Things your parents did that you wouldnt dream of?

[Frasersmum123]

Is there anything that your parents did when you were younger that you wouldnt do?

Our used to leave us in the car while they went shopping, for what seemed like hours, but in reality was probably about half an hour.

There was 4 of us and we all used to squeeze into the back of my dads car, which had three seats.

alicecrail true mum was a bit different to us as kids ..

She seems to have improved with each one (well, maybe not with you ) and now on her 5th she seems to be getting it right

pratice makes perfect never mind at least it taught how not to bring our kids up..

Indeed

how is my gorgeous niece cos it says she better now .

Oh Sheeta

Parents / In laws did many of the above including:
Carry cot with baby in on back seat of car
Kids (lots) in boot of estate car
Making us a 'bed' in the back of the car on long journeys
Jumping around in the back of the car whilst driving
Being left in the car whilst parents went in supermarket for what seemed like HOURS (age 7 ish I think)
Sitting on my grandads knee while he smoked his pipe and blew smoke all over me (uck)
MIL smoking whilst b/feeding the babies
MIL says she didn't reduce her alcohol consumption whilst pg and doesn't get why we are told to these days - her kids are all v.intelligent professional people now BTW so gin and wine in large quantities obv didn't actually harm them!
Baby rice etc in bottles of milk from young age
Being told to bottle feed as it was better than b/feeding!!
Being taken to my friends dad's butchers shop and being allowed to eat whatever we wanted in the back (including, I remember RAW bacon). To be fair when I went home and told my mum she freaked out!
Lots of unsupervised play outside (which was lovely) including riding horses unsupervised (from a young age)

God, and to think how over-protected my kids are in comparison is scary. No wonder my MIL thinks we pander to them and are over-protective pampering parents!
(I once caught her (babysitting) trying to feed my baby with expressed milk in a bottle that had been sitting unrefrigerated in the kitchen since she'd given her some at the last feed (4 or 5 hrs left out in a warm kitchen). I was appalled, she thought I was mental. DD didn't suffer any ill effects although I was in a panic for 24 hrs afterwards).

This is a lovely thread - I'm definately mollycoddling my dd too much! My parents used to -

1. Not let my brother and I open a window in the car on long journeys whilst they both smoked like chimneys in the front - as it was cold

2 Made me walk home from primay school for about a mile and a half when I was about 8 years old and onwards on my own whilst carrying my baritone (huge trombone thing I hhad lessons in school). My arms nearly fell off.. 3 Sending me down the corner shop for fags on a regular basis (ie daily). 4 Putting me on gold top cows milk from the age of 2 weeks as I was a very hungry baby. 5 Allowing me to eat chips twice a day from the age of 11. I'm amazed that I haven't got a weight problem. 6 Allowing the village 'weird single bloke' babysit us when we were about 5 years old. (Actually he didn't abuse us, was really lovely and used to bring us his cinecamera for us to watch clips of disney films). I remember he used to stutter and sniff a lot.

1. My parents argued all the time!

saying all the above though - I recall my childhood as being lovely!

Leave a 7 year old at home alone whilst going to the vets in a hysterical manner with a dead dog in another town after getting a lift from a passerby after the 7 year old had been taking the dog for a walk, crossed a main road with parent watching teh crossing, dog slipped its lead, ran back to my mother and was hit by a motorbike before it made it and landed by my feet with its guts spilling out.

My mother still talks so fondly of the dog and how sad she was when it died forgetting the bit about leaving a 7 year old who was in shock home alone for the rest of the day so she could go and be hysterical with the dead dog in another town.

made we walk home alone from Brownies at night in the pitch black, when all the street lights were off from power cuts

left us all home alone every saturday while they went shopping in town ( about 4 miles away). my oldest brother was about 13 and my youngest sister was 3

also left us alone in a hotel room every night on holiday when they had dinner, when we were about 5 and 7

We were left alone at night 2-3 nights a week as mum and dad believed because they were on a RAF Base they had nothing to worry about.

One of my earliest memories is getting my wellies on to walk to Aunty &*&^'s house to find mum. I was about 3 at the time.

Also I wouldn't get my 11 year old to be responsible for getting herself and her 7 year old brother across the country by train 6 times a year.

let me think:

not letting me have more than one application of sun cream whilst on package holiday in tenerife because it was too expensive.

feeding me crisp sandwiches and coke for breakfast.

putting tea in my bottle then moaning for the last 30 years that I never slept as a baby. (assuming wasn't caffiene free...)

Waking me every 20 mins as a baby to check I was alive. Again, then moaning I was a bad sleeper. (??)

Letting me drink babysham from a VERY young age.

Dipping my dummy in Guinness.

All good 80s parenting.

Oh goodness, forgot that one of my earliest memories is shooting my dad's gun in the back garden (with him there I hasten to add) into boxes. I must have been 3.

thanks Frasers mum

strangely, when cooking, my mum used to give us the raw bacon rinds she'd cut off the rasher to chew on...

I think mine must have done that too, accordiongirl - because I still love raw bacon rind.

When I was a kid we lived 3 miles away from the village - down an unpopulated road... (no streetlights etc) DB and I were sent into the village to do the shopping from 6/8ish years and one day we kept putting eggs down on the way back cos we were tired, obv they broke so we were sent back to buy another load! We were very careful with them on the return trip!

Also walked home on my own from brownies, although was (v kindly) given a (huge) torch so I didn't fall into the ditch in the dark.

Oh and for a term when the car broke down my mum got the bus to meet us after school in the next village and we walked home together - it was about 7 miles, I was 5 and DB was 7 - no wonder I'm not v tall! When my mum started working when I was 6/7ish we used to have to roam the village after school til they could pick us up - 3 nights a week we went to the library for 2+ hours (one night they didn't arrive til after the library had closed so we were sitting on the pavement outside!). The other 2 nights (when the library was closed) we went to a childminder...

Was made to do Judo, which I hated, for a while when I was 11, which was a 4 mile bike ride away - one day I went over the handlebars and landed on my head and felt concussed so went home - was asked why I'd gone back as no obvious damage!

Also remember loads of freedon - roaming round the countryside or swimming in local river on sunny days with parents having no idea where we were.

My parents were v v keen on seatbelts though (in mid 70s, so years before they were legally required), so frequently used to complain that we had to use them when other kids didn't have to.

i just found this lurking in my watch list. Thought I could give it a bump as it was so funny.

Too much to mention really!

We got smacked constantly. More than smacked - Mum used to lose her rag and bloody go for it.

Leaving my baby brother to cry at the bottom of the garden.

Tea in bottles when we were babies.

Terrible food - the worst was just a plate of grilled cheddar cheese. Not being able to leave the table until we'd eaten it, even if that meant sobbing/puking/sitting at the table for HOURS/feeding it to the cat.

None of us have any major issues but I wouldn't say that I want to repeat any of the behaviour.

Letting me sleep on the back window of our Ford Zephyr, really warm, good for a nap, aged 3.

Also, when I fell down the stairs getting smacked with a slipper and told "that is something to cry for".

We never had enough bog roll! Ever.

If my dad ever gave us a lift to school he would do so with all the windows wound up tight whilst smoking endless B&H, we must have STUNK.

I also remember being given a toke on a cigarette aged about 5 to 'put me off' (It didn't work) and the obligatory being left in the car in the pub car park with a ham roll, bottle of cola and some crisps.

Happy days

Leaving their 5-8 yo (me) "in charge" of two, three or four younger siblings (5 of us in 7 years) while they went out for 2 or 3 hours. Completely barking. I'd like to think that even in the early 70s it was an arrestable offence but I suspect I wasn't alone.

dp would send me, my db and our cousins to play in the woods all day, giving us jam sandwiches for a picnic. We use to spend lots of time looking for a guy who used to lurk there and expose himself to us kids. We thought it was hilarious. We were about 5-6 years old at the time. Also used to meet up with other kids and 'show each other what we've got' [our genitals]. Just curiosity and it never did me any harm but social services would be called in if it happened today!