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Original poster

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

491 replies

usernamechanged1 · 10/04/2023 17:00

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.

OP posts:
BloodyThursday · 10/04/2023 18:11

Being sat in the car with a Panda Pop and a bag of Walkers crisps outside a pub whilst they drank inside.

MattDamon · 10/04/2023 18:11

I used to be given money and a note to take to the corner shop for fags in the 90s. No one batted an eye.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 10/04/2023 18:13

BloodyThursday · 10/04/2023 18:11

Being sat in the car with a Panda Pop and a bag of Walkers crisps outside a pub whilst they drank inside.

We'd be given ten bob and sent down to the beach!

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Turnipworkharder · 10/04/2023 18:15

Most of these are just pure abuse,not normal behaviour of most parents of that time.

playing our all day...normal for the time.
No seat belts...normal for the time.
lack of health an safety...normal for the time.
walking to school at young age...normal for the time.

beating,locking your children up....abuse.. shit parents.

tolerable · 10/04/2023 18:15

ha- we were lucky enough to land in the first street of what is now a massive town(in the 80s) ...we were permitted//actively encouraged to breach all sorts of whats gotta be criminal health n safety regulations using the building site (totally unfenced\zero security)as our playground. Had began doing gymnastics aand scaffold was ideal (??)for practicing beam walks/omg-cartwheels/routines...or bar work.... playing trenches in the founds...every finishing stage new build would suddenly have a huge heap of sand next to it(i am so slow-woulda been dig out new founds for next property )we would celebrate another succesful build by leaping onto it from the as yet unglazed windows. not a hardhat or steeltoe cap btween us.....

MissingMoominMamma · 10/04/2023 18:16

My mum used to leave me alone in the house while she went to night class, on the bus, to the next city.

She’d leave me in my room with two digestive biscuits and a glass of milk for my supper and tell me not to leave the room. She put a potty in there in case I needed the loo.

I was six.

Eukanuba · 10/04/2023 18:17

On a day trip to London , my dad visiting an under ground pub while I remained at Street level with pop and crisps - I must've only been eight , for about half an hour .

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 10/04/2023 18:17

Turnipworkharder · 10/04/2023 18:15

Most of these are just pure abuse,not normal behaviour of most parents of that time.

playing our all day...normal for the time.
No seat belts...normal for the time.
lack of health an safety...normal for the time.
walking to school at young age...normal for the time.

beating,locking your children up....abuse.. shit parents.

The question was what did your parents do that now would have SS out, though, not 'what did they do that was normal for the times?'

PatchworkElmer · 10/04/2023 18:19

My Mum swears this didn’t happen but it absolutely did- giving people lifts and sitting on adult’s laps with no seat belts.

LakeTiticaca · 10/04/2023 18:20

Walking to and from school from age about 6 (1960s) there was always a big group of kids walking in the same direction so safety in numbers. Very few cars on the road back then.
Hopping on the back of my dad's moped for a lift down the road. No helmets required!!
Sitting in the back of the transit van among the camping gear going on holiday.
Getting a wallop for crimes that weren't particularly heinous ( accidentally spilling a cup of juice for example)
Having said that, there was very little juvenile crime back then, children were expected to respect their elders, speak when you're spoken to etc, and you wouldn't find kids giving teachers any lip, if yoir parents found out you wouldn't sit down for a week, likewise roaming around in gangs terrorising pensioners in their own homes.
Nobody did it because there were consequences

Knullrufs · 10/04/2023 18:20

unlimiteddilutingjuice · 10/04/2023 17:35

My Dad once decided that a chip pan fire was a good teachable moment.
So he left the burning chip pan unattended to call us in from the street (where we were playing unsupevised) and watch him put it out.
He lined us up against the kitchen wall furthest away from the blaze and demonstrated the now discredited wet tea towel technique.

God. That sounds like that running joke from Arrested Development. J. Walter Weatherman: “And that’s why… you always leave a note.”

AliceTheeCamel · 10/04/2023 18:20

Liberal use of Gripe Water at bedtimes - the old recipe stuff with the alcohol in it

Aylestone · 10/04/2023 18:25

PatchworkElmer · 10/04/2023 18:19

My Mum swears this didn’t happen but it absolutely did- giving people lifts and sitting on adult’s laps with no seat belts.

They have short memories don’t they? My parents were abusive and destroyed my mental health for life. My mum acts like she’s Nan of the year though (she has limited supervised contact with my children). My children actually can’t believe some of the things I’ve let slip that she used to do to me, though they are starting to notice how manipulative she is now they’re getting older.

KohlaParasaurus · 10/04/2023 18:26

My parents were totally well intentioned, but even so ...
A Hillman Husky with two adults in the front, three adults in the back, and four or five children sardined into the boot space. I'm surprised the poor car could move.
I was walking to and from school (just under a mile each way, a couple of road crossings) on my own by the time I was five, with a key to the front door and strict instructions not to wake my mother if she was asleep between nightshifts. At eight I was considered old enough to take my sisters and neighbours' young children to the swing park a few streets away.
A taste of alcohol on social occasions. Advocaat to begin with, then Martini and lemonade.
Lots of spankings, at home and at school.
Left in the car for an hour or more while a parent was visiting someone in hospital (no children allowed in the ward) or Mum and Dad were shopping for boring things in Timberland or MFI.

roundofapplause · 10/04/2023 18:27
  • Smoking around you 24/7
  • Dummy in the froth of beer
  • Playing out age 4 with the 8 year old neighbour looking after you
  • Staying home alone
  • No seat belt - playing in the car boot on a long drive. Parcel shelf removed so we could pop our heads up

To name a few!

LadyGaGasPokerFace · 10/04/2023 18:27

My uncle used to take me and my db out at bank holidays in his car to different pubs. He’d be drinking Bacardi and coke or whiskey shots 😳

742EvergreenTerrace · 10/04/2023 18:28

Grew up in the 90s. My parents went on about 3-4 holidays abroad every year while we stayed at home. They just did Butlins and Pontins for the kids. We were left with literally whoever would look after us, ‘uncle’ tom who was dads darts friend, ‘aunty’ sue who was mums work friend. My older sibling was often tasked with looking after us bless her. She left home at 17 because she was fed up being a young mum for us.

I remember being pulled over by police and my mum being told off because we weren’t wearing seatbelts. We also used to sit in the back of my dads open back transit truck, the tipper bit, while my dad drove down roads. It was fun at the time but Christ can you imagine.

my mum would pick up extra shifts but she wouldn’t leave a message, we’d just get home from school and mum wasn’t there, sometimes a few days in a row. It meant crisps and cereal for dinner as dad couldn’t even boil an egg. This was unfortunately most of the time but when mum was home she was a great cook and fed us good nutritious meals. it also meant I was doing my own packed lunches from aged 8 or so, so I was putting literally whatever in my lunch box. Including making a sugar strands sandwich once! When we started doing home economics at secondary school I took one of the books home and started making the basic dinners from the book after school at those times. I was 11-12

roundofapplause · 10/04/2023 18:28

BloodyThursday · 10/04/2023 18:11

Being sat in the car with a Panda Pop and a bag of Walkers crisps outside a pub whilst they drank inside.

Scampi fries if you were in for a real treat!

woodhill · 10/04/2023 18:28

thecatsthecats · 10/04/2023 17:18

Ooh, yes, travelling in the boot on the odd night.

I loved travelling in the boot. Sad that my children will never know the joy 😂

Yes we had an estate car

Did have a seat that went in the back rear facing but did once sleep on floor on a car journey

Puppyseahorse · 10/04/2023 18:28

Had a friend whose parents strapped her into her bed at night.

creepy then, creepy now. But my parents and the nanny knew about it and no one called SS.

Vicliz24 · 10/04/2023 18:29

My parents drove to France every year with us three kids in the boot of the car . I was responsible for taking my younger brothers to school at 7 . We were locked in our rooms every night . We once went to Butlins and our parents went out for the whole day and left us there to amuse ourselves. We were also put out of the car for fighting and our dad drove off for five minutes before coming back for us . Regular hairbrush beatings with those black plastic hairbrushes with the metal prongs . We never felt any different to any other kids though it was fairly typical in those days . At least my parents didn't smoke like so many friends parents did .

Forestdweller11 · 10/04/2023 18:29

Whisky dumdums - dummies dipped in whisky and sugar for sleep... Or for tooth ache a cotton wool ball soaked in whisky and placed against aching tooth. To be fair. This was grandparents rather than parents.

oachkatzl · 10/04/2023 18:31

Locking me out of the house in the pissing rain - I must have been 7 or so - and not letting me back in for hours. I crawled in the coal bunker and she came out shouting at me to get out. I then went round and stood under the garage roof, so she came out and yelled at me. Basically I was to stand out in the pissing rain until she decided I was allowed back in the house.

And locking me in her room where I couldn't reach the door handle (it was very high up), again for hours. I must have been pretty small when that happened.

woodhill · 10/04/2023 18:32

FannythePinkFlamingo · 10/04/2023 18:06

I'm another one who rode around in the boot. We went to Scotland on holiday one year and Dad drove through the night. DB and me bedded down on sleeping bags in the back of the Volvo estate.

The DPs often used to go to dinner parties and friends with similar aged children as us. We'd go upstairs and play games and muck about while the parents got pissed downstairs. Then they'd put us back in the car and drive home.

Being given red wine and water with Sunday lunch to get us used to the flavour.

Smoking, everywhere. Dad had a 70 a day habit so there were fags permanently lit in practically every room. He did give up when I was about 7 though.

Yes ours was a Volvo estate, very 70s

TheVanguardSix · 10/04/2023 18:35

Milky sugary tea in the bottle.
Sugar dummies.
Owned a Swiss Army knife at 6.
Was taught to sharpen the household knives at 7.
Taught to shoot a gun at 5 (BB gun) and I was routinely taken to the shooting range. 😳

Ironically and amazingly, I’ve never used or owned a ‘real’/lethal firearm (for lack of a better way of putting it. I mean, even a BB gun is risky) and I don’t have any cavities/fillings at 51! So, it all worked out! Kind of. I could do with SS removing me from myself now.