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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU in the 1970s

595 replies

cleaty · 12/05/2016 16:59

I grew up in the 1970s, the age of relaxed and free range parenting. If mumsnet had existed then, what do you think mums would have asked in AIBU?

OP posts:
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11
thatsn0tmyname · 13/05/2016 17:38

In the 1970s you could put down the backseat of a Renault 16 and squeeze 14 children in for a birthday picnic.
I used to go to the newsagents aged 6-7 and ask for "one ounce of mellow Virginia ready rubbed" tobacco. They stopped selling it to me when I was 8 and the new laws came in. In the 1970s by biggest threat was the additive E102 which made me crazy. It was either that or all the rubbers I used to sniff (and scratch n'sniff stickers).

Nearlyadoctor · 13/05/2016 17:41

AIBU to give dd Phenagan every night so that she sleeps through.

AIBU to buy Dd two ladybird branded nighties which can be interchanged as nightwear and party dresses? DH says I am being very extravagant and getting a club book has gone to my head!

grimbletart · 13/05/2016 18:19

As someone who was a mum in the 1970s to two small daughters I am ROFL at these wonderful "memories" - what strange fantasy lives you all led Grin.

Perhaps we should do similar thread for the 2010s. Then you could be asking:

Is it OK to tell my 15 year old she anal sex is quite normal but only do it if you really want to and not just to please your boyfriend;

Is it OK to tell her that she doesn't have to shave her pubes even if everyone else is doing it;

Is it OK to tell my 8 year old he can play with his sister's doll and that he doesn't have to have hormone blockers and be transgender unless he really feels strongly about it.

grogsygreen · 13/05/2016 18:21

AIBU to leave ds and dd (aged 3 and 1) home asleep whilst dh and I pop over to the neighbours to partake in their homebrewed beer and wine ? Dh has reminded me to pop all the medicines in a higher cupboard - after all we wouldn't want a repeat of last weeks evening out where ds had found and drank half the bottle of Tylenol -silly boy. We had to really shake him to wake him up in the morning.

True story circa 1975.

BlueberrySky · 13/05/2016 18:28

AIBU to wash and cook for DH and DC's tea, the leg of lamb the dog stole from someone's pram.

A little boy knocked on the door saying our dog had swiped a leg of lamb from their pram and he wanted the money. I gave him the money. I have taken the lamb from the dog, looks ok to me. I will give it a rinse and pop it in the oven.

x2boys · 13/05/2016 18:35

i,m thinking of taking the dc to watch a new film at the cinema about the sea and fish JAWS i think its called AIBU?

dotdotdotmustdash · 13/05/2016 18:35

what strange fantasy lives you all led

Mine certainly wasn't a fantasy life, I was there and lived it.

MerryMarigold · 13/05/2016 18:40

silverpenny, I don't even remember the death bit or the 'loving cuddle' but I can see the cross section of penetration and pubey genitalia front on, as clear as day Grin.

GarlicShake · 13/05/2016 18:42

Mine aren't fantasy posts, either. Well over half of these ring true.

LurcioAgain · 13/05/2016 18:44

Grimble - you're someone whose posts I normally like a lot, so I'm very puzzled at you dismissing this as fantasy. I turned 10 in 1975, and I'm reading this thread nodding to a hell of a lot of it, thinking "yes I remember this happening - not necessarily to me, but certainly to school friends."

frumpet · 13/05/2016 18:50

Is it OK to squish DD into the parcel shelf of our 1965 beetle in her carrycot ? the noise (fumes) mean that she sleeps the whole journey , plus if we crash she is so wedged in she will be fine ?

no mother the engine would have squished me like a bug on the windscreen

FaFoutis · 13/05/2016 18:50

Almost all of it sounds familar to me too. I wish some of it was fantasy.

grimbletart · 13/05/2016 18:52

Sorry - didn't mean to be rude or criticise. It's just that I can't identify with any of it really. I was a full-time working career woman with two small children in the 70s living a life that was not dissimilar to lives today - less cushioned by health and safety stuff it's true and without all the maternity leave gubbins, but I honestly found some of the recollections mind-boggling - I would though have remembered lots of them as a child in the 1940s and 50s.

I always was ahead of my time Grin

Anyway apologies for any offence Blush

LurcioAgain · 13/05/2016 18:53

AIBU to make DD go upstairs on the bus so I can smoke, even though it makes her motion sick, and we both get off smelling like we've been kippered?

kscience · 13/05/2016 18:56

AIBU to not want to pay out for parafin to heat the kids bedroom overnight? If they get dressed in bed the ice on the inside of the windows wont hurt them.

OH is busy fiddling with the back of the radio rentals TV as we have run out of 50ps and Miss World is on tonight.

BlueberrySky · 13/05/2016 18:56

AIBU.

We have just moved to London from the country. Next door knocked to say hello, asked about the kids. I told her that both DD's (7 and 4) had gone to the park to explore. Only 1 road to cross, can not see a problem.

BlueberrySky · 13/05/2016 19:02

AIBU

I work from home as an accountant and look after DS (2). I had a meeting today and had to go into town. When I got to the meeting the businessman I was meeting asked about DS, he had met him before. I said that he was at home in his playpen, he was good at entertaining himself. The businessman said that he would not have the meeting knowing that DS was home on his own. I was cross that he did not want to have the meeting, DS was fine and would be for an hour or so. Who is BU?

(DF was the businessman and horrified that his accountant left her DS at home on his own)

VoyageOfDad · 13/05/2016 19:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ticktacktock · 13/05/2016 19:08

AIBU to put whisky in the baby's bottle to get her to sleep? (My friend used to do this, and push the pram down the bottom of the garden for hours).

I am 10 Green Shield Stamps short for the sun lounger, does anyone want to swap some? I was thinking of asking Noel Edmonds and Cheggers on Swap Shop to see if they can help.

dentydown · 13/05/2016 19:08

Aibu to carry on taking my own bag to the shops? I hate the things, and think we're going to be over-run with them. There's something about them that makes me think they're damaging. Even the butcher has switched from paper to plastic and made the sausages taste off.
My husband and friends think i'm mad and should move with the times. Apparently the shops provide them for the convenience of the customer. Urgh! Wretched things.

Lynne2015 · 13/05/2016 19:08

Love this thread, it should be made into a book

I can related to almost all of it

AIBU to thank my dad for the green ale pale ale and beef crisps he gave me in the car while I wait for him to have a drink in the pub, I am only 7 years old

True story 😂

ForalltheSaints · 13/05/2016 19:10

I'm sorry to say that one of them would have been AIBU to support the National Front?

GarlicShake · 13/05/2016 19:15

We did have heaters in the bedrooms in the 1970s. It still meant the room was freezing when you woke up! They weren't on timers. Grimble, you were ahead of your time Grin

silverpenny · 13/05/2016 19:16

How much watney party seven and blue nun do I need for my swinging party? AIBU to be ashamed of our beige allegro that will be used when the keys are pulled out of the dish?

queenMab99 · 13/05/2016 19:20

You must have known some seriously weird parents in the 70's. Apart from seatbelts being a luxury, unknown in back seats, we were well aware of the dangers of smoking around children and drunk driving, we never let our children wander around unsupervised and leaving children alone at home (even in a playpen!) wasn't normal behaviour. I can only think that then, as now, some people were very careless with their children. Keeping in touch with family was difficult, I phoned my Mum from a phonebox once a week!