Was this normal in the 90's

[sparklybin]

I'm trying to sort in my head some of the things my parents did when me and siblings were growing up to see what was normal and was was not.

When my parents used to go into town ie the high street, if they had their shopping to do or something like a bank appointment they would drop us at the toy store and leave us there playing with the toys until they'd finished and then they'd come back. Probably used to leave us for about an hour but I'm not sure if it was longer. We were about 4/5 when they started doing this
I can't imagine doing this. It was early 90's though so I don't know if it was normal or not.

Yes my parents did that.

DH tells me that they used to go skiing and leave his sister (aged 4/5) in the ski chalet ALL DAY!! Alone

Sorry, this was early 80s

Imtryingveryhard

^
Hope things are better now

It's funny how on Mumsnet people are very quick to judge parents of today for not being perfect. But on the point of their own parents being negligent dicks that was all absolutely fine.

Cognitive dissonance...

Yes but was at least 8 London suburbs

My parents never did this but my mum was extremely overprotective. I did start getting the bus to town alone at about 12 years old.

I heard recently that my mum left me home aline as a baby every day to take my elder sister to school and back, to be fair the school was 2 min down the road but I was still shocked! (That was late 70s/early 80s).

It's funny how on Mumsnet people are very quick to judge parents of today for not being perfect. But on the point of their own parents being negligent dicks that was all absolutely fine

Nope... most of us are saying it happened, not that it was fine.

My DD was born in the 90s and she has an older sister born in the 80s. Neither of them were ever left in a shop.

No, not normal.

My children were small in the 80s and 90s and I wouldn't have dreamt of doing it. However, I remember a friend left her baby in his pram outside the village butcher's shop and forgot all about him until she got home. Luckily he was still there.

No. Definately not normal at anytime and definately not in the 80's or 90's.

@MrsLargeEmbodied

my ds was born in 1994, i would never have done anything like that

had no one heard of Jamie Bulger, that was 1993 and surely that must have made parents very anxious.

Exactly this. I was born late '80s and my parents wouldn't let me out of their sight after Jamie Bulger. Mum told me it had a huge impact on them and really opened their eyes to stranger danger (not that they'd have been able to leave me in a store on my own because I was a rather clingy child).

I had my first two children in 87 and 89 but no I never left them in a toy shop and went shopping elsewhere, I did leave the pram outside the local shop though as did everyone else and nobody considered it risky. I did leave them in the car in car seats and nip into a newsagent and I'd leave them in the car when I went to pay for petrol. I avoided taking them to the supermarket but they did have to walk round with me and weren't allowed to help themselves to the pick and mix.

In 1993, Jamie Bulger was abducted from a shopping centre in Liverpool. We had a shop in a town centre, indoor, shopping centre 30 miles from Liverpool. Before Jamie Bulger, mums and their children used to meet outside our shop, having a fag and chatting. Their kids used to run round playing, running in and out of the shops. Post Jamie Bulger, all the kids were on reins and kept much closer to their parents. The evil little shits who killed Jamie Bulger put the fear of god into parents across the country.

I was born in 60s and at a young age we had loads of freedom and would wander for miles. It makes me wonder now how nothing happened. I do remember b nearly falling in the river once .

Never happened to my sons born ‘88 and ‘91

There is absolutely no way my parents would have done that. We were never left unattended. I wasn’t allowed to walk to the shops in the village (about half a mile walk) until I was 10, and I was left on my home for the first time when I was in the first year of secondary school and was off school feeling ill but my mum couldn’t get the day off work. She rang me every hour or two and came home to check on me on her lunch break. I was born in 1978 for context.

Definitely not.

There have always been negligent parents.

Ask any Social Worker.

I think I remember my baby brother being left outside the local shop in his pram though. That seemed to be standard back then (would have been 1981-1983ish).

Not normal at all. TBH I think your parents (especially your dad) sound a bit CF-ish or negligent.

Another favourite was to leave us scoffing the sweets in the pick and mix aisle of the supermarkets while they went to do their shop.

That's awful. No wonder you're questioning bits of your childhood.

No that doesn’t seem normal,I was born in the 80s and my parents were very relaxed with things but they wouldn't of left me in a shop

My brother was born in 1990. My parents were extremely relaxed parents but there's no way they'd have left him or us alone in shops at 4 or 5. It certainly doesn't seem normal to me.

There used to be signs outside coffee shops/cafes saying no prams or pushchairs. I just never went in them, used to go to mother and toddler groups to talk to friends

@MaybeAMoaner

I never had this happen to me but I can imagine it being very normal in the 90s

My mum told me how in the 80s you were not allowed to take prams in shops so you had to leave your baby in the pram outside the shop and this was totally normal.
Imagine doing that now!!

This stopped being the norm after a baby was abducted :(