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Original poster

Things your parents did that you wouldnt dream of?

342 replies

Frasersmum123 · 25/02/2009 17:09

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.

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PestoMonster · 25/02/2009 19:08

Mine would leave me alone in the house in the evenings to go for a drink, from the age of seven

They also used to drive to country pubs for the evening and I would be either left in the pub garden or left alone in the car

wasabipeanut · 25/02/2009 19:19

Smoking around us - even in the car with us.

Smacking.

hoxtonchick · 25/02/2009 19:21

my grandpa let me drive his car when i was about 9 -- on a disused airfield. but still.

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herbietea · 25/02/2009 19:24

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gettae · 25/02/2009 19:26

let me skate on a frozen dam (or maybe they never knew??)

TheCrackFox · 25/02/2009 19:27

Smoking around us. Mum used to smoke whilst breastfeeding. She found it relaxing apparently.

Nipping out to the pub for a couple of hours from the age of 7. Big bro was 9 and sis was 5.

Smacking.

pispirispis · 25/02/2009 19:29

Giving me a huuge bag of sweets and lollies before they went out on Saturday night when I was very young. (Guilt sweets - they went out every single Saturday night and still do)

Leaving me at home alone with no babysitter while they went out on Saturday night from age 9 (I told them to!)

Giving me Ribena when I was only two weeks old and only just out of hospital because I was born a month premature (because I wouldn't drink milk )

Crap food, no fresh veg, in winter not allowed grapes because they were "too dear" (although tonnes of crisps and chocolate fine!)

Taking me to the pub for aaaages where old men would give me 50p for a coke and crisps.

I do love you though mum and dad!!

bergentulip · 25/02/2009 19:36

Travelling on overnight ferries every couple of months or so from the continent to family in the UK, my sis and I would be left in the 'berth' alone while they went and had dinner and drinks.

We can't have been older than 5 and 7, and would run in and out of the room, around the tiny corridors, up and down the stairs(!)

supergluebum · 25/02/2009 19:37

My parents left me in the car (loose) alone when I was 2 years old so they could walk the dogs on the beach. They only came back earlier than planned because my dad spotted smoke coming from the car where I'd been playing with the indicators and set fire to the car.
My grandad always smoked his pipe in the front room when we were children playing on the floor and he even let us try a puff
On long journeys, particularly through Europe, so added bonus of driving on the wrong side of the road, my sister would have a bed made up in the foot well and I would have the back seat. All ready to crush her in a crash .
Sitting on Dad's knee to "drive" the car at a very early age.
We largely survived on Bernard Matthews products, cooked by me between the ages of 9-14 during the holidays while my mum was at work. We were alone at home most of that time too.
Once my dad came to our junior school and collected us in the middle of the day because he'd forgotten his keys and needed to shove either me or my sister through the pantry window to get in. It's a miracle with the crap we used to eat that either one of us fit.
Weetabix spread with butter and jam was a very acceptable snack.
Eating of plates that had potentially only been "dog washed". My dad had (and I suspect still has) a bad habit of letting the dogs lick the dinner plates after a meal. I'm not always convinced that in the chaos following dinner that all the plate always got washed up!

supergluebum · 25/02/2009 19:38

that should say eating off plates obviously we didn't eat plates!

bergentulip · 25/02/2009 19:38

Not batting an eyelid as we disappeared off for hours and hours in the day on our bikes, often with ice skates in search of a frozen pond (thanks for reminding me gettae), again, probably around the ages of 5 and 7.... and onwards.

And I'm only 28- I make it sound like I was living centuries ago....

supergluebum · 25/02/2009 19:43

Also my dad was in the RAF and we didn't live on the base so when the summer ball was on, mum and dad would leave us upstairs in the mess alone while they went off and got pished. Periodically coming back to check on us. The rooms were never en suite, so we'd have to leave the room to go to the loo.
I remember going out for a wee then panicking because I couldn't find my room. I wondered about on the verge of tears until another drunken reveller returning to his room, found me and took me around the mess to find my parents . Wandering around the summer ball in my nightie!!

bohemianbint · 25/02/2009 19:56

blimey, don't start me...

supergluebum · 25/02/2009 20:06

go on you know you want to....

happywomble · 25/02/2009 20:14

Yes I remember the no seatbelt days. My mother thought nothing of sitting in the front with one of us on her lap and no seat belt.

When my parents went to dinner parties they took us with them and we would sleep upstairs at the house in question and be bundled back in the car to go home at 11pm.

We used to have a small holding and drank unpasteurised milk fresh from the cow.

Leaving the house unlocked when going shopping. Not needing to lock cars.

lollystar · 25/02/2009 20:16

My dad smoked like a chimney around us for years. No seatbelts, we had a maestro with no parcel shelf so we would constantly jump up and over the seats into the boot. Driving on dad's knee. Mum would leave us at home to go and fetch dad from work at quite a young age. All day bike rides and adventures and they didn't have a clue where we'd gone. I've got a vague memory of us standing through the sunroof and I'm sure dad must have driven home drunk a few times....

dancingonmice · 25/02/2009 20:18

beer in christening mugs from about 4 years old
smacking round head with wooden spoon
tea with sugar at every meal

HeadFairy · 25/02/2009 20:19

I used to love our holiday drives down to the South of France, my dad used to put the seat down flat so my sister and I effectively had a double bed in the back, with all the bags piled up around us, and they'd drive through the night so we wouldn't miss a day of our holiday. I got more excited about that than anything else!

My mum also used to dose us up with Phenergan (sp?) whenever they wanted some peace and quiet.

Lots of smoking in the house around us.

We ate quite healthily but I'm fairly sure I was weaned at 12 weeks as per the advice at the time.

No vaccinations for me, I've never been vaccinated against anything, apart from the BCG and Rubella at school (but I'd already had rubella) and I had horrendous measles, terrible mumps too.

Lots of playing in our nighties on the streets until dark in the summer evenings... must have been around 10pm (obv only at weekends)

ilovemuffins · 25/02/2009 20:19

after I was born, took me home from hospital in a washing basket lined with a blankets, on the back seat of a taxi. oh well, it was only a few hundred yards to their place, but still :-)

supergluebum · 25/02/2009 20:20

We take our children to dinner parties and other events at peoples houses, put them to bed and then bundle them home in pushchairs or wrapped up in blankets at the end of the evening to go home only to neighbours houses though

happywomble · 25/02/2009 20:29

Supergluebum..not sure if you are due to my post.

I just wanted to explain that I don't think there is anything wrong in taking the children with you when you go to dinner at a friends house (and letting them sleep upstairs) . We just don't get invited to many dinner parties so the need hasn't arisen.

Not sure if my excitable children would ever go to sleep if we were to try!

wiggletastic · 25/02/2009 20:29

Most of the things already mentioned!

The best ones I can remember were...

  • when my dad helped my uncle move house and I slept in a sleeping bag on top of a chest of drawers in the back of the van in the middle of all the piled up furniture and stuff all the way from Glasgow to Coventry
  • being left in a parked caravanette outside my dad's work all day, every day during the school holidays with my DB. We obviously got bored with that and went off to the local play area, cafe, shops etc. and even walked a mile down a busy city street to get to a museum! We were about 9 and 10 at the time.
MrsMattie · 25/02/2009 20:31

My dad smoked about 40 a day around us at all times.

My mum never really disciplined us at all!

philopastry · 25/02/2009 20:33

I love this thread!
A lot of mine have already been said - other things that stand out are that my grandad used to get me to light his fags for him and got me tipsy on pina coladas when I was 8 or 9. Also I once fell headfirst into a laundry bin full of home brew that had been put in the airing cupboard in my bedroom to ferment. My mum and dad still laugh their heads off about that one - apparently they still drank the beer months later and it tasted even worse than usual with a hint of unwashed 5 year old in there! We were also sent out to play every Saturday morning without fail - whatever the weather - so my mum and dad could get it on. Happy Days....

And my mum and dad were pillars of the community - my mum was a teacher!

supergluebum · 25/02/2009 20:35

happywomble ...yes a little bit . But I live in a close community and we've always done it. You should start it up it works!
However (judgey pants here..well not really just not for me) plenty of my neighbours leave their children next door or across the road with the baby monitor on! So I don't feel too bad!

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