What did you want when you were a child?

[Twigaletta]

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?

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!

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 I'll never forget the look on her face when I showed her my building society balance 😁

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

A bike being virtually blind no chance.

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!

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

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

Yes, this, but why!?

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

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

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..

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 age to listen to radio one and record the top 40 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...

@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!

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

Sunnydays

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

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.

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.

@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

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.

@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.

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

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.

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!

@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...

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

An umbrella.