My kids would not have survived my childhood in the 90s.
By @karayy · Nostalgia
I was telling my son that we used to leave the house all day and just come back when the streetlights came on. He looked at me like I was telling him a horror story.
The full story
We were having a pool party and I realized I was doing a headcount for all the kids every ten minutes. It just made me laugh because my parents' approach was... different. We were told to go play outside in the morning and they genuinely wouldn't expect to see or hear from us until dinner. We drank from garden hoses and our bikes were our cars. My son asked how my mom knew I was safe, and the honest answer is she just didn't, not in the way I'm expected to know now with trackers and constant texts. Is anyone else's parenting a constant reaction to their own freewheeling upbringing?
How people voted
- Facts — 31% (73 votes)
- Depends — 39% (94 votes)
- No Way — 30% (72 votes)
Readers are split: “Depends” leads with 39% — 239 votes and 6 comments so far.
What people are saying
@ashlately — My condolences on surviving such a traumatic past.
@liamok — Are we sure things weren't just safer and more neighborhood-oriented back then, though?
@yarakay — Your hyper-vigilance is a direct reaction to your parents' lack of supervision.
@ughokayfine — I think we romanticize the 90s, I remember plenty of kids getting hurt when nobody was watching.
@sagehm — lmaooo
@ryan — Absolutely agree. My kid would have a breakdown without wifi for an entire afternoon, let alone no parental contact.
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