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.

I used to be left to roam around Edmonton Green market for an hour or two. I imagine if we had a toy store in the vicinity that this would have been a thing.

@Cookerhood

My children were born in the mid 90s & I've never heard of such a thing. Of course you could take prams/buggies into shops. Early 70s I always walked to school with my neighbour (both age 5). I don't remember my mother ever taking me to school. From 9 I traveled on the underground to school either on my own or with a friend. I used to walk round to the library on my own as well.

Because people didn't use coach-built prams so much then

I remember being allowed to go to the toy aisle with my brothers whilst mum went to another section in the shop. Same with the library we’d sit in the kids section whilst she browsed the adults. But we were never left totally alone whilst mum went to another shop.

I Was allowed to go to town on my own from the age of 10 and used to pick younger brother up from school, get on the bus to meet mum in town to get the shopping after she’d finished work at the age of 11 or 12. (Brother is 4 years younger than me)
On other days id pick him up and look after him until parents came home from work at 5.30pm

Was allowed to go to the local shop from the age of about 7 or 8.

I Remember going to the cinema at the age of 7 with my auntie on a Saturday, but she would have been 11 or 12 at the time. I don’t recall many adults in that showing mostly kids.
But going to the cinema was a treat a not a regular thing as money was tight for my parents. So wouldn’t have been taken and left whilst mum did shopping.

This all would have been around mid 80s

@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.

Quite and there were a couple of very high profile cases of babies being stolen.

Nobody I knew at that time would have done this.

@sparklybin Where did you live?

You referred to shop clerks

Not a phrase we use in England, so were you elsewhere?

People still do this in Bicester Village! Dump kids in a big shop leaving then running around and then expect them there when they get back.

I had my children in the 90s and this was very much not the norm.

I was born early 80s and my parents were v over-protective - e.g. I wasn't allowed go on sleepovers, strict curfew, etc etc.

They would have dropped me into the 'creche' at the supermarket, which was basically a small area with a sandpit and toys supervised by some teenagers. That was fairly standard, though people clearly took the piss: it was obviously meant to be while you did your 'big shop' so for an hour or so but you'd hear them calling for parents on the tannoy and people clearly left kids their for hours. That was probably from age 4.

They would have left me in the toy section of a department store while they went to another part of the shop from maybe 7or 8, though not for long. Again, I think that was normal enough: but not leaving the shop, and not for long, I'm thinking 10-15 minutes because I didn't want to leave and they wanted to get on.

And they would have left me in the library for probably up to 20 minutes:they'd always take me on a Saturday and also pick up my granny's pension for her at the post office about a ten minute walk away, sometimes depending on the weather/timing,they'd leave me in the children's section and go get the pension. I may have been slightly older.

So... I think there were places considered 'safe' that you would leave your child for a short while, at an age where now you wouldn't let them out of your sight And it was probably more ok for kids to wander to have a look at the magazines/books/whatever section was more interesting in the supermarket. But I think the 'norm' (obviously dependent on location)was probably to do this for much shorter times and at older ages.

Equally, when I was 7/8/9 and my dad was picking me up from primary school he was often quite late, and once he really did forget me - he thought my mum was picking me up. It usually depended on if he got caught up talking to a client. The time he 'forgot' me I was standing outside the school on my own for 40 minutes. That wouldn't be acceptable now, and I was obviously the only one still there:I think that time a teacher came out. And it was normal enough for kids at 9 to start going home solo, at 9/10 I took the bus, my parents were reluctant but my main objection was dad kept being late. The bus was to my granny's house so I wasn't unsupervised and it was a v straightforward short trip but I don't think it would be done at that age now.

Aged 8 I wouldn't have touched or played with things that didn't belong to me unless I was in the process of buying them. I did go to the library alone at that time and indeed into the shops to browse.
We lived in a medieval town when my DC were tiny in the early 1990s ; prams had to be left outside a lot of small shops and I left the babies in them.
I also let my 3 year old play outside with the other children in our close albeit keeping something of an eye on her from the kitchen.

I don't remember being left in shops but I was left in the car when parents went shopping from maybe 8. Def remember playing at ELC (80s I think that would br) but feel parents were around. Was allowed out to play for hours on end from quite a young age. For a couple of years that was on a building site which with hindsight wasn't great and I wouldn't let mine do it but I suffered no trauma and have great memories.

not normal for the 90s no-after jamie bulger i dont think kids were left anywhere

except your parents and whoever else just didnt want to go shopping with their kids it seems

My DDs were born in 1994, 1997 and 2001.
Definitely not normal. We lived in a mid-size town in the SE and wouldn't let oldest DD out of sight in town until she was about 9-10.

I was born in 1970 and my sister in 1973. Not normal then either. We lived in a tiny village and were allowed to walk up to the shop at around 6 and 4 (with me firmly told not to let go of sister's hand), straight there and straight back, no crossing of road required. But in nearly main town, never.

Not only was this the norm in the 90s but also going back many many generations beyond that. Mums used to also leave babies in prams outside their front door - even in flats. So they got some air.

I recall as a child late 60s being left in the car while my mother did food shopping, with engine running so we could listen to the radio and have the heat on.

One shopping mall we went to had play equipment in the middle where parents were encouraged to leave their children. Pet store and toy store were near these. We were left for hours. Just left. No supervision of any kind.
My younger years were in USA. We were allowed out to play, without supervision, and told to come home when the street lights came on. We are talking 4, 5 years old. We went to the forest where there was a swampy area, a farm nearby, walked to different neighbourhoods.

It was a different world. You just didn’t hear of all these horrible child abuse, pedophiles, murders etc. It wasn’t considered neglect nor abuse to let your child roam and explore. Very different to today’s world.

I was a child in the 60s and we were very free to roam around - we walked to school on our own from the age of 5. There was a lot less traffic in those days and there was a sense of community in that as a child I understood that any adult could tell me off or check on my welfare and if I went home and complained to my parents I'd get a further telling off. I had a fantastic childhood where I learnt independence and had so much freedom and we mostly can't do that anymore.

What you're describing happened before the 90s, certainly, but I think had gone out by then. You might leave your young dch for a few minutes in the library or Early Learning Centre, but that was all. DH grew up in the 60s and says that on holiday in Wales, he and his sisters would be left in the car outside pubs, with crisps. For me growing up, yes it was normal to leave your (big) pram outside a shop. Doubtless mothers would come out to find someone cooing over the baby. And it always was mothers - men didn't push prams. I remember when that started, and it was a novelty, and also when it became acceptable, or at least was seen, for couples to snog in the street. Both of those must've been early/mid 70s.

There are some people here that seem to believe because their parents did things like this it was the accepted norm. It wasn't. There are always some people that do things despite it being unacceptable to the majority

Not only was this the norm in the 90s

It really was NOT the norm in the 90s.

@RavenclawesomeCrone

My DDs were born in 1994, 1997 and 2001. Definitely not normal. We lived in a mid-size town in the SE and wouldn't let oldest DD out of sight in town until she was about 9-10.

I was born in 1970 and my sister in 1973. Not normal then either. We lived in a tiny village and were allowed to walk up to the shop at around 6 and 4 (with me firmly told not to let go of sister's hand), straight there and straight back, no crossing of road required. But in nearly main town, never.

I am amazed that leaving small children alone was the norm in the 80s/90s let alone in the 70s. No-one of my acquaintance used large prams - the buggy had arrived from America in the late 70s. Leave a 9/10 year old in the library or during their play hour but certainly not left to run amock. Yes big stores had 'creches' where you could leave your child I do wonder where some posters grew up - during the 70s - prams were out but reins were in. Folding pushchairs were in for getting on and off public transport. No-one left their child outside a supermarket when they could be slotted in a supermarket trolley

I answered you up thread @ChocolateGingers I am in the U.K., always have been. Grew up in a big town in the south east.
Don't live there anymore though. Actually live in a village and still wouldn't let my dc walk down to the shops but I do get times are different now which is why I asked because I can't separate what's normal or not and do find it strange now.

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!!

I hadn't even seen your post but it makes sense! Plus, it was a big pram, not like we have now. So although it could fit, I can't imagine it'd have been the norm to take those type of prams in.

Still can't imagine leaving my child aged 6/7 outside in a busy town.

I grew up in London. My mum used to give 1 hr classes. My brother and I would be left in the local bookshop - which had an area for kids to browse books - for the hour. We were together and I’d say I would of been 8+ and my bro 11ish.
This was before the tragedy of Jamie bulger whicj forever changed our perceptions of risk.

I'm sure there were people who did that, and people who still do it now.

I was born in the 80s and I can't say it was normal though. Never happened to me, nor anyone I knew at the time.

50s or 60s, perhaps.

Totally normal where I grew up. Was born in 1980 and remember peaks being left outside shops well into my teenage years.

Worked in a toy shop when I was 13/14 and kids were left there without parents frequently. Totally normal where I was.

I definitely don't remember my parents doing this but I've had conversations with my friends and they often got left in the early learning centre to play with he trains whilst their parents went off shopping!!!
I was born in 91

I was decades earlier than this but when I was little mum would leave me in the local book store in the children’s book section while she did the shopping. To be fair, she always bought me a book when she returned to pick me up. I had a LOT of books. I think over the years I had collected every Enid Blyton written. I remember the store used to have one small display of LEGO also. I never once got any LEGO.