child of the 80's

[Anonymous]

I have a memory of my mom leaving me in the car to see a movie with my 2 brothers bc I refused to agree to see a movie that she sprung on us suddenly. Was this child abuse back then? We know what it is now.

[Anonymous]

It would not have been considered child abuse, or even neglect, where I grew up in the 80s. Depending on the age of the kid and temperature of the car of course. A toddler who can’t open the door of a hot car would be a different story.

[Anonymous]

Depends. How old were you?

[Anonymous]

If you were old enough to roll down the window you were fine for an hour and a half

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a memory of my mom leaving me in the car to see a movie with my 2 brothers bc I refused to agree to see a movie that she sprung on us suddenly. Was this child abuse back then? We know what it is now.

Lol sounds like you were a bratty kid.

[Anonymous]

I was allowed to read in the car a lot in the 80’s and 90’s. But not for an hour and a half.

[Anonymous]

LOL. My parents left me and my older sister (we were maybe 8 and 11) in the car for an hour once when we didn't like the restaurant they'd chosen to eat at during a family vacation. We deserved it. Definitely wasn't child abuse. Parents today are totally insane with their overprotectiveness, at least here on the East coast.

[Anonymous]

My mom would leave us in the car for up to an hour while she went shopping. It was up to us, but we preferred to stay in the car than go with her. I think we were maybe 6 and 8 years old. We'd open the doors on hot days. I'd never leave my kids alone in the car but in the 80s nobody ever knew where their kids were. I was reminiscing to my wife yesterday that we would run all over the neighborhood streets, getting up to half a mile from home between breakfast and dinner, and one of the kids in our roaming group was a THREE YEAR OLD girl (without a sibling). Different times indeed

[Anonymous]

No big deal, your mother wasn’t abusive you just made a poor choice to sit in the car and are still mad about it. Get therapy

[Anonymous]

My mom used to leave me in the car in NYC while she ran into stores and did errands. The car was usually double parked and I was left to tell a cop or someone tHat she would be right out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was allowed to read in the car a lot in the 80’s and 90’s. But not for an hour and a half.

Could you not read books that took more than an hour or did your parents just not trust you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No big deal, your mother wasn’t abusive you just made a poor choice to sit in the car and are still mad about it. Get therapy

[Anonymous]

Upper elementary, I think? I don't think I was bratty, she didn't ask, it was just something she sprang on us and it was a movie I absolutely did not want to see. Well she trotted off with my 2 brothers and left me in the car to stew for an hour and a half.

So in general regardless, it seems like it was somewhat common to allow kids to hang out alone in cars while their parents shopped or ran an errand really quick in the 80's. It's just not like that now.

Last night we went to an event where a lot of families gathered and a mom was there with her young el aged son laying on a picnic blanket. At one point she just got up and left for 10 minutes. Turns out she went to buy a drink at the food truck by the street near the park. Nothing happened and all was fine but I definitely was thinking you really can't do that in this day and age.

[Anonymous]

I definitely sat in the car a good amount. Most of the time it was sort of my own choosing. Like, I didn’t want to go in the store. They weren’t doing a huge grocery shop, just a gallon of milk and maybe a treat.

Windows down, don’t talk to strangers. Never was left in the heat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No big deal, your mother wasn’t abusive you just made a poor choice to sit in the car and are still mad about it. Get therapy

That’s definitely not an 80’s mirror, you’re going to need to dig deeper than that.