Crazy shit your parents did

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother had us go out on a small boat once (8 kids and her) without life jackets. None of us could swim.

Starting when I was about 13, I would spend all day during summer vacation, in an 11 ft row boat with a 6 horsepower engine exploring the Chesapeake Bay. The only life preserver in the boat was an old seat cushion. I had a great time and caught zillions of fish, but it seems crazy now. My parents didn't think twice about me drowning, they only wanted to know which direction I was heading that particular day.

That sounds awesome! Are you male or female? Do you still boat and fish?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:E.T. was on tv the other night, and DH and I found ourselves watching it. Never realized all the "neglect" in that movie. 12-year-old Elliot being "drunk" at school and mom not being totally surprised, as she gets the phone call and notices empty beer cans all over the kitchen floor. Then leaving preschooler Gertie home alone when she went to go pick him up from school! "I need you to be a big girl and stay out of trouble, ok?" Lol, ok, mom!

Same here and when they started riding bikes my 5 year old yells 'they are not wearing helmets.' Not to mention Elliot got left alone at home on the day he was sick while the mom went to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E.T. was on tv the other night, and DH and I found ourselves watching it. Never realized all the "neglect" in that movie. 12-year-old Elliot being "drunk" at school and mom not being totally surprised, as she gets the phone call and notices empty beer cans all over the kitchen floor. Then leaving preschooler Gertie home alone when she went to go pick him up from school! "I need you to be a big girl and stay out of trouble, ok?" Lol, ok, mom!

Same here and when they started riding bikes my 5 year old yells 'they are not wearing helmets.' Not to mention Elliot got left alone at home on the day he was sick while the mom went to work.

Well, the helmets thing, and then them flying across the sky on their bikes. And was E.T. even secured in that basket? Although really, that's more boys making poor choices than parental neglect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom believed in "sun baths." . Was told by pediatrician to put me, a preemie, in direct sunlight - outside if possible - to prevent jaundice. It worked, I guess. I should add that this was 1967 and we lived in Alabama

I also recall being gooped up with iodine and baby oil and attempting to tan next to my perpetually tanned (and 1/2 Italian) mom. I was maybe 6. That continued, forever until my mom switched us to Hawaiian Tropic (oil) and had me bake in the sun on one of those silver, reflective blankets that were a thing apparently in the summer of '79.

Really, truly, I can say that the only warning I ever got about tanning was not to get sunburned. Just crazy to think about purposely subjecting a young child with perfect, healthy pale skin to all that sun.

My mom was advised by her country doctor to NOT stop smoking when pregnant with me; he told her that a cigarette a day would help keep her weight down.

They still use light therapy for jaundiced infants. Both my kids--younger one was put on "light paddles" that you put under the clothes for a week. My older one (born 2002 in DC), the pediatrician told me the same thing as yours in 1967. Take him outside a lot and let him nap in the sunshine by an open window.

FWIW, I had the same when I was born in 1967, but in December in Germany. Lucky I didn't freeze to death during my "light therapy".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom believed in "sun baths." . Was told by pediatrician to put me, a preemie, in direct sunlight - outside if possible - to prevent jaundice. It worked, I guess. I should add that this was 1967 and we lived in Alabama

I also recall being gooped up with iodine and baby oil and attempting to tan next to my perpetually tanned (and 1/2 Italian) mom. I was maybe 6. That continued, forever until my mom switched us to Hawaiian Tropic (oil) and had me bake in the sun on one of those silver, reflective blankets that were a thing apparently in the summer of '79.

Really, truly, I can say that the only warning I ever got about tanning was not to get sunburned. Just crazy to think about purposely subjecting a young child with perfect, healthy pale skin to all that sun.

My mom was advised by her country doctor to NOT stop smoking when pregnant with me; he told her that a cigarette a day would help keep her weight down.

They still use light therapy for jaundiced infants. Both my kids--younger one was put on "light paddles" that you put under the clothes for a week. My older one (born 2002 in DC), the pediatrician told me the same thing as yours in 1967. Take him outside a lot and let him nap in the sunshine by an open window.

FWIW, I had the same when I was born in 1967, but in December in Germany. Lucky I didn't freeze to death during my "light therapy".

Same for my son, born in DC in 2001. Lots of sunlight. Cleared up the jaundice really well.

Honestly, we have gone wayyyy too far in the opposite direction. It drives me crazy watching the parents coat their kids in thick layers of sunscreen for a one hour lacrosse or soccer game. It's ridiculous. And hour of sun while running around and changing directions and moving all Over a field is GOOD for us. Gets us the Vitamin D we need for the week. Plus wearing sunscreen while running around sweating, lets the chemicals from sunscreen get into our pores even more which can't be good.

The sun is very good for us in moderate doses.

- daughter of a skin cancer survivor (multiple melanomas) who grew up on a beach in the 1950s

[Anonymous]

My parents had a pretty currier and Ives tin that probably originally had popcorn in it..anyway it was stuffed with playboy's and penthouse and kept right in the family room. They hotboxed it in our little VW with the windows rolled up on long trips. They threw loud crazy keggers in the summer and I had more than one relative stumble into my room and pass out in my bed while I was sleeping. We survived. It was the 70s and my dad was a Civil engineer and my mom was a housewife. We always made it to church on Sunday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom believed in "sun baths." . Was told by pediatrician to put me, a preemie, in direct sunlight - outside if possible - to prevent jaundice. It worked, I guess. I should add that this was 1967 and we lived in Alabama

I also recall being gooped up with iodine and baby oil and attempting to tan next to my perpetually tanned (and 1/2 Italian) mom. I was maybe 6. That continued, forever until my mom switched us to Hawaiian Tropic (oil) and had me bake in the sun on one of those silver, reflective blankets that were a thing apparently in the summer of '79.

Really, truly, I can say that the only warning I ever got about tanning was not to get sunburned. Just crazy to think about purposely subjecting a young child with perfect, healthy pale skin to all that sun.

My mom was advised by her country doctor to NOT stop smoking when pregnant with me; he told her that a cigarette a day would help keep her weight down.

They still use light therapy for jaundiced infants. Both my kids--younger one was put on "light paddles" that you put under the clothes for a week. My older one (born 2002 in DC), the pediatrician told me the same thing as yours in 1967. Take him outside a lot and let him nap in the sunshine by an open window.

FWIW, I had the same when I was born in 1967, but in December in Germany. Lucky I didn't freeze to death during my "light therapy".

Same for my son, born in DC in 2001. Lots of sunlight. Cleared up the jaundice really well.

Honestly, we have gone wayyyy too far in the opposite direction. It drives me crazy watching the parents coat their kids in thick layers of sunscreen for a one hour lacrosse or soccer game. It's ridiculous. And hour of sun while running around and changing directions and moving all Over a field is GOOD for us. Gets us the Vitamin D we need for the week. Plus wearing sunscreen while running around sweating, lets the chemicals from sunscreen get into our pores even more which can't be good.

The sun is very good for us in moderate doses.

- daughter of a skin cancer survivor (multiple melanomas) who grew up on a beach in the 1950s

I disagree. I had malignant melanoma in my 20s back when there was little to no treatment for it. Roll your eyes all you want but my kids will always be coated. My kids sporting events were always during the worst time of the day for sun exposure and we are some pale assed people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was about 14, I just stopped sleeping at night. Couldn't rest, and we had a huge grandfather clock in the hallway that would announce every half hour. Just made it worse for me.

One night, my mom gave me two pills and a huge glass of water. I fell right to sleep, and didn't have trouble after that. Turns out she gave me valium. Of course, she could have taken me to a sleep therapist, but this did the trick.

From age 5 to 10 if I couldn't sleep my parents would give me a shot of brandy.

[Anonymous]

I remember riding a motorcycle with no helmet. We had four people. Three helmets. Dad and older brother (an adult) had helmuts. Only one child helmut. My older sister was dad's favorite. I was disposable I guess?

[Anonymous]

Mom would make a layer cake every weekend and that was breakfast for the week.

There's a photo of me crawling (age 1) with a beer bottle hanging out of my mouth.

As a 3rd grader and then older, rode my bike to the store, the movies, wherever.

My cousins used to ride dirt bikes in the country until one of them ran into a barbed wire fence and nearly severed his head.

Dinner on TV trays was a popular thing in my household. Clarification - Hungry Man TV dinners on TV trays.

Daily lunch for 5 or 6 years in a row was a baloney sandwich with mayo on white bread. Unless it was Sunday and I went to Picadilly with my grandparents.

Latchkey kid starting in 8th grade when Mom went to work full-time. Oprah was my best friend. We lived in a townhouse complex with no kids. Booooring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom would make a layer cake every weekend and that was breakfast for the week.

There's a photo of me crawling (age 1) with a beer bottle hanging out of my mouth.

As a 3rd grader and then older, rode my bike to the store, the movies, wherever.

My cousins used to ride dirt bikes in the country until one of them ran into a barbed wire fence and nearly severed his head.

Dinner on TV trays was a popular thing in my household. Clarification - Hungry Man TV dinners on TV trays.

Daily lunch for 5 or 6 years in a row was a baloney sandwich with mayo on white bread. Unless it was Sunday and I went to Picadilly with my grandparents.

Latchkey kid starting in 8th grade when Mom went to work full-time. Oprah was my best friend. We lived in a townhouse complex with no kids. Booooring.

Oprah was my friend too! And Sally Jesse Raphael and Geraldo and Phil Danohue! (sp?)

[Anonymous]

I love this thread and get excited every few days when a new poster chimes in. I haven't had anything to contribute, until I remembered something today!

Whenever my sister and I had a cough that the as bad enough to keep us up at night, my mom would mix a shot of whiskey with some honey in a glass and then she'd give us two spoonfuls. This started as far back as I can remember.

[Anonymous]

OMG, I just remembered. My parents were divorced. When I went to Dad's house:

- Playboy magazines on the back of his bathroom toilet
- his 'girlfriend' pouring the contents of a pixie stick directly into my mouth while she changed my diaper (how do I remember this?!)
- getting chicken pox and having to sit in a bath of that anti-itch stuff. Chicken pox scar on my face as a result.

[Anonymous]

Every Saturday night after a day of chores we as a family all sat around the only TV in the house and watched Lawrence Welk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every Saturday night after a day of chores we as a family all sat around the only TV in the house and watched Lawrence Welk.

Awww - we watched Lawrence Welk too!!