Did you "go for a drive" when you were a kid?

[Allthereindeersaregirls]

I was reminded of this the other day, when a friend said she was taking the kids "for a drive" to get out of the house. I'd not heard of anyone doing it since I was a kid (80s) and I don't remember anyone else doing it then.

Mum and dad would bundle us in to the car and we'd go for a drive - just that. No purpose (that I can discern), not a drive to get somewhere, not even an ice cream. We'd just drive around for a bit then go home.

Were my parents nuts?

We do this now, never did as kids

We took the kids for a drive yesterday and yes my parents did this as too when I was a child.

No, thank goodness. DF was a terrible driver, DM not much better.

God no. My dad was the most stressful driver ever. He was genuinely a good driver with amazing hazard awareness, car handling skills etc. But he had total faith in those skills and therefore drove at ridiculous speeds on rural roads, overtaking into tiny gaps, laughing with joyous contempt if any of us gasped or looked nervous. Frankly I hated him when he drove. There were several times as a child when I genuinely feared death in the car.

God. Sometimes I'm so happy that he's dead.

Yes and my children particularly liked going for a drive on a winters evening near to Christmas, their dad would drive them all around town to look at everyone's Christmas lights.

Yes, we did! 80s and early 90s. Usually a Sunday afternoon thing. We used to enjoy it. I used to like going to different places and imagining what it was like to live there.

Yes all the time but I've never did this with my own DC. We're too busy, there are better things to do, driving is stressful now, petrol costs etc etc. It's a shame really as I have fond memories of this.

Yes, we often did this. And trips to the local airport to watch the planes. Such simple pleasures.

My parents were somewhat fluid in many of their arrangements We would set off on holiday with no decision made as to exactly where we were going. I loved that, it was so exciting.

How weird, there was a thread about doing this just yesterday or the day before. It stuck in my mind as for some reason the OP called it “going a drive”

I've never heard of anyone missing out the word for but it wasn't a mistake as she repeated it in further posts.

I assume you must be quite young @Allthereindeersaregirls to think that going for a drive is unusual enough to think you might be the only family to do it

Yes, in the 50’s and 60’s. As a car-sick child it was torture, deadly boring and utterly pointless most of the time!

Yes in the 90s. We’d take my grandma for a drive. But that also meant sitting in the back with my 2 siblings and grandma!

We used to do that in Sweden too in the 80's. We'd drive past houses of school friends, through town, sometimes through a forest to look out for elks and bears. Always at night time. What a weird thing to do, but I do have fond memories from doing it. I guess the fact that we only had two channels on our TV meant we had to leave the house to get some sort of action.

Yes and me and DH do it now with DC! We live rurally, so if we haven't been out of the village for a while we like to go on a short drive just to get us 'out of the house'. Otherwise we feel a bit locked in. It was hard in lockdown not being able to do this.

Also all previous posters talking about going to the airport to watch the planes or going round a garden centre just for the sake of it, I remember those trips so fondly. Or going round Currys and looking at all the ovens and the washing machines - I don't think my parents ever bought anything from there but it was an activity to keep me and my siblings quiet for a bit!

My dad would take me for a drive down the country and as I got older and fuel got expensive. (I'm talking early 2000) If I asked for a drive. He would take me to the petrol station and back. Once a week, That was our drive. He also always got me a mint or a choc from the petrol pump.
Now hubby and I go out for drives, when I'm feeling a little low but don't fancy getting out. He will get me a milkshake and I'll sip to it whilst enjoying the traffic. Lol

@Jasmine245

My parents still do this. They often drive past some rightmove houses they like the look of but would never actually move to.

My MIL does this! She has lived in the same house ever since she moved out of her parents' house and has no intention of moving now. But she is keeps an eye on the prices other houses on her road sell for and looks at rightmove to see what else is selling for a similar amount and then takes a drive round other houses for sale for a similar amount. If there's one she thinks is better than hers (better area/bigger etc) she gets quite annoyed!

I used to take my Son and Daughter on their favourite drive on sunny days, We went to a small airport in the Midlands.,you could go inside.and watch the planes from a viewing platform upstairs,and there was a cafe up there. Afterwards, we went to an old fashioned garden centre , that was situated in a vast area of land,,with sweeping lawns, that went right down to a lovely big lake with geese and ducks on it.
It felt like taking my children on holiday for the day,and my kids were always wanting to go to these two places. Both places were about 8 miles from home.

I bought a lovely stone bird bath from this old garden centre years ago, and it's still in my front garden now, after 40 years, and always reminds me of the days years ago.

Yes, we were made to get into the car for a Sunday afternoon of enforced boredom every so often.

I don't understand why my parents persisted on these trips. We never stopped anywhere, and it can't possibly have been enjoyable for them either with vocally bored children in the back!

My parents would say 'Let's go for a drive' but we would actually get out somewhere like a park or the woods, sometimes we would stop and have dinner out or bring fish and chips in with us.

We used to go to some exotic not exotic destinations. Clevedon from Bristol, literally just for an icecream.
Later in the 80's when my friends and I had our first cars we would drive in convoy of 3 or 4 packed cars to Aust motorway services on the M4 for an all day breakfast.

My parents did that. My mum liked to look at a view, but wouldn't dream of walking to the top of a hill so they drove, sat in the car at the viewing point maybe had a cup of tea and then went home.

Only three tv channels then !

Mine did.
Add in a 1970s Cortina, no seatbelts and before travel sickness tablets, what could be a better way to spend time.

We do that now

My parents would do the same as the OPs, they would drive somewhere and then often wouldn't even get out of the car but just park up and look at the view. We hated it as kids but I love to drive somewhere now and have a walk/get an ice cream etc. To me it's much better than going somewhere full of people and expensive to get in.

Ooh yes we'd go to the services in the motorway as a treat 😀

My dad used to take us for solo drives and leave my mother at home it was probably her only break

I grew up in the middle of nowhere so he'd literally just randomly choose a country lane and we'd explore. We ended up in all sorts of places but mostly castles and waterfalls. In the right seasons we'd also come back laden with bramble fruit or nuts too.

We could always tell if he'd really found himself out of his known areas because he'd head to the nearest A-road to try and navigate home. He was like a little homing pigeon though so we never got properly lost.

Because my dad worked such long hours these drives make up my fondest childhood memories with him.