AIBU to think estate life gave children a brilliant childhood

[CrowsInMyGarden]

AIBU to think living on a council estate was fantastic for kids. I lived on an East End council estate from age 3, then when I got married I moved to a Tower Block. That wasn't so wonderful but when I had my own children I moved back to the same estate I grew up on - a few doors along from my parents. Kids had a constant stream of friends to play out with and a central square to play in where all the parents could see them. Roller skates, bikes, football, runouts, huge water fights in the summer, strange made up games with their own rules. My children have grown up now and have such fond memories of their times playing on the Estate but they have all bought their own houses. Beautiful houses with gardens and their children go to after school/weekend activities and have playdates but don't get to just play out like I used to and they used to. Of course, there were downsides to living there. Neighbours above clattering about. Having to get up lots of stairs with a pram when the lift was out of order. Pee in the stairwells! But....it was a lot of fun. Anyone else have good memories of Estate Life?

I visited someone who lived in a housing estate, maybe 15-20 houses, a cul de sac, big green area in the middle. This was about 10 years ago.

Honestly, I was so jealous. The kids were out playing with each other, toys out in the garden, scooters going etc. Very easy to keep an eye out the window and the cars all crawling in as used to kids (some of their own) everywhere.

We are more rural and the kids seemed so much more isolated. Need lifts to friends houses etc.

This still exists in some areas.

I didn’t grow up on an estate but down the end of my road there were council flats and houses not quite big enough to call it an estate though, and they also had the best park in town, me and my friend started going down there for the park there were some really fucked up psychotic kids that lived there (chavs) we’d wind them up and get them to chase us around town. Some of the best days of my life tbh

Yes, the best years of my life. Playing out until dark, playing rounders, cricket, French cricket, rollerblading, bmx’ing

Manholes is next level 🤣

I live on an expensive road (big detached houses) in a village and kids do still play out a bit here. My 9 year old is allowed to go knock on the 2 or 3 kids who live in the surrounding houses

They were all rife then too

A lot agree with you-I remember older relatives talking about how people used to be delighted to get a flat in a tower block as they got a bathroom to themselves, and how people looked out for each other and everyone knew the local policeman/school teachers etc.
But these days, when people move so much, and most parents having their kids on ipads not outside, where people live isn't as relevant maybe.

I grew up on a 70s new build estate and all the kids played out, my kids grew up on a 2000s new build estate and did that too. What both estates had in common was lots of families with kids similar ages and also they weren't through roads. Some of my kids friends lived on very nice leafy streets but there were far more cars driving through and hardly any kids playing out. I honestly think it's traffic and cars that have been one of the worst things to happen for kids playing out.

We lived on a council estate (2 actually) in a rural setting.
We all played out every spare minute. Climbed trees, rope swings, scrumped apples, played hopscotch, camped, walked miles to the next village, went swimming in the river, helped with hay making.
Our mothers would shout out from the back door at dusk for us to come home! If her voice didn’t carry far enough, the jungle drums would sound & other kids would tell us “your mum is shouting’ for you!”
Hugely happy memories. Amazing freedom, no nonsense, no knives or drugs.

I guess it depends on your personality. Life on an estate would be a living hell for me, but then I’m an introvert who hates noise and doesn’t really like people. My partner grew up on a council estate in the ‘80s. He hated it so much he still has nightmares about the place. In fact, when we go out in the car he will take the long route so as to avoid that part of town. His main memories are of noise, violence, bullying, fights, ugliness and cruelty.

I don't know if it's just true for estates. I know people who had a childhood like that in terraced streets, before there was the huge amount of traffic there is today. I grew up in a village that was a long road with a field and woods right in the middle. We all congregated on the field and played tennis, football, hide and seek etc. We were so lucky.

It was a great life looking back!

People were tight knit , hardworking and law abiding and honest on the Estate I grew up on , but I hated being socially stereotyped by outsiders who had preconceived ideas about my morals , intelligence and honesty. It was shocking how many people who didn’t live there thought most people from my estate were thieves , promiscuous, druggies and benefit scroungers and cheats . I will always have fond memories but I would never live there again for this reason and the sake of my own children .

It's not just estates, it is the area both close to you (i.e. your road) and further afield.

We grew up on a private road in a village (there were council houses but a little bit away) however everyone played together (you do in smaller communities).
It wasn't really on the streets or even in the park, having the countryside literally on our doorstep meant we would range for miles and it really was just a case of going home only when it got dark.
There were streams and a canal, some of us had an inflatable dinghy and while several fell in, no-one was ever hurt and everyone could swim.
Asking Ddad for rope so we could make a swing from a big tree (someone had to climb the tree and tie the rope to a thick branch).
Tree houses, dens, we would even cycle along the towpath to the next village and think nothing of it.

My parents lived in the same house until the end and later, we even lived there for few months while waiting for our new house to be built. It was slightly odd revisiting (nearly 50yrs later) the places I used to play as a young child but it did show just how independent we were back then. Thankfully, that side of the village has never been developed so the same adventures are as available to today's youngsters as they were to us but somehow I don't think they take advantage of them.☹️

I had similar, not on a council estate but a cul de sac in a village. The 70s were great for this. So much freedom and independence.

I grew up on a privately owned estate and yep it was brilliant. All the things you mention. Just much more sociable. Happy times.

That was my childhood too...safe place to learn to ride bikes on roads as well. I've avoided new builds because I got drawn into the whole 'old houses are better' spiel but actually now I just want to move somewhere where the kitchen & bathroom don't need work, everything's reasonably clean and children can play outside with some independence.

We moved a lot and lived on big city estates, in small villages and in regular terraced streets. The ‘playing out’ was the same in all of them, though I suppose the roads were quieter.

There was more freedom and as described being out all day, biking for miles, more imaginative play, coming home when it was getting dark or hungry and so on. However, as also mentioned I look back now at how dangerous some of it was! Climbing on huge haybales, cycling on A roads with no helmets, sliding down the shale into the ‘tropical paradise’ water in a quarry, going into city tunnels, on train tracks, and yes hitching a lift if lost or had gone too far. Not sure my mother ever knew any of that while we ‘played out’ or ‘went up the rec…’

We live on a private road with just a few houses and the children all play together
I think sometimes it's partly the luck of age ranges etc

A huge problem now is cars as well. I trust my children. But some people drive huge tanks around at speed.

@FlowerSticker I can remember when I was 8ish some boys told me there were abandoned kittens in a derelict house. I went down the outside manhole that led to the house, put all the kitties in a box and took them home. So proud of myself. Mum was not happy, made me take them all back as, of course, Mama cat would have been "WTF, where's my babies gone?" I hope she accepted them back. I was such a numpty! The manhole and the house are long gone but I don't think I'd even fit one leg down it these days if it was still there.

I guess it depends on the estate, I worked on a notorious North London estate for years, with the most vulnerable children. Can't say that the murders, domestic abuse, drug abuse, neglect or the local pedophile ring was a bed of roses for those children. I guess nostalgia plays it's part, but when you are working with multiple generations of the same families the estate was also how they were trapped.

This was peak teenage mutant hero turtles era!!