WTF moments from childhood

[Lyannaa]

I vividly remember sitting in a circle at primary school and playing a game (facilitated by teachers). It was a variation on ‘spin the bottle’ and this boy named the girl he wanted to kiss. The feeling was not mutual from her end and she began running around and around the circle, trying to evade both the boy and the disgraceful teachers trying to hold her down. Vile. How was this a thing? All I remember was sitting there thinking ‘thank goodness this isn’t me’.

This was 1989…

All children in my class of 30 odd every day one child would have to take it in turns to go on to the school roof via the fire escape to check the mercury in the thermometer and report back to the class our findings of the temperature recorded. This was in yr3 so we were only 7-8yrs old at the time. Teacher didn't always accompompany every child. This went on all that year all seasons, 1993 uk in winter as well and in rain so not safe at all.
If a child would of fell from the roof of the school doesn't bear thinking about.

Yeah that’s a different level of craziness 🙂

at primary we had to do PE in our vest and knickers if we forgot our PE kit. One time a girl forgot hers but didn’t have a vest on under her cotton summer dress so the teacher made her do it in just her knickers bare chested (we were 8/9). I remember her running around the school hall during the lesson with her arms folded over her chest and the boys pointing and laughing.

Also, being sent home from junior school ( children ages 9-13) after the seats froze shut on the outdoor toilets in winter- there were a few indoor toilets but they were reserved for staff use only. No one informed parents we were being sent home, school staff didn’t check with any of the children to see who would be able to let themselves in with a key if parents were out or at work. For all they knew some of us could have been stuck outside in the snow all day- but once we left the school we were no longer their problem so 🤷‍♀️. I was lucky as my mum only worked part time and was at home when I finally made it back (usually a 30 min walk which took twice as long in the weather), but when I think back about some of the other children I realise that they may not have been so fortunate to go home to a warm kitchen and an afternoon making a snowman in the garden like I did. Usually there would be a local radio announcement of school closures due to weather, but this decision was made shortly after the school day had already started so they just dismissed everyone to make their way home by walking or public transport.

We were also trusted as 10 year olds to walk the 15 mins down the road by ourselves during our lunch break one day a week to another school for our science lessons, as our school didn’t have labs or equipment for science. You had to organise and time your lunch and the walk yourself- no one supervised, it was something you just had to do. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing as it taught some independence for secondary school, but I cannot imagine schools now just allowing an entire year group of children to leave the premises unchecked at lunchtime and walk to another campus.
All of the above would have been around 1986-1988 in the North of England.

Well I’m in a Scandi country and we also had to shower after PE, no cubicles and teachers were there.

I was describing to my now similarly aged daughter the other day how much I enjoyed 'phone duty' at primary school and realised how mad it would be now 30 years on.
The more reliable/sensible children volunteered for this role on a rota, and it involved basically manning the school reception for the whole of lunchtime. We answered the phone, answered the door to take in parcels etc, watched over any child that was ill in the sick room...
In absolute emergencies, we were allowed to knock on the door of the staff room for advice (filled with smoke and laughter!), but this was highly discouraged.
My best friend and I absolutely loved doing this job every week but describing it really made me realise how much those teachers were taking the mick!

you UK people appear to have an obsession with "knickers" which I have never heard anywhere else in my life.

Maybe because different countries in the English speaking world use different vocabulary. Its not an 'obsession' - its just a standard word in common parlance in the UK - dont know what you seem to be bringing to this word? Is like being agitated that Americans keep using the word 'candy' - its just use normal here.

I remember going on holiday with my parents in the 80's and sitting in the smoking section on the aircraft. It was divided from the non smoking seats by a curtain and the seats had ashtrays in the back of them! Considering that fire is an aircraft's biggest danger its astounding that it was ever allowed!

I had this in one school, I think early 80s. We also were allowed to do woodwork with the boys. Sadly my fine motor skills are lacking,so I ended up making a wonky birdbox that I couldn't take home anyway and had the pisstaking to put up with. I preferred the "flat"

This made me laugh, it is so unthinkable now it's hard to imagine. It was so innocent really when you think of it.

We weren't allowed celebrate 'pagan' Halloween either.

Yes I do remember this. The local newspaper had all the results from o level up.
I actually got my results by going to school and looking at the board where everyones results were posted for every exam. Alphabetically I was low down, but not quite, so it took an age to find mine. I did ok, plenty of people were crying though. I walked out of school knowing I'd never have to return and very happy at the thought.
I hated the place, all the schools I went to were dire. I spent the last couple if years skiving. Amazingly no one noticed I wasnt there, well no one said anything. Can you imagine a child on the register now not attending for weeks even months at a time?

The "knickers" that people are talking about were not actual knickers/pants/undies, but sturdy garments made of thick navy blue fabric that you wore over your underwear for PE lessons. They were more like tight-fitting shorts and although onlookers would be able to see your body shape if you were wearing them (in the same way that they can if someone wears leggings), they certainly wouldn't have seen any intimate details. They were designed for freedom of movement but not indecent exposure.

We did this too. I still have absolutely no idea how it works, but it does!

All girls' school, 1970s. Navy blue knicks and airtex shirts. Incinerator in the loos. Never used it though as my mother told me I should shred the pad and flush it down bit by bit.

I loved school. Mother, not so much.

This would have been around 1983/4: going to the chemist on my own with a written prescription and collecting the morphine that was for my dying Grandfather. I went straight home and brought the bag with me, but I’ve always thought this was strange as I was only 8!

Our navy blue knickers were certainly NOT designed to go over other underwear.

They had a white piece of material inset into the gusset so you could tell when your period started.

They were very sturdy garments though.

God I’ve just had intrusive thoughts remembering the sanitary towels given out by the school nurse and in the bright blue crinkly ‘period packs’ given to all girls in Year 8. The sanitary towels were so long and so thick it was impossible to walk properly, I was waddling like John Wayne when I had the misfortune of starting my period at school and having no products with me.

The school nurses solution to everything was to take a paracetamol, they were stored in a massive container and in my mind they were the size of my palm and impossible to swallow! The horrors.

Light as feather, stiff as a board!

At my middle school (age 11-13, early 70s), my English teacher told my friend and I to go and clean the staff room kitchen. It was a dense fog of cigarette and pipe smoke because all the male teachers smoked (and probably most of the female ones too). We missed an English lesson but felt really important!

A small group of us volunteered for this, on a rota, so one week in 3 we left lessons early for each break and lunch time to make the tea and missed 15 minutes after each break/lunch washing up. So an hour and a half of school missed each day for a week. We also used to be asked to go the shop for supplies on occasion.

Good grief what sort of school did you go to?

I remember dinner ladies force feeding kids and not letting them leave until they'd eaten their entire dinner - old wretched cows. I have a memory from about 1997 of sitting at lunch and a girl from a few years below me wretching and choking with tears in her eyes and then being sick all over the table. Dreadful people, I often think I'd like to bump into them as an adult and have a chat about their behaviour. I suspect they're all dead now.

I remember this!
I was the lightest in my class but I git so much hate from the heavier girls, I think this contributed to my eating disorder.

We were all expected to eat whatever we were given. We all did. Heart ( along with fake mashed potato) was the least favourite, but the whole experience was so much nicer than the atmosphere around the dinner table at home. I loved it.

Catholic primary school I'm the late 70s/ early 80s.
Our Infants one teacher (now would be reception) would wallop you across the back of your bare legs with a ruler if you were naughty at all.

In the 80s at Brownies, doing one of the many sexist badges. The Homemaker badge, I think. I went, alone, to Tawny Owl's house and basically did a day's unpaid labour, washing dishes, mopping etc.

The one that really got me was being made to iron her tights. I mean, was that ever a thing? But and 8 year old, unsupervised, using an iron. In a random woman's house. Really prepared me for life, that did.