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 😂

60's/ 70's child here. Lived in a seaside town but as a younger child only visited the beach if we had visitors. Sent to grandmother in the midlands for a couple of weeks as parents at work. By age 10 or so was left at home to play with friends who lived in our road whilst parents worked. We all had bikes, cycled miles , out all day. The sun always shined, every single day.

Born in the late 80s, so most of my childhood summers were in the 90s. My mum was a school secretary so had the summer holidays off, my dad couldn't work due to disability. We spent our summers between our caravan, my nannie's caravan with cousins, a few times we rented a house in Portrush or Portstewart for a week and there were a few years we had week in the Share Centre in Fermanagh, gifted to us by a charity for my dad's disability. Once or twice we stayed with friends for a couple of nights at a house they rented in Rathmullan, Donegal. Our summers were fantastic, everything we could have wished for and more. There were always other kids to play with, we spent endless hours on the beach, climbing rocks, crabbing or fishing, searching rock pools, crawling through caves, riding bikes, having picnics, playing boardgames, doing water sports in Lough Erne, eating crisp sandwiches as a treat, playing pool in the pub while the grown ups had a few drinks, visiting country parks with the whole family, going to see the horses near my nannie's caravan, going to Barry's amusements, eating ice cream sliders and sundaes at Morelli's. We didn't have much money and going abroad definitely wasn't an option, most activities were free but we were spoilt with the time and energy our family dedicated to us over the summer holidays, we had so much fun! I wish we could spend all summer giving our kids similar memories instead of packing them off to childcare and trying to fit it all into a week or two of annual leave and late afternoons, it's just not the same!

70s child 80s teenager
mum was largely a shm
lived in a cul de sac so holidays were spent playing out round the close bikes skates building dens on the green opposite our house just playing out for hours on end. Mum would occasionally take us to the beach which was nearby or to visit family nearby two weeks in yarmouth at the beginning of sept
in the 70s as a teenager went further afield with friends though still in the village library shops park beach played with the kids in nearby roads etc I suspect it was nothing like the summer holidays of today we largely made our own entertainment.
Hated it when it rained as couldnt play out though was an avid reader so mainly spent time indoors then reading again we had to make our own entertainment as money was scarce for days out etc
you wanted ice cream mum would make you one or you had an ice pole out the freezer fuzzy drink you made a soda stream handful of biscuits was a treat you got 50p a week for sweets as I became a teenager it went up to a pound but bought a magazine out of that as well then!!

Same age as you and this has been playing on my mind for a while too! Apart from 1
week away (a caravan holiday) during the summer holidays I cannot remember any days out or activities I did with my parents! Similar to you, children’s tv in the morning, out on bikes and call for friends, playing on the estate with neighbours etc. Occasionally head up the village and call for school friends (at an age I wouldn’t dream of letting my children out at now….!). I do remember one holiday camp/club me and my brother went to one summer which must have been free. It was a football camp, I think, around the time of the Euros I want to say?! Also, at grandparents if mum worked a long day.

I wonder if expectations have got higher with social media etc. My eldest asks every day “what are we doing today” or “where are we going today” but perhaps that’s our fault as we are quite active and busy with days out etc but during the summer holidays it feels relentless and is also expensive trying to go places every day on my days off work.

I am trying different local parks one day, one morning of a free holiday club and one paid day out a week (which I am not sure I can keep up for 6 weeks!). We are away for one week and they are with grandparents/holiday club on working days.

Times were definitely simpler and cheaper back when I was a child I think!

Born late fifties. Two weeks with parents off four week minding two younger siblings from a ridiculously young age. Left a few Bob for pie shop / chippy. Way too much responsibility and inevitably accidents and fights happened.
They paid the mortgage off early, so it worked for them. I felt robbed of a childhood.

I agree 100%. I would love my children to have the freedom to roam as I did as an 80s/90s kid but unfortunately most of the large 3/4 bed houses on our estate where we live are occupied by elderly people who's carers and children speed around the estate with little regard for children playing or riding their bikes. Play dates and organised meet ups with other families are the only way my children get to play with other children without the risk of being run over.

I was an 80s child and a 90s teenager. Lots of playing out with the other kids who lived nearby.

DS is always asking me what did my mum do if she wanted me. He can't get his head round the fact that I wasn't contactable and my mum either waited for me to come home for dinner or if it was urgent she'd find a passing child and ask them to go and find me!

We did some days out and some Butlins holidays but most days we did our own thing with friends and local kids.

My parents ran these summer schemes. Usually out of play buses, so that was our summer for a few weeks.

This is the best thread I've read on Mumsnet - ever. Thanks very much for doing it OP and everyone for telling their story.

Late 70’s child here - summers were spent on my bike with friends, swimming or making dens. Might be the occasional trip to the shops (on the free supermarket bus as mum didn’t drive) or library or rarely cinema. Saying that times were different- no trampoline parks, ninja warrior, multiplex cinemas or soft play so the choice wasn’t there anyway. There was certainly less stress on parents to ‘entertain’ us and keep up with others on social media - must have been easier in some ways!

I was thinking about this today! Similar age to you op. My dad was always off work in the summer (teacher) so we were at home with him. My sister and I would spend hours playing with our Barbie dolls. Watched Sesame Street when it was on at lunchtime. Once a week we might have gone swimming, but not the constant expensive activities everyone seems to be doing these days. Things were a lot simpler then!

70s/80s - we lived in a deprived area which meant that there was free summer scheme at the community centre for 4 weeks. This was fab as there were organised activities such as sports and Friday was always drama day, but they also had free choice stuff like arts available at any time and you could come and go as you pleased. There were drinks and snacks too and a day out at the end of the 4 weeks. I remember the excitement when a primitive form of bouncy castle arrived once. It was a huge inflated base with no sides or top. It was carnage! And great fun!
My best fiend always went away for a fortnight at the start of the holidays and those weeks dragged.
We used to have days out to the sea-side.by coach or train as we didn’t have a car. We used to play on the estate and I vividly remember being allowed out until 10pm the last week of the summer holiday before secondary school and the thrill of hanging about in the dark with my friends. We were across the road from home.
We used to ride bikes, get a chase of a nasty neighbour, race around in our roller boots, practice dance moves at each other’s houses, make dens in the quarry 😬, make dens in the gardens of unoccupied houses and get chases from posh kids on the other side of the river by shouting offensive things to them (there was a bridge they could cross to get us). We used to collect golf balls of the course and sell them to the golfers. We walked for miles and I read as many books as I could.

Born in the late 90s so mostly a child in the 00s and teen in the 2010s.

Summer holidays were always 2 weeks abroad with parents. 1 week away with my Nana usually in rural Wales. Other weeks were probably 1 day trip with my Auntie and cousins, 1 day in childcare (called 'play-scheme' from memory), 1 day at my Nan's playing out in the cul-de-sac with other children spending the day with their grandparents, 1 day in work with either my mum or dad, 1 day at a friend's house or having a friend at mine with one of my parent's off work - playing PS2 games, then Wii when that came out, making up dances/performances, playing on the trampoline. Trips to the local outdoor community pool sitting on the banks watching my older cousins swim, then the ice cream van would come.

As a teen... we used to hang around the shopping centres a lot and take ourselves off to ice skating/cinema/bowling type places, hang out "down the brook" or over the fields eating junk food we weren't allowed at home. Less holidays as my parents divorced when I was 11 and both had less money afterwards, and my Nana died, but I think I still went on a UK holiday most years for a week or so. We'd play computer games too, and spent a lot of time on MSN talking to boys and scrolling Tumblr for "thinspo".

70's child here

I was quite feral in the summer holidays and spent the whole time playing outside with my friends and neighbours.

I was also very lucky to have 2 weeks abroad with my family which I loved and always made friends to hang out with

I rarely watched TV as a child but when I wasn't on my bike or hanging out in the park or whatever I loved to read.

I was playing outside from the age of 3. That was completely normal to just be left to our own devices

1960s child. Main holiday, a fortnight in Cornwall self catering. We had a dog so twice daily walks with him, the afternoon walk quite often included a picnic tea somewhere locally. Holiday Club which was held in a church hall for a week. One year everyone there caught impetigo from each other. That was fun. Weekly trip to the library. Tea at friend’s houses and them with me. Playing in the garden. I don’t remember being bored and Mum told me years later how much she enjoyed those times too with my sister and I.

I'm from America, so my summer holidays were 10 weeks long. I was born late 60s, so childhood was in the 70s and teen years in the 80s.
We played outside all the time. Went swimming in the river. Exploring in the woods. Riding bikes all over town. Once during the summer my Father would take us to an Amusement Park and the 1st week of Aug (always that week) we would go camping near the beach. Those were the only places my father regularly took us to in the summer. My best friends parents would take us to the Drive-In Movies several times every summer. My next door neighbor's father was a sculptor and he would bring us all to his workshop (in another town), which was such a cool place to play at. My town also had a few festivals over the summer that we would go to. My neighborhood was full of kids so there was always people around to play with. Summers felt endless back then, was definitely the best time of the year and I would go back and do it all again if I could.

Oh and swimming as well. Spent most of my pocket money going to the local outdoor baths. 6p to go in and 4p for a bag of chips on the way home. I was expected to budget and once my pocket money was gone, 50p a week, that was it until the following week. Obviously late 60s early 70s by then when decimal coinage had come in

80s child- playing with barbies/sylvanians/ helping mum in the garden/ doing arty things/ playing out with the other kis in the street.Then usually a family day out at one point in the summer, when my dad was off work. Lots of days at grandparents, where we'd roam freely. Lots of morning telly.

90s- from 10-14 on. Playscheme, unless it rained. Lots and lots of reading. Some hanging out with kids from the street. The odd day out with parents or aunty/ uncles/gparents.

90s from 14-16. Meeting mates to wander about. Camping in back gardens. Parties. Stalking older boys/ men we fancied.

Compare and contrast my kids:
1 usually has a week a scout camp.
1 week abroad.
1 weekend in a caravan.
The odd cinema trip.
Dc1 reckons he's now free to xbox all summer, as he's had a week outside.
Dc2 doesn't want to do anything, as they're meeting mates in various places.

80s, WC. we never went on holiday or stayed overnight anywhere but when my dad took time off we would borrow my uncles van to day trip to the beach or mountains... left at 8am home at 10pm type trips. Neighbours quite often did the same and there would be a convoy off us setting off in the morning.

Other than than we were in a council run summer scheme a lot of the day ( 25p a day 9am - 4pm!) or being 'minded' by the parent allocated to keep an eye on about 20 of us during the day. We played out all day and brought our own tins of soup or sarnies at lunchtime to that parent's house.

We do take out kids abroad for a couple of weeks, and other than that I take them back to my childhood home and work from there, while they pretty much do the same thing - summer scheme ( £4 a day!), play with other kids, and have the grandparent's semi keep an eye on them.

We had 8/9 weeks of summer hols to get through, when we were 11/12+ we'd go to the local swimming pool ( free for kids) on our own or use the council tennis courts - also free to kids.

Yep I'm with you and have been thinking about this recently. We were sent to grannies for summer hols as my parents worked. We were out all day (although it was a small village in the country) and there were definitely no 'activities' organised for us, we amused ourselves, popping back in for lunch and dinner. Even at home in a city we amused ourselves my parents couldn't afford tons of excursions and soft play and all that. I've felt like my kids personal assistant this summer arranging playdates, visits, trips and its cost me an absolute fortune. Im not sure it benefits them at all tbh they now just expect to be entertained.

80s child and 90s teen also!
All summer I played outside....loads of kids outside on bikes, rollerskating, skipping ropes, lola ball and we played kick the ball, hide and seek, tag, kirby....made dens in bushes and just kids games. We never went on holiday but had a couple of days out, always to a zoo or a safari park, picnic.
As a parent now at 40 and I've a 8 year old and he gets holidays and loads of days out almost every couple of days. As for playing outside like I did, he's never done it which makes me sad as if I send him outside there's no kids out playing and he's just on his own which isn't much fun. Parents these days just don't let their kids out so days out are now an absolute must.

' As for playing outside like I did, he's never done it which makes me sad as if I send him outside there's no kids out playing and he's just on his own which isn't much fun. Parents these days just don't let their kids out so days out are now an absolute must.'

The second our kids our out for a bit with a ball or whatever other children start appearing. I think too many people keep their kids in or at organised activities then complain that their kids are in too much or at too many activities...