I was always envious of them having fun in it. We were NEVER invited to play in it. I still want a garden big enough to get one of those solid sided above ground pools with steps, filter, cover, chemicals etc. I bet it would be an absolute expensive pain in the bum. But for one glorious summer I would love it! What was your childhood fantasy item?

OP posts:
daisychain1620 · 15/09/2020 19:54

Teddy Ruxpin! Really wanted one but looking back my lovely parents probably couldn't have afforded one.
As a young teen I would have loved an en suite!

purrswhileheeats · 15/09/2020 20:01

Mine was a horse. My mother sternly told me aged 12, if I wanted a horse I'd have to save up and buy one. Well, I saved up for four years and bought a horse Grin I'll never forget the look on her face when I showed her my building society balance 😁

JimMaxwellantheshippingforcast · 15/09/2020 20:04

Tap-a-shape and fuzzy felt

These were top of my list each Christmas but I never got them. I've no idea why either

Holothane · 15/09/2020 20:06

A bike being virtually blind no chance.

Original poster
Twigaletta · 15/09/2020 20:07

I only ever got to play with fuzzy felt at other people's houses. Never allowed my own!

@purrswhileheeats good on you for funding your dream!

OP posts:
UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme · 15/09/2020 20:09

purrswhileheeats who paid the vet and feed bills and field rental/ livery cost etc? I can see why your mum was kicking herself hard!

JimMaxwellantheshippingforcast · 15/09/2020 20:10

I only ever got to play with fuzzy felt at other people's houses. Never allowed my own!

Yes, this, but why!?

Original poster
Twigaletta · 15/09/2020 20:12

@JimMaxwellantheshippingforcast it's not like glitter which is the work of the devil Grin

OP posts:
bearlyactive · 15/09/2020 20:14

A TV for my room. A few months ago, I did get one (second-hand)... just haven't got round to wiring it in yet!

Oh, and a dog. Then we got a cat and I fell in love with cats Grin

Sunnydaysstillhere · 15/09/2020 20:15

A sibling!! When df told me he had gotten married my hopes were risen. Until I actually met my sm. Am certain she didn't have dc just to upset me.
My dgm worked in a top toy store in out hometown and I had every toy imaginable over the years. Pointless with nobody to play with..
Sad

UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme · 15/09/2020 20:15

I more wanted to be allowed to do things than longing for a specific possession or item or pet. I wanted to be allowed to watch top of the pops and the soaps my friends watched and not to have to go to church... I did really want my own ghetto blaster (, showing my ageGrin to listen to radio one and record the top 40 Blush and I saved up for that, and I wanted a TV in my room (to watch top of the pops and the soaps my friends watched which were banned in the living room) and it was a hard no regardless of who paid for years but they finally gave in when I was 16 and to my intense annoyance let my younger siblings have TVs too including the much younger one, so unfair, stamps foot

My own kids want a dog and it's a permanent and final no - my parents had a menagerie, so very many animals including dogs, so I think you want what you can't have really...

purrswhileheeats · 15/09/2020 20:16

@Twigaletta yes it was tough - four years of paper rounds, babysitting, cleaning houses and working in cafés.

BTW, swimming pools are a major pain in the arse! Grin

PatVPeggy · 15/09/2020 20:18
  1. a Paul Daniels magic set
  2. a Forever Friends Parker fountain pen. I never got one and a girl in my class did and she’s a doctor now
  3. a pair of those trainers where you could inflate the tongue with a little pump
  4. a Global Technicolour t-shirt which changed colour in hot weather. Our neighbour’s son had one and I was obsessed with it
TheVanguardSix · 15/09/2020 20:18

Sunnydays Sad

I really, really wanted a dollhouse and a Cabbage Patch Kid.

whatnow41 · 15/09/2020 20:19

I wanted to spend a day with my mum, just doing something nice. For her to choose something I would like and to enjoy spending time together. I remember suggesting things when I was about 9/10 but didn't get anywhere. I wanted her to care enough to want to do it too, and it not be a forced thing. I gave up.

littlemsattitude · 15/09/2020 20:19

A swimming pool, we went to view a house with one that was 48k, less the house we were selling and my parents wouldn't buy it because of the pool.

JimMaxwellantheshippingforcast · 15/09/2020 20:22

@whatnow41

I wanted to spend a day with my mum, just doing something nice. For her to choose something I would like and to enjoy spending time together. I remember suggesting things when I was about 9/10 but didn't get anywhere. I wanted her to care enough to want to do it too, and it not be a forced thing. I gave up.
This makes me feel very sad and very lucky all at the same time
norbert23 · 15/09/2020 20:23

I had a global technicolour t shirt @PatVPeggy and all I remember was the armpits used to change colour on sweaty days 😂
I desperately wanted an a la carte kitchen so I could make Swiss roll and beans.

Original poster
Twigaletta · 15/09/2020 20:23

@whatnow41 I wanted to go to a holiday club in the school holidays because otherwise I literally did nothing with my mum over the holiday. She had no interest in taking me places or playing with me. I never went to holiday club and I gave up and just read a LOT of books.

OP posts:
JimMaxwellantheshippingforcast · 15/09/2020 20:24

@Twigaletta we were allowed glitter, just never fuzzy felt or tap-a-shape

bellinique · 15/09/2020 20:26

A red and yellow plastic car which you could sit in and pedal.
A screwball scramble.
A Guess Who board game.
A pair of Clarks shoes with the magical fairy key in the soles.

Wavingwhiledrowning · 15/09/2020 20:26

I dreamt of having a toy post office. I literally asked for one every Christmas for years. I have no idea why I never got one. It definitely wasn't a whim - I regularly made my own out of cardboard boxes and such.
A few years after meeting DH, we were at his parents and they had been up to the attic sorting out old children's toys. Turns out he HAD A POST OFFICE. I actually burst into tears at the sight of it!

bellinique · 15/09/2020 20:29

@Wavingwhiledrowning

I dreamt of having a toy post office. I literally asked for one every Christmas for years. I have no idea why I never got one. It definitely wasn't a whim - I regularly made my own out of cardboard boxes and such. A few years after meeting DH, we were at his parents and they had been up to the attic sorting out old children's toys. Turns out he HAD A POST OFFICE. I actually burst into tears at the sight of it!
Ah I had one of these and absolutely loved it! (Sorry, not meaning to rub it in)

God knows why I loved it so much, endlessly pretending to sell an imaginary person a dog licence...

Lobsterquadrille2 · 15/09/2020 20:29

A Sasha doll in a blue gingham dress. I bought one on eBay some years ago, as an adult.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 15/09/2020 20:30

An umbrella.

Swipe left for the next trending thread