To wonder if Sundays in the 80s were restful or boring

[IlovedLadybirdbooks]

Large stores were closed on Sundays. Eating out was a rare treat. No Deliveroo. 3 TV channels to choose from. People got their exercise from a walk or cycling rather than the gym. Children played out rather than being taken to organised activities.

Just pondering ... were Sundays more relaxing or a bit of a drag?

I hated Sundays, as a teenager in the 80s

Morning, jobs such as ironing shirts for the week at school, then help mum with lunch.

After lunch, out on bikes round the local countryside, or playing football.

Back in time for tea and bullseye.

Homework

Didn't get bored, was far more enjoyable than organised fun and screentime. Would wish my kids had a similar experience. The only thing the same is the chores on a Sunday morning.

Quiet and relaxing, ideal for recharging for the week ahead.

Church in the morning then visiting my Gran (about 6 miles away) in the late afternoon for tea. Dreaded the Antiques roadshow music as it meant back to school on Monday.

Gosh how sad that so many people were so bored in their childhoods. How have humans survived Sundays for all the millennia without consumerism and TV!

I feel so lucky to have lovely childhood memories - I wouldn’t say I was never bored no matter what day it was, but around me there were lots of kids and places to play

How does someone get this patronising?

obviously other people will find your life boring. You should realise that- it applies to all of us

Boring. We'd go to church, have Sunday lunch then go for a drive in the car.
I don't think my dad ever had a plan so it was a bit of a mystery tour. We couldn't even stop for a coffee as nowhere was open so the tartan flask and a packet of biscuits would be taken along.

For the adults it was lovely and relaxing, for kids it was boring.

No one to play out with, not sure why but Sunday was a day when no one was around so I assume visiting family. Then tea at grandparents with nothing to do but watch either the snooker, ski sunday or Highway to Heaven (I think it was called, had that bloke from the Waltons in it as an angel), all my Grandmothers choice.

My grandmother would often comment on my me and my sister reading the newspapers and how odd it was, but thats cos there was sod all else to do!

Really depends on what your family did. For us, it was a tedious/boring day as we tended not to do much except for the occasional day trip to the seaside, maybe 3/4 times a year. The rest of the time, it was just staying in and around the house. We didn't have big family, Mother and Father were both "only ones" so no uncles/aunties/nieces/nephews to have big family meals with. The four of us had the same kind of lunch/tea as we did every other day of the week - just routine. My father worked 6 days a week, so he usually spent his Sundays doing DIY or the garden. Mother also worked so would tend to do the housework, laundry, cleaning etc at weekends. I'd just hang out with neighbours' children in the park playing footie or cycling around the streets, or just playing in each other's houses/gardens but there'd be fewer of them "available" as they'd either have gone to family themselves or had other family in their homes so were "unavailable" to play with non family!! I have no particularly fond memories of Sundays at all and they were certainly nothing special to look forward to. Didn't even go to church either (not that I'd have wanted to), but I suppose it would have filled the mornings!

I suppose it would be more "fun" for those with bigger families who took turns "hosting" their weekly Sunday dinners as it would have been a day out and a good chance to meet/play with their children.

This is really quite rude and ignorant.

We have already discussed that income levels and individual family dynamics will have had a huge effect on our experiences as children. My parents for example, did not allow me to go out and play on my own (or with other kids) and I was an only child so I had literally noone to talk to or play with.

It has nothing to do with consumerism and everything to do with a lack of options and choice. Bully for you that you had a wonderful childhood but not everyone did 🙄

For the adults it was lovely and relaxing

So why did they suddenly start visiting shops and attractions as these started opening up? It's not hoards of kids in our city centre of a Sunday.

No idea, probably to shut their whining kids up (of which I was one!). All I know is that my parents (boomers) always bang on about how relaxing Sundays used to be and how its such a shame that no one gets a day "off" anymore for that.

I have pointed out that with increased working hours and more families having to have two working parents, the weekends are often the only time they have for shopping, cleaning etc, but thats "not the point".

I can recall when the Sunday opening times were changed. Prior to this the only shops open till 1pm round my way were new agents. It was a novelty to be able to go out shopping on a Sunday and I remember thinking it felt wrong, but also handy too.
Sundays were boring pre the change.

Although.......when the shops opened on Sundays, it was at the time that my generation (X) were adults so probably went out because we were sick of boring Sundays stuck at home!

If by some miracle my miserable DM wasn't around I loved Sundays. My DF would cook a huge fry up, we'd trot out for the papers, watch a film and he'd make a roast. Sometimes we'd go the cinema in the evening. When I was an older teenager I'd spend the day with my friends and doing homework.

If my DM was around it was depressing. She would moan all day about how she hated Sundays. I think she hated them because my DF and I were around and she couldn't meet up with her affair partners until the evening.

Sorry didn’t mean to offend. But the premise of the question is about Sundays being boring, and I read into that because Sundays are the day shops were shut. Plus the reference to 1980s where there wasn’t as much TV.or online options. Obviously everyone has different experiences - my parents were functioning alcoholics who were drunk every Sunday afternoon but still made a nice roast dinner. We were poor with a clapped out car and no holidays ( except drinking focussed holidays). But I still loved my childhood and feel very lucky.

Yes, we bought a newsagents shop and we opened on Sundays, it being our busiest day of the week. So clearly, lots of people wanted to shop and buy things on Sundays. We were absolutely heaving all day. Especially on "special" days like Mother's day, where bonfire night fell on a Sunday, etc or when Xmas Eve fell on a Sunday - we couldn't keep the shelves stocked! It's a bit of a fallacy that no one "wanted" to shop on Sundays!

I went to boarding school and Sundays were great. A lie in, a special breakfast, a roast lunch and the ice cream man in the afternoon. Loved Sundays. In the holidays used to play with friends all day, or go out a run in the car to the seaside for an ice cream slider.

Weekends were great back in the 80s. I was a student living in a shared house and we had a great time...always cooked a Sunday dinner together, went for walks, listened to music, saw friends, chatted endlessly and maybe recovered from a night out on Saturday!
Later in the decade I met Mr Toast and got married. We loved just hanging out together on Sundays (went to church in the morning) and having time to talk and do other married couple things (jiggles eyebrows!) 😉

As a child I’d go to grandparents with my dad in morning. Mum stayed at home for some peace and did housework and cooked Sunday lunch. Had Sunday roast dinner and went to Sunday school. Tea was toast, watch tv and baths hair wash get ready for week ahead.
As a tween/teen I’d go to church parade with guides monthly in the morning.
No recollection of being bored. You could see friends and family. Read. Watch tv. Homework.

I'm not sure it was just about shops being open - though being able to pop and getting something is often useful.

It's about my kids having a house full of book and libraries very close by - with films and TV on tap rather than having to wait for a schedule - though last few years finding family viewings been oddly hard. House I grew up in had one small bookcase - we have way more books just for the kids.

It's the kids having hobbies - something my parents discouraged probably due to cost - about having option to go bowling or out for a meal - all being options that weren't there for DH and I in 80 where we were with our families incomes.

My Mum in 90s my teen years worked saturday morning and sunday when it was double time - did impact on family time but also brought in much needed money.

Both DH and I in different locations - both badly affected in 80s economically - found sundays dragged. Not sure Mum found them restful either - with ironing and cooking huge meal - plus having to fit everything like food shopping and any otehr stuff on Saturday -Dad might have though he was often one wanting to visit DGP or go out for a drive.

I remember being quite bored some Sundays.

We didn't have much money so we never went anywhere other than visiting my grandparents every other weekend. Obviously I loved seeing my grandparents but there was nothing child friendly to do at their house so it wasn't very exciting.

Sundays were OK if there was a friend available to go and see but otherwise it was a bit dull.

But thats exactly why they were boring! because I had noone to play with, nothing to do (wasnt allowed out) and my parents only wanted to watch tv programmes they liked on tv which were dull as ditch water to me so yes, if I had the internet back then, I would never have been bored - thats the point.

Conversely if you had a huge family, lots of siblings and cousins to play with every Sunday, went on loads of trips out, holidays, had expensive hobbies such as horse riding then no, I probably wouldnt have needed things like the internet as much but that wasnt my childhood, so yes, it was boring.

We went on country walks, picnics. The beach. Read a book. Watched an afternoon film, whatever was on the single channel in my Irish childhood. I don't remember being especially bored. Shopping wasn't a leusure activity back then.

They used to show old films in the afternoon on Sundays . Mostly in black and white. Or ‘ the big match ‘ on ITV showing Saturdays football matches.