1980s summers

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a very small town and summers when I was in elementary and middle school were unstructured with the exception of VBS and one week of sleep away camp.
Exploring the woods and creek, building tree forts, riding bikes to my aunts house to swim in her pool,
My parents had a small business and if I got really bored I was sent down there and got put to work cleaning shelves.
High school I worked 30+ hours a week for my parents.

[Anonymous]

I love all the biking! I wish teens would go back to biking a lot.

[Anonymous]

Stayed at home by myself all summer. Did ride bikes and play in the neighborhood, but also watched a lot of TV and occasionally read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love all the biking! I wish teens would go back to biking a lot.

Me too! Anyway, most of this seems similar to my summers! Thanks for answering everyone. I've just run into so many boring 80s summers articles and couldn't relate so I thought I'd ask others.

[Anonymous]

I was born in 1984, so don't remember 1990s rode bikes, went to summer camp, pool, and hangout with friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the biking! I wish teens would go back to biking a lot.

Me too! Anyway, most of this seems similar to my summers! Thanks for answering everyone. I've just run into so many boring 80s summers articles and couldn't relate so I thought I'd ask others.

Yeah, I feel like maybe I was a little bored, but that's what our kids can't seem to handle. It was good for us, LOL!

(These comments triggered some memories ... I'd forgotten that I did do summer theater a couple of years.)

[Anonymous]

I loved them. I had a SAHM, my grandparents lived three blocks down the street, and my entire extended family was is the same small town.

In June our town has a big summer festival. I think it lasts ten days or so. There is a ton to do, and we'd sell cheap soda during two large parades. This funded our fireworks and snack purchases for the summer. My mom or aunts would drop us and our cousins off at the outdoor pool. We'd stay for hours, no real supervision aside from life guards. We road bikes all over town.

There were also some very mundane, super hot days spent in front of a box fan, while my siblings and I fought over the remote. I had summers where I'd read as many Sweet Valley High or Babysitters Club books imaginable. We had lots of sleep overs with cousins, but didn't really have any playdates with classmates. Even though it was a small town I don't remember seeing a lot of classmates until school started in August. Mostly we hung out with siblings and cousins.

I started babysitting for neighbors and cousins when I was 12-13. Not all day every day, but a few hours here and there. The summer I was 14 I did babysit an infant M-F from 12 to 4. I earned $2.50 an hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Secondhand smoke, pervasive racism, casual child abuse, institutionalized homophobia, incredibly bad music, shitty movies…

Yeah, the 80s rocked.

My lord get another hobby besides raining on peoples parades. This shit is getting old. Start another thread of you want to talk about how shitty the 80’s were.

The 80's weren't "shitty." I'm sure your 80's were fine, great even. But others have a different experience. The title of the thread is "80s summers." Are we only to talk about drinking from a garden hose?
NP

So you honestly think PP is talking about his/her 80’s summer experience, filled with pervasive racism, casual child abuse, and institutionalized homophobia? S/he didn’t even know what those things were back then. C’mon. Let’s not be intentionally obtuse.

I'm not the PP, but my 80's summers were indeed filled with things like racism, sexism, normalized sexual assault (boys being boys), and homophobia. Not to mention unchecked bullying. And yet I still came out if it will plenty of wonderful memories of playing outside, biking, running around in the woods, swimming, camping, hanging out with friends (in person!), and yes, drinking from the hose. PP's comments don't have anything to do with how most kids enjoyed their summers. Maybe there is some truth to the belief that Gen X is the most resilient generation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We drank every day and got stone from age 14-16, then I got a job at Jerry’s sub shop and got drunk and stoned after work.

The beer distributor would give us free beer.

We would drink at the canal and at houses where parents were at “the club” all day or in Europe or generally not home

Then we went to college at 17/18.

Are you Brett Kavanaugh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We drank every day and got stone from age 14-16, then I got a job at Jerry’s sub shop and got drunk and stoned after work.

The beer distributor would give us free beer.

We would drink at the canal and at houses where parents were at “the club” all day or in Europe or generally not home

Then we went to college at 17/18.

Are you Brett Kavanaugh?

I like beer!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love all the biking! I wish teens would go back to biking a lot.

Except for all the distracted drivers nowadays. On. Their phones. 😩

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We drank every day and got stone from age 14-16, then I got a job at Jerry’s sub shop and got drunk and stoned after work.

The beer distributor would give us free beer.

We would drink at the canal and at houses where parents were at “the club” all day or in Europe or generally not home

Then we went to college at 17/18.

Are you Brett Kavanaugh?

No but I did go to a private girls school and Prep parties. So the description of those parties was spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We drank every day and got stone from age 14-16, then I got a job at Jerry’s sub shop and got drunk and stoned after work.

The beer distributor would give us free beer.

We would drink at the canal and at houses where parents were at “the club” all day or in Europe or generally not home

Then we went to college at 17/18.

Are you Brett Kavanaugh?

I like beer!

Quarters and thumper

[Anonymous]

Lots of us watched soaps at home as teenagers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boring as hell. My parents both worked and stopped summer childcare as early as they could. I was trapped at home unless a friend’s SAHM took pity on me. I watched a lot of bad daytime television and soaps.

Why were you trapped?

I was outside all day. Pools, biking, pick-up sport games, etc…