Things Parents Did Back In The Day That Would Land Them In Hot Water Today (dump, teenagers)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
my parents let me drive their car to school when we had rifle competitions AT SCHOOL.
my .22 was in the back seat of the UNLOCKED car WITH ammunition (rifle not loaded, though).
we shot behind the gym for 30 minutes to practice and then an hour for the match.
probably had ~15 kids shooting. then, i drove downtown for a hamburger or five and
back home. Dad made sure i cleaned the .22 that night.
Wow, thanks to some for reminding me. There was a bar called Shelly's in San Leandro that my friends and I used to visit. After collecting bottles and turning them in at the store, we'd take our nickels and head over to Shelly's for a 7up. We brought our own Hershey bar and there we'd sit, in one of the booths, eating our chocolate and sipping 7up, just like we owned the place. I must have been eight years old at the time. I hadn't thought about that in ages. Good times
Look, I don't have time to go back and forth with you on this, and quite honesty you're bringing down an otherwise fun thread.
. .. .
Um, sorry, no. It's you who are bringing it down by your . . . I can't even . . . .
I also grew up where these sorts of shenanigans weren't allowed for the young. Doesn't make it any less fun for me to read it about where you grew up, or any less fun for me to express that where I grew up it was vastly different from where you grew up.
Back in the 1950s & 60s, I remember some neighborhood parents dipping the babies pacifier in whiskey to help it go to sleep, when teething. I also remember having hot whiskey toddies for the flu, lol I was sent to buy cigarettes, but never alcohol.
Whaaat? That's reflects on those idiot parents--and not the '50s and '60s.
Whaaat? That's reflects on those idiot parents--and not the '50s and '60s.
Actually the Italian mothers/grandmothers in my area growing up used to rub black berry brandy on an infants gums to deaden teething "pain". Needless to say Mama was rather shocked at such advice and it just wasn't going to happen.
Watch enough old films or read period medical journals and you'll know before anesthetic came along it was booze to deal with pain. Amputation? Surgery? Mortal illness? People reached for whisky or any other strong booze. In fact doctors were often the ones handing it out and or giving instructions for use.
For ages many pain medications were loaded with alcohol; some like Nyquil (the liquid is at 10%) and other cough/cold medicines still contain similar small amounts.
Things remained this way until opium and cocaine made their way to the west. Then you got concoctions of things like heroin, cocaine in various tinctures.
Yes, these things shock today, but plenty of parents then had parents, grandparents or other family/friends who weren't that far removed from "the old country". Thus the old ways were often deemed best. After all their kids lived didn't they?
Again am not saying giving one's kid booze to calm them down/deal with teething pain is cool, just can see where certain parents were coming from with the idea.
Worked at a liquor store in the early 70s when in college, and sometimes an adult would send a kid in with a note to buy smokes, but I would refuse. Back before then, in the 50s-60s, I my father’s beating of us with a taped up double thickness belt or a wooden paddle would most likely mean jail time today.
I grew up in the 50's and 60's and kids routinely showed up at school with signs of physical abuse. From bruises and belt marks to broken arms and knocked-out teeth.
No one ever did a thing to protect the kids.
At a recent high school reunion we talked about a class member who was sexually abused by her brothers and father. People sort of knew it at the time.
No one ever did a thing.
Friends would share lunches with kids who came to school without anything to eat, but I don't recall any social worker looking into things.
I don't recall any of classmates being in foster care. Though several of them probably should have been and probably would be today.
I remember hearing about my mom putting a teaspoon of brandy into the formula when my brother was colicky to help him sleep. And definitely rubbing a tiny bit on a fingertip over his gums to ease teething pain in the mid 60's.
I remember hearing about my mom putting a teaspoon of brandy into the formula when my brother was colicky to help him sleep. And definitely rubbing a tiny bit on a fingertip over his gums to ease teething pain in the mid 60's.
Mt grandmother used to do this for my brother when he was teething and I'm sure she did it on my dad and uncles in the 1920's. They were old time farmers and had all kinds of home remedies they used.
I also grew up where these sorts of shenanigans weren't allowed for the young. Doesn't make it any less fun for me to read it about where you grew up, or any less fun for me to express that where I grew up it was vastly different from where you grew up.
Thanks for this. I sent this link to a long-distance friend of the same age, and she responded by saying the was "surprised by all the bad behavior by the parents" and that she grew up in a "well educated/farming area" and so there were never "any such things going on." Kids in her school never bullied anyone, never smoked, never drank, there were no troublemakers who regularly got sent to the principal's office, every family lived a white picket fence life, etc. Salt of the earth, sterling moral character, the whole nine yards.
Her implication being, I guess, that only in "less educated" (and possibly less 'moral') parts of the USA did 1950s/60s parents send their kids out to buy cigarettes, or spank their kids, etc. Of course this is the same person who often expresses a holier-than-thou attitude and so I shouldn't be surprised, but still, the connection in her mind of common 1950s/50s behavior with educational level was something I hadn't heard from her before.
So thanks for pointing out that although some or most of our childhoods may have had some differences, it doesn't mean that our families or the areas we grew up were something that others should look down on as being "less than."
Last edited by BBCjunkie; 10-30-2018 at 08:35 AM..
Taking kids (again school aged) to local bar. We kids did learn early on that going out with Dad often meant a stop at his local. While he was at the bar having a few and talking with is buddies, we kids sat in a booth drinking Coke out of glasses with a cherry added, and munching potato chips or pretzels (bar food). More often than not Dad was run to ground by Mom who rang up and gave bartender/owner a message; "you're wife just called, she said bring her children home *NOW*. Of course having had all that pop and snacks we kids were "full" and didn't want dinner. That began round *two*.
You haven't spent much time in the Midwest (Wisconsin, MN, etc,) have you?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
