Were you left in the car while parents went to the pub?

[ruru1981]

Sorry didn't know where else to put this.

I've just seen this meme on Facebook and so many people are saying this used to happen to them.

Quite a lot said they would sit in the car for hours. Some said they shared a drink between 4 kids. Some said they didn't get a drink. Most are laughing about what would happen if it happened these days.

Did / does this really happen?

Am I lucky that this never happened to us growing up or is this unusual?

yes strong memories of this. we had the radio on in the car. crisps and lemonade. it was standard.

Mine were teetotal so never a pub but we were left in the car when they went out to eat. We thought nothing of it.

Never left outside a pub as my parents were tee total and wouldn't dream of going into a pub.

I was left in the car a lot, as were all my friends, because in 1980s N Ireland you generally couldn't leave a car unattended, so you always needed someone to 'sit in the car'. We even used to do it for teachers at school, they'd get someone out of class to eg go with the school secretary to the bank

Kind of, when we went on holiday to see family parents would go in the pub and we would play with the local kids until we were sleepy. At that point parents would bundle us in the car with blankets and we would wake the next morning in our uncles farm house where we would stay.

I take the piss out of my mum now for doing this, she hates it and cringes but says it seemed fine at the time.

Yes this absolutely happened to me!! I would get a coke and a packet of crisps. Golden wonder crisps with the little bag of salt were a bit of a novelty. I never had coke or crisps any other time so actually it was a bit of a treat! Kids just weren't allowed in pubs. I don't have bad memories of it at all but then I was always having to wait in the car for lots of reasons so guess it was just part of life.

I have happy memories of this. It was very occasional, usually on a holiday and I loved the coke and crisps. Smiths with the salt in blue paper.

Someone i know's parents made up a bed for her in the boot (not an open estate car, but an actual boot of a car) and put her to bed in it then drove to the pub and left her asleep in the boot and then drove home at closing time. I can't get my head around how they would do this even then. What if someone rear ended you? What if they stole the car? What if they woke up frightened?

No, never.

Yes, but only on days out or on holiday. So it was seen as a bit of a treat. Freedom and pop!

Never heard of this before! I was a kid in the eighties, which am assuming is the right era? It wasn't really my parents thing. If we were out as a family, the rare time it wasn't a picnic we'd go to cafe. If they were socialising, they'd do at home or one would stay in. They were young and skint, I think an outing to the pub was too pricy and they're not big drinkers.

No, my parents didn't go to the pub.

Apparently, so they told us, when they went socialising to friends' houses, which they did frequently, when we were very little, they'd put us to sleep in the car. I don't remember this.

They told me they went out to check on me one time and my cot/Moses basket thingee had slipped off the back seat and I was stuck and wailing. I would've been just a baby and complete helpless to do anything - I can't believe they thought that was OK, and neither could they!

As we got older, we'd just run round with all the other kids until Mum and Dad were ready to go home. Happy times.

Like a PP, my DB and I are still close to all of their friends. Both our parents have passed away, and those old friends of theirs have been amazing to both of us.

Yep, only child and I was left alone in the car. Got told to beep the horn if anyone tried to get in! Used to get left home alone quite a lot and told not to answer the door. 70s child and it was a totally different world then - nobody seemed to consider any dangers at all.

Dad quite often sat me outside the pub and bookies with a coke/britvic orange with a straw and a packet of crisps. We didn't have a car, I loved it and never felt in danger.

I don't think I was ever left in the car but outside pubs and the clubhouse at my gp caravan. What I remember the most though was just being left to play wherever we were for hours at a time without being checked on. So like a PP said, with cousins and random other kids, we'd often be watching scary films or making potions from god knows what. I don't have fond memories of going to the pub with my parents though.

Quite ironic now that pubs are really family friendly with parks and nice gardens but no one really goes anymore...

Of the ones who this happened to, how old are you please? I'm 34 and this never happened to me. My parents occasionally took us to pub gardens in summer, but made sure there was a play equipment. I've got so many happy memories of tree houses and massive wooden ships. They don't seem to make playgrounds like that now. They were amazing. Bloody health and safety.

Yes - chicken crisps and a Britvic Pineapple Juice for me. That was a rare and and exciting feast - we never had crisps and soft drinks in the house.

I used to quite enjoy my cosy hour or so in the car - no siblings, just me and my book.

The only time my parents went to the pub was on the way home from a day out. To us kids it was the last treat of the day. It was only for about an hour but we loved getting a bottle of lemonade and a bag of crisps brought to the car for us. I remember the disappointment if we didn't stop and went straight home.

One thing I take from it though is that spending time with my parents was a privilege and they still considered all their time their own to do as they pleased and we just had to tag along and get on with it.

My DF did it all the time. I'd get a comic too and every now and again, some random man would come out to chat to me through the car window (that always frightened me - not being left alone in the car; that felt safe).

My gran used to sneak me into pubs when she was babysitting (this would be before I started school or in infants) and I'd have to hide in a quiet corner so no one saw me.

This was all late 70s , early 80s. Very 'normal'

Oblomov17 it's completely bloody neglectful. I don't believe that children need entertaining every minute of the day, nor do I think parents should be teetotal, but to basically abandon children in a boiling hot car for most of a day so parents could get pissed is awful.

My dad was in the army, so we went to the mess on Sundays. All the kids played together while the dads had a pint. There's no way we would have been left outside. My mother would have gone mad if my dad had done something like that, and I would never have been allowed to go out with him again. Not all 70s parents were totally shit, but it seems like a lot of them on this thread were. I feel incredibly sorry for anyone who was treated like that.

On days out driving the highways and byways, parents would go to the pub and leave us in the car. I don't remember that many drinks and bags of crisps.
Most days we would be left home alone while Dad and Mum went to the boozer. We had fun until we heard the returning car and then had to jump into bed and pretend that we were asleep.

Never the car, occasionally ally the pub garden, which was covered in molehills. The landlord cunningly offered 5 English pounds (big money!) to any kid who could catch the mole making such a mess of his garden. Happy hours spent poised, glaring, above various molehills ensured. Never even saw a whisker.

1Potato2, I'm 54 so this was happening to me in the early '70's.

Yes I was! By my dad when he met any of his brothers. Glass of coke and packet of crisps. Usually with my younger sister.

It happened enough for me to remember it but not enough that it defined my childhood!

To be fair he's be in the pub garden yard thingy at the front and we were within view and he'd come and check on us and replenish the supplies!

Not sure if mum ever knew!

Yes this happened to me and my older brothers. I'm 41, it was the early 80's and it went on for a while I was between 4 and 7.

I can't stand Beef and onion crisps now, as that was the only flavour the pub sold, we also got glass bottles of coke.
My Dad had a Volvo estate and we had duvets in the back, so we could have a sleep. It only happened with my Dad when he had us every other weekend. My mum doesn't drink.
I would never do it to my own child. We were the only kids in a car in the car park, but I don't remember it being that unusual.