The summer holidays when you were a child

[Thatcantberainsurely]

What were they like?

80’s child, 90’s teen here

I can remember watching ‘Why don’t you’ eating cereal, going out on bike rides and walking to friends houses and knocking on for them to come out. There were water fights in my friends street (cul de sac)
Aside from that, I don’t remember ever going anywhere really (with mum) or any planned activities/crafts/outings
So different to my Dds holidays 😂

As an 80s child, summer was spent watching TV in the morning (pink panther, Why don't you etc) and then playing out until the street lamps came on. If it was wet then we'd have days-long monopoly sessions or doing colouring in/ playing with barbies. We made dens, rode our bikes up and down the street, had adventures, made perfume out of rose petals, mud pies, fished in the grids at the side of the road, played hide and seek, water fights, skipping with a big rope... it was absolute bliss. There were fewer cars then, so there was space to play on the street and fewer mums worked- so could all keep half an eye out for the kids playing. We just can't do that now- partly because of where we've chosen to live (no cul-de-sac) and because local kids are in summer clubs because their parents need to work. The lure of constant kids TV on tablets is also too great, so a lot of kids don't have the ability to occupy themselves. I feel sad for my own kids, that they've not had the freedom I had in the 80s but grateful to have a husband that takes them out to play in the forests/ hills

3 weeks summer camp
Up to week with each gradparents, or at leaat one side. Usually in cottage.
Week or two with parents in cottage
Free range in home town the rest of the time 😁 We had forests and parks and local massive outdoor pool around so always had something to do.
We had 8 week holidays.
Then at 16 work, pools, party instead.
About same age as you, but not in UK

My mum only worked during term time so she was around all the time. Never did organised activities, clubs or camps or anything like that, which I wouldn't have liked much anyway. I mostly remember getting up late, watching Why Don't You, Junior Kickstart and Champion The Wonder Horse while eating sugary cereal and then just kind of finding things to do, often weirdly elaborate art/craft type projects of my own devising that would take about three days, or digging out some ancient board game from the loft, or (eg) categorising all my marbles into size and colour and ranking them according to their winning abilities. My brother would be listening to Test Match Special while all this was going on.

We'd maybe have one day where my mum would arrange for us to meet up with one of her friends who had a child the same age and we'd go to the park or the lido for an afternoon, and I remember my mum taking me to the cinema on the bus once or twice (super exciting) and I also remember watching clearly illegally pirated Disney films on crackly VHS tapes rented from a random bloke who came round renting out videos from a van. Also used to play out in the fields behind my garden with my friend who lived up the road, building camps and things like that.

My mum would take me 'down the town' every week (on market day, naturally) and I'd get six books out of the library (my happy place) and we'd have a banana milkshake and a toasted teacake in the only cafe in town which had booth seating.

We would go away for a week to somewhere on the south coast and stay in a chalet or a caravan and it was the most exciting thing EVER and I would read the Beano Summer Special on the way there. Sometimes my dad would take some additional days off towards the end of the holidays and would take me for a solo day out (I assume to give my poor mother a moment's peace) to somewhere like the Natural History Museum or the Tower of London.

I was born in the 50s, so was growing up in the 60s and 70s. As pp has said, there was only 1 hour of children’s tv a day in the 60s. My family had a caravan, and we went away in it all over the UK, at Easter, Whitsun and the summer.

DM did baking with me, but the idea of crafts, activities or clubs is laughable! DM spent the day on housework, gardening, decorating, cooking and having coffees with the neighbours. We were expected to amuse ourselves.

My best friend and I spent all the summer holidays at each other’s houses, or going out on our bikes for the day, apart from our family holiday. We did play in our bedrooms - dolls, board games, and dressing up. We played badminton, mud pies, etc in the garden. We had tea or midnight feasts in a tent in the garden at each other’s house.

I feel sorry for children of today, who have their lives organised in activities every minute of the day. The best thing about the summer holidays was the freedom to do what we wanted, after being told what to do at school all term!

In my childhood summer holidays were so boring. My parents both worked long hours so as the eldest I was at home everyday all day with my younger siblings. We didn't do anything. I had to feed them, look after them. My parents wouldn't allow us out anywhere. If my nan came round she used to take us to Lewisham market to buy food and that was it.

If I left the house in a mess or didn't clean after I cooked, my mum went bat shit bonkers at me. We never ever went on a holiday. I had no concept of a holiday and would get confused by school friend who said they event here or there.....

Summer holidays lasted forever in the 70s/80s. Wall to wall sunshine with the occasional downpour and thunderstorm, but then the sun would come out again.

T-shirts, shorts and sunglasses, but rarely hats or sunscreen. Trainers felt tight because your feet got used to the freedom of being barefoot or wearing sandals.

Chasing the ice cream van on your bike. The feeling of going feral, in and out of friends' gardens and local parks. Being banned from using the paddling pool at the park because DM worried about polio, so friends would come to our garden for water fights. (Hating the water fights and hiding!)

And holiday homework! Both primary and secondary would set work to be completed.

80s baby/ toddler and 90s child, both parents worked generally full time, what I remember:

Family holidays for 2 weeks to resorts in the Balearics or canaries.
3 weeks in Florida on one occasion.

Otherwise parents usually at work so summer camps at leisure centre or staying for the day at aunt’s or grandparent’s house is what I can remember, I don’t remember but maybe spent days at childminder too and an older cousin stayed with us for a while so maybe she looked after us. I remember I went to theatre camp for a couple of years which I loved. Possibly there was a week at home, which would have been playing out with friends or playing with toys in my room or reading books or going out on my bike. There were day trips as well to country parks, safari park, cinema, on the weekends, and dad took us swimming every week.

Teenage years very different as I just got to stay at home by myself and I loved that too, watched a lot of tv, played a lot of the sims and rollercoaster Tycoon, downloaded music and spoke to friends on msn messenger.

I was 4 in 1990, from age 6 onwards I was outside 99% of the time. On my bike / skates / exploring places I shouldn't have been. I occasionally got taken somewhere by family but very rarely.

Lots of playing with neighbourhood kids in gardens or the local woods. We did a playscheme at the local church which ran for 2 weeks of the summer (when I turned 13 I started helping instead of attending) - that was lots of arts and crafts and games and a couple of days out to a farm and the seaside.

There was a lot more freedom and we did stuff with friends not parents.

This was the 80s

80s child here. No holidays ever as my parents were self employed. Summer seemed like an endless succession of days spent sitting on the concrete slabs in the garden, reading or doing a bit of crochet, watching my parents’ customers come and go, and the occasional evening drive to the canal for a swim in the murky water where eels nibbled your toes.

I forgot to say about growing up in the 1960s/70s in the country - absolutely everyone was involved with the church in some way- the church organised loads of community stuff and was the centre of the community. It really was a Christian country. Even my parents got involved - a lapsed Catholic and an atheist 😂

60s, cycling, walking and going to nan's and into town with mum, playing in the road as no one had a car, playing in neighbours houses and gardens with friends.

Around 10, out most of the day, cycling or walking to beach, swimming in local open air pools, cinema several times.

No ice rink, bowling alley, leisure centres, sports facilities or school clubs during holidays, TV came on around 4pm, only two channels I think, no McDonald's or similar, no parents to drive us places.

Picked blackberries, stopped at horse fields to stroke horses, hung out at small stable with other girls, went to library.

Ran few errands for mum.

Never really bored, amused ourselves pretty much all the time.

Nice times in a way thinking back.

I was born in 79. Had a younger sister born in 83 and lived in a council estate in a new town built to take the over for from a city. Thankfully surrendered by Green spaces.

We did the same things as the op. Lots of water fights, playing rounders if we could get a team, exploring the local country parks, trying to catch fish/bugs/Frogspawn. I loved the library summer reading challenges and we went swimming as a group of 5-15 kids at least once a week. We would get £1 each and that would cover swimming and a bag of chips or swimming and a trip to home and bargains for Crisps, drink aged sweets. Occasionally wet would Cobbs or money together and get a big fancy doing care and have a party in somebodies garden 😁🤷🏼‍♀️. We would probably walk around 15-20 miles a week and cycle about the same and it wasn't unusual to go out at 8.30 and not come home until 5ish. Then go back out. We did the occasional trip to a woodland or a canal or a place of interest. But nothing that required a lot of money.

We were very lucky that my Nan had a caravan so we spent 2-3 weeks a summer there in the pool or on the beach ( never the fair, too expensive!). If we weren't at the caravan then Nan would often take us on bus rides or boat or train rides.

And yes to rope swings over the river, we had dozens of them around our estate! One of the girls in my class, she was on a rope swing and it snapped and she broke both her arms. Terrified us for a few weeks but we were very soon back on them!

I think it’s a but extreme to say your parents were either facilitating constant activities or were terrible parents 😂

Anyway OP I had a 90s childhood in London and we couldn’t afford daytrips or lots of public transport etc. We did central London museums sometimes but my main memories are of being extremely bored and reading endlessly. So. Many. Books.

By 15 my friends and I were drinking cider in the local park.

Why don't you! That's a memory.

Born in 69 and my holidays consisted of playing in the woods, splashing in streams and climbing trees whilst reading lots of books and making secret clubs.

We would go on holiday as my parents had a camper van and we would get to the end of the road and go left or right (Scotland/Lakes/further North and Wales/Devon/Cornwall).

I would say my childhood summers were pretty idyllic. Mum was a dinner lady so was always home and we did long bike rides and bought plums from a roadside honesty box. Happy memories.
Oh and I swear it never rained!!

60s child 70s teen
long camping holidays
open air swimming baths
tennis, golf, bowling greens on local park
hanging out with friends in the local countryside if we were lucky would be given a sandwich to take with a bottle of water and an apple as a picnic
rare days out at the seaside with my grandparents which were a treat as we went on the train or coach

Born 70 so grew up as a teen in the 80s, Dad worked FT; Mum PT:

• just turn up at the local park/field on bikes or roller boots and wait for friends to turn up;
• be called in for dinner at 5pm (who eats at 5pm nowadays?!) when dad got home and then eating it so quick I'd get indigestion but was desperate to go back out with friends as they were ALWAYS allowed out later than me;
• having to do school homework during the holidays;
• lots of board games when it rained;
• used my imagination and made up games with my dolls, or used my mums old Kays catalogue account books to pretend some kind of game with numbers;
• Watching loads of TV; Tom & Jerry cartoons; Laurel & Hardy films; Why don't you?
• Had 1 coach holiday to a caravan holiday in Cornwall when I was about 11/12; Dad was in a mood (as per) for most of it so couldn't wait to get home.
• From the age of 14, getting bus into local town to meet friends and spend hours in Dolcis (shoe shop), C&A, Boots, Woolworths, John Menzies. Never had money to buy anything but if I did, it would be a lipstick (Heather Shimmer by Rimmel! or some dodgy perfume).
• Getting the bus into town and going to the beach for the day, no sun screen (maybe some baby oil tho - good grief!) and coming back like a lobster.
• Listening to the Top 20 on a Sunday evening and trying to record my favourite songs on my little tape recorder;
• maybe go to the local swimming baths if we could afford it;

My primary school did 2 weeks summer schools til 12ish- were you could go swimming every morning at the local centre or stay at school and crafts, sports - tuck shop.

We spent hours in my garden with the kids from next door who were similar age to us- badminton, tree house/ den making, board and card games in the garden shed. Sleepovers in a tent or in the shed. My dad made bunk beds for it! Also had a lot of cousin around my age who saw regularly.

I'd not sure we went away that was more a September/ October time but we probably did day trips to the coast.

Though if I speak to my dd about her favourite thing about the holidays- she will say playing out with her friend on the cul de sac rather than any of the activities/ trips we do!!!

Loved the summer holidays. I started school
In September 1972 and finished in June 1986.

My memories are of long sunny summer days playing with friends, out on bikes, building dens, French cricket, skipping or "elastics" in the garden. Sindy and Barbie dolls, board games, reading books. Watching Why Don't You and
The Double Deckers. Then we had a 3 week holiday to visit family, so I'd be on the beach with my cousin or at the local park on the trampolines or boating lake. Or mucking out grooming and riding with another cousin. Day trips to castles, zoos and gardens - it was great.

As I got older, there was less playing out and more socialising, listening to music, going into town or to the leisure centre in a big group. Hanging round the park, sat under trees by the river reading, chatting,flirting with boys, trips to Nottingham or Doncaster to go shopping/cinema.

90’s child, 00’s teen here. I remember being SO bored as I was an only child. Mum was off work but she didn’t drive so options were fairly limited! I remember spending loads of time reading and watching TV. When the internet was a thing I basically went nocturnal in the summer holidays spending time online. We did go on holidays and I loved that because it was the only time we really did stuff as a family (Dad worked away and it was all a bit dysfunctional - they later divorced).

In contrast my kids do all sorts and have each other to play with so I think they’ve got a better deal!

It was always hot in the summer holidays, the storms in between were fantastic.

We’d collect insects from the garden & put them in jars, I know 😳. Made daisy & buttercup chains.

I thought Dad worked all the time because he enjoyed it so much, I didn’t realize it was because we were so poor.

Mom made up picnics & she’d take us to the zoo, & park. We’d walk part of the way back from the park & we’d be able to use the money we’d saved on bus fare for an ice cream.

On a Saturday night I’d look longingly at people going past my house carrying (no wheels in those days) suitcases, & hope that one day we could go on holiday too. I already had a blow up beach ball free from the Persil coupons, so I was more or less ready to go.

When they finally took me on holiday I hated it, it wasn’t a patch on the park or zoo. Plus it was far too big for my liking. One glance at Blackpool beach & all those hopes & dreams were shattered.

We camped out in the back garden over night, using a clothes horse with a blanket thrown over it.

We’d go fishing down the cut with our nets & catch small frogs & sticklebacks.

A few times Mom & her friends took us to the kids room at the pub, we’d eat cheese & onion crisps & drink lemonade. I vowed to visit the pub a lot more when I was able & drink beer with the men. How true this turned out to be.

At the weekend we’d go swimming & to the pictures (cinema). We’d buy chips & walk home seeing as we’d spent the tuppence bus fare.

We’d play games in the street, all the kids would join in. Sometimes we’d have a skipping rope going right across the road, & pull it in on the rare occasion a car passed.

Lie down on the back of the bus in the hope that the bus conductor wouldn’t see us so we could save our 2p. If he saw us we’d pretend we couldn’t speak or hear in the hope they he’d let us off.

I had the time of my life! Memories eh 😁

80's baby, 90's child
I was mostly dropped off at the stables 8am - 6pm where all my pony mad friends spent their holidays. Or out on day trips with my parents. We were never home!