Oh, the good old days . The time before tablets, social media, and even the internet itself. Being a kid was something else back then; a proverbial wild west of experience and discovery.
Suffice it to say that a lot changed in a very short period of time, particularly when it comes to parenting. See what I mean and check out these 15 things that we used to be able to do that we won’t let our kids do.
Drive the car (without a license)
In the summer when I would go to visit my grandparents, my Papa used to let me sit on his lap and drive the car around the trailer park. He would work the pedals, but still — one wrong crank is all it would have taken for us to end up in a ditch.
Use alcohol to suppress the pain from teething.
When BuzzFeed Community member Ameeliah was just a baby, her mother used to rub peppermint schnapps on her gums to keep her from constantly crying.
I can relate —we used to get shots of NyQuil when we refused to sleep.
“My mom used to leave me and my brother in the car when she went into the store. In the summer!”
I don’t mean to call out my own mother, but I too have vivid memories of being left alone in the car with my younger brother . Again, she was never gone for very long, but it definitely happened.
Stay at the beach — all day long.
“My parents dropped me, my brother, and two sisters (our ages ranged from 9 to 12) at the beach at 9 a.m. and picked us up at 6 PM,” explains BuzzFeed Community member emmaw4fc539148
“When we were little, my brother and I would follow the cats up to the roof and play.”
According to queserasera0357 , their parents couldn’t have cared less. Although they fully admit that nowadays, the neighbors would likely call Children’s Aid or the police were they to see such a thing.
Ride a mattress down the stairs.
I feel like Home Alone is the cause for every ’90s kid wanting to experiment with a mattress and stairs. My childhood best friend and I used to quite literally launch ourselves from top to bottom — until one day he broke his foot.
Who needs a car seat when you have a cardboard box!
“At 6 weeks old, I rode in a cardboard box in the backseat of my parents’ car as they drove across three states to introduce me to my grandparents,” writes BuzzFeed Community member elizabethg40495411b
Be around smoking adults.
When I was a kid, my aunt used to get me to light her cigarettes for her. In fact, I can still remember being praised in my younger years for figuring out how to get the flame on a BIC lighter to light.
Parents no longer use their children as crocodile bait.
“My parents took me to a reptile zoo in Thailand where they dangled me over a fence so I could throw chunks of raw chicken to the crocodiles below me. This was encouraged by the employees.” – BuzzFeed Community member devinloveslife
Toboggan with GT Snow Racers.
Do you remember GTs? Those things were a freaking death trap. The grisly injuries and visions of children with broken limbs are forever etched into the forefront of my mind. I haven’t been on a toboggan hill since.
“My mom used to send me into the store to get her cigarettes.”
My dad used to tell me a story similar to that of Booknerd13 ‘s. Back when he was a kid, his mother would send him to the store with a signed note, stating that he did indeed have her permission to buy cigarettes.
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Go on a three-day-long bike trip.
In my first year of high school, my best friend Dave and a few other friends decided that they were going to bike from London, ON to Sauble Beach. The trip took three days and when all was said and done — they’d biked over 200 KMs.
This was also about a year before cellphones became popular.
“We rode in the back of my dad’s pickup truck — with no topper — on the freeway.”
I’m old enough to remember a time when people rode around in the beds of trucks . I never would have done so while traveling on a freeway but to each their own.
Develop a taste for soap.
Back in my day, the threat of having your mouth washed out with soap was a very real and prevalent fear. Nowadays, kids curse with reckless abandon and never have to worry about the consequences.
Hitch a ride on the lawnmower.
“My dad attached a sled to the back of his riding lawn mower so that as he mowed the grass he could pull me and my brothers behind him.”
I hope that he at least had the good sense to turn off the blades?!
