What did you do as a child during summer vacations?
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Anonymous
| Ran around naked, built forts, rode bikes, stuff like that. |
Anonymous
| Mom went back to work part-time when youngest (of 3) was 6 and oldest was 9. She did not work in summer, but then full time when youngest was 10. We read books on the sofa, rode bikes, watched TV, went to the public pool (walked). It was an amazing childhood and my siblings and I gush fondly about how lucky we were to be the last truly free-range generation. I still can't say "play-date" without sarcasm. |
Anonymous
|
Day Camp, the same one, 8+ weeks - full day with bus service. Swim team at night and on weekends.
We didn’t take “vacation” - like get on a plane and stay in a hotel. Occasionally we would fly to Florida to see my grandparents. Now my kid has a combo of camps, activities and we do two “vacations” over the summer so she can experience what I never did. |
Anonymous
| Mom was an elementary teacher, so her schedule matched ours. We would beg to do camp like our friends and would get to do one or two weeks of day camp. The rest of the time was running between our house and our cousins, riding bikes to the high school for lessons from the high school students and $1 free swim in the afternoons, and my mom taking us to a park/playground/beach (it was Southern California, the beach was a 5 minute drive). We built a lot of forts, went “pine boarding” or “ice blocking” (we were deprived of sledding opportunities), and made stupid parody movies or Star Wars or titanic. So many movies. They have come back to haunt me as my sister showed them to every boy I ever brought home as an adult. |
Anonymous
| My mom was a SAHM, so we were home. We entertained ourselves because she never took us anywhere. Camps weren’t an option. We weren’t poor or anything, that’s just how it was. |
Anonymous
|
Summer vacation was exactly 3 months: June, July and August. I grew up in small village in Soviet Union.
4 weeks in June was spend on the farm weeding cabbages for 4 hours a day. It was not hard work, but we still complained endlessly. The rest of the time and summer was spend playing, swimming, biking with village kids. Parents had no idea where we were and what we were doing. We only came in when hungry or it got really late- like 11 pm. I went in only when the last kid had disappeared. SAHMs were only for very young children. Daycare closed only for 1 month in the middle of the summer. I spent some time at grandparents farm also. They never left the farm, we could entertain ourselves and were no bother. My childhood was lovely. |
Anonymous
| Lots of game shows. |
Anonymous
| What’s up with all the posters who had mothers who were either sahms or teachers?! Were there no other options back then? |
Anonymous
| We were at the local pool all day every day and actually my kids do that now too. I’m glad they have this little slice of the ‘80s-90s. |
Anonymous
Just FYI I responded to this thread but I don’t consider my family to have a SAHP - spouse is a teacher tho. |
Anonymous
| Lots of outdoor play and lots of reading. |
Anonymous
| Spent the summers with my grandparents (my grandma did not work). I basically just played outside with neighbors’s kids and read books. |
Anonymous
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Middle class, Midwest, with a stay at home mom. My mom did watch kids during the summer, so there were lots of kids around.
Slept in. We played outside, ate super nutritious lunches like boxed Mac n cheese, with tuna and peas, and kool-aid. In the afternoon when it was damn hot, we fought over who got to sit in front of the boxed fan while we watched afternoon cartoons. When we were older we were dropped off at the pool, with one dollar each for a soda and chips. Then we walked home. Road bikes, dug for crawfish in a nasty drainage creek, and then caught fireflies. I was a reader, but my siblings were not, so other than my books, we did zero educational packets. Not one thought of school work durning the entire summer. |
Anonymous
| Mom was working, many siblings. We watched dirty dancing every day and made cookies. |
Anonymous
I loved game shows! I had a whole line up. |