Crazy stuff your parents did that would have social services out now

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Dipping the dummy in sugar, fizzy juice for toddlers…did your parents do anything that would be considered shocking now?

For me, I looked after my younger siblings when I was 11 (they were 8 and 5) overnight a few times a week due to clashes of my mum & dad’s nightshift work. No adults in the house, just the three of us. It didn’t cross my mind that it was crazy at the time but when I think back, it was insane.

Sitting in a pub car park in the car waiting for my dad to come out after a few hours. Lucky to share a Coke and bag of crisps , aged 9-10 cooking full dinners for family as both parents were out working ( DF in forces DM working ) buying fags for them, getting things on tick answering door to the Monday man thereby avoiding payment for that week. Being left alone all day in school holidays and only having sandwiches glass bottle of squash and no key so out all day 10p for phone in emergency , lighting fire in lounge , doing chips in the pan of million degree lard.. out all day no supervision. Top n tail in bunk beds without a proper ladder - nylon sheets and bedspreads giving hilarious electric shocks - unlucky last in the bath after everyone else - And I wouldn’t change it. Bloody awesome childhood I knew
how to look after my own family on a shoestring budget when I got married !

Dropping 9 year old me and 6 year old brother off at Butlins, whilst our parents spent a nice child-free day on the nearby beach. Remember being a bit overwhelmed and panicky trying to keep a track on my hyperactive brother in the water park.
Just the other week, my Mum reminisced about it, saying she has no idea what she and Dad were thinking to just leave us there. "Anything could've happened!" , she said!

Sending me to the shops on my own (aged about 6-7, I reckon) to do errands for them.

Absolutely. I was responsible enough for it. I’d get them to bed on time and take the cordless phone with me, which my Mum would then ring in the morning to wake me up. I don’t think I had the “if you want X, I need to work” chat but I think I knew. It was just the way it was.

They were lucky to have such a mature 11 year old, I should’ve had higher pocket money. 😎

Getting hit/slapped as that was easier than actual parenting
Being involved in the feud between mum and dad during his affair
Smoking everywhere and in the car with all the windows up, if you dare mention it you got told off
Never stepping in between sibling fights, never teaching us to be kind or respectful to each other so we hated each other in childhood, and have never been close.
No I love you'd or I'm sorry were said
Turkey twizzlers that I mostly had to cook myself
Parents going on holiday for two weeks over Xmas when I was about 16. Was the weirdest Christmas with no parents and just two siblings that didn't get on.

My parents were shit.

Obviously the abuse on this thread is terrible, but for a lot of the other stuff, I actually think it's good that kids were taught independence and resilience. These days kids seem to be babied and mollycoddled so much that they lack any kind of mental resilience and seem to be full of anxiety.

Get drunk all the time.
Smash the house up.
Take numerous overdoses.
Throw herself out of a first floor window
Slash her wrists.
Nobody ever came to see if I was ok.
Not once.
That's the 70s for you.

Smoking in the car with the windows closed

I used to babysit my brother and sister from when I was 10 years old

dad leaving us outside in the car while he went to the pub

chasing me upstairs with a belt when I was naughty

me taking my sister out in the pram by myself when I was 6 yrs old , just found the block but still on my own and next to a main road

there s so much more but I d be here all day 🤷‍♀️

It was normal because most pubs did not permit children in at all and those that did, it was only if you were eating a meal, during the day. After about 6pm or if they didn't serve food... off you fucked.

I recall parents stopping at pubs to ask if children were allowed in the same way we might now ask if dogs are allowed!

Our parents had a car with a large sunroof and we used to Stand up through the sunroof when dad would be speeding down country roads etc - the crazy 80s!

When my mum was in hospital, a neighbour put us to bed and then left us alone in the house until my dad got home from work. We were aged 9 and 11. Also a neighbour who was suppose to be looking after me, left me wandering the streets because she went out with her daughter somewhere. She thought I could go and play with a friend but when I went round to her house she had go back to school. We also had paraffin heaters in our bedrooms. My mum did asked social services for help but they could only offer foster care which my mum didn't want and my mum said she would make her own arrangements.

Most of us would be in care if our parents were subject to the standards we have now. Ironically our kids have worse mental health than we do and won’t live as long! I think we are way OTT nowadays x

I was a paid babysitter at 11 😂

I’m getting some C-PTSD flashbacks, and reading some of the comments is heartbreaking.
keeping it light, we had to be in bed by 6:30 pm until I was at least 11 years old. I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere or do anything until I left home at 19.
I am not going to mention the rest, it’s traumatic, and likely triggering.

Walked to school alone from the age of 5. Played in the streets until it was dark - sometimes miles away in the woods. Once I was chased by a man and flashed at in a tunnel told to laugh at him if it happened again as that would teach him and embarrass him as all he wanted was attention. Dad smoked in house and car. Left at home while parents went to parties in the neighbourhood. Dad driving home drunk after parties. No seatbelts, no bike helmets. Taking dog for walks along the canal from about 7 years old. My parents loved me and I had a great childhood but I was left unsupervised for hours at a time.

Driving to our boat in Poole from Somerset on the back parcel shelf of my Dads MG, and once at the boat having a rope tied around my waist and the other end around the mast so if i fell in, they could pull me out.

My husband was put on a train, aged 5, by his mother, and sent from Portland, Maine, to St Lambert (near Montreal) Canada alone. He had a little suitcase and a brown bag lunch. The guard was asked to keep an eye on him and his uncle met him in St Lambert. He remembers thoroughly enjoying it. No passports needed for Americans in 1948 of course.

The porn mag page in a bush! We'd be playing in the woods and find these! Parents didn't care! Imagine nowadays your 5 year old seeing a page of a porn mag of a woman completely naked, shaved and in a very explicit pose!

-Smoking everywhere in enclosed spaces

-Left alone at home for hours at a time from about 9 years by DF (parents divorced)

-Injured ankle badly in PE and school rang DM to collect me as they thought it was broken. She was furious at having to collect me and dumped me at the end of the driveway and drove off back to work. Refused to take me to the doctor or A&E for a whole week (I was off school too) and when she finally did the doctor had a go at her about why I was not brought in immediately when it happened- it was broken. She just shrugged and stared the doctor down.

-Couldn’t see the blackboard at school and repeatedly complained about it for the whole y12. School eye check confirmed I needed glasses but it was nearly a year before she took me for a proper eye test and the optometrist and optician were shocked that it was for my first pair of glasses. The bizarre thing about it was that they were based in the same building that DM worked in and money was never an issue.

-Left alone in the car while DF went in the pub for several hours, primary-aged

-DF would take me and 2-3 friends and drop us off at the local swimming pool in the early morning, and come back mid-afternoon to collect us with sandwiches for us all

I know it's hard to lose the scars of such abusive parenting, but I hope your life has had happiness since 💐

My brother used to sleep in a basket on the parcel shelf of the car

My Dad smacked me round the ear and bruised it so badly it went black

My Dad taught me to drive at his work, he was a truck mechanic and I used to drive the trucks around the yard - I was 14

He'd let me drive his car around a quiet estate at 14

Our next door neighbours were in a car accident when we were kids. Both kids were thrown from the car. They survived by some miracle. Similarly, my best friend was in a car accident as a child and had glass coming out of her face and body for years after.

My mum gave permission for anyone who visited the house to ‘give them a slap if they get out of line’ I’m sure one of her friends only came round to beat on us.
I remember I was doing my home work in the kitchen, mums friend walked in and slapped me round the head called me a swotty cow. I must have tutted or sighed because she then proceeded to whip me up from my chair, pin me against the wall and kneed me in my legs a few times.
I was crying- she screwed up my homework. My mum came in and asked why I was acting up.
I got sent to my room- didn’t feel like punishment but respite.

another time her friend slapped me so he’s round the knees the inside of my knees were bruised where they hit together.
she told my mum I called her fat. I remember that I was playing with my sister and laughed as she came in the room.
I feared that woman and I’ve not forgiving my mum (30 years later) for letting her do it.
I remember my mum phoned me to tell me me she had died.
‘your aunty Dorothy’s dead ‘ I just hung up and I physically felt a bit a relieved.

There were other things that I’m suprised the social weren’t involved with but it was a bit more lax back then.

@Charlottewebsbabies 💐💐

Letting us get in the back of our neighbours tipper truck and him tipping the back part upright until we were hanging on by our hands, the rest of our body dangling in to the air