Anonymous wrote:What were your summers like in the 80s if you were a kid/teen? Fun? Boring? Both? I was a kid on the 80s and keep hearing about how boring they were. My summers in the 90s as a teen weren't even boring. So what was it like for you? Was I just lucky?

Fun AND boring.

In my tweens, I would watch some junky TV in the morning. Then I'd usually meet up with a friend in the afternoon, to ride bikes or go to a store or walk around the neighborhood. Every few days, I'd get invited to a friend's house to swim. I could usually be out until dinner, then would often go back out at night -- would ride bikes to get ice cream, etc.

I did summer driver's ed when I was 16, and from maybe 15 on, I had steady babysitting gigs.

VERY laid back. I was a big reader and I guess my books and my bike kept me occupied. It was nice!

Boring. Worked, that’s it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Just because you didn’t recognize it until you looked at it in hindsight doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Lots of girls didn’t even realize they were sexually assaulted until much later when they learned what sexual assault was.

My H is an investigator and a girl took the required sexual assault and alcohol abuse training in college and was like oh yea my teacher did that to me. Called the police and was like I did realize that was sexual assault until I saw the video.

Another wrote her college essay on the hardest part about being a step daughter is sex with her step dad, the college turned the essay over to the police.

I don’t think “recognizing things were bad in hindsight” was the point of this thread.

If it is, then I will add having an alcoholic father who drove us around drunk all the time. But back then going to the bar with my dad and having a coke while he had a shot and a beer was the highlight of our weekend.

And that was the reality of the 80’s .

It’s not some time to wish we go back to.

Thanks MADD.

It was worse for some reasons, but better for others. It’s not all black and white.

Yup. I’m the PP with the alcoholic dad and I’d go back in a heartbeat. It was absolute bliss for me. I have nothing but amazing memories.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Just because you didn’t recognize it until you looked at it in hindsight doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Lots of girls didn’t even realize they were sexually assaulted until much later when they learned what sexual assault was.

My H is an investigator and a girl took the required sexual assault and alcohol abuse training in college and was like oh yea my teacher did that to me. Called the police and was like I did realize that was sexual assault until I saw the video.

Another wrote her college essay on the hardest part about being a step daughter is sex with her step dad, the college turned the essay over to the police.

I don’t think “recognizing things were bad in hindsight” was the point of this thread.

If it is, then I will add having an alcoholic father who drove us around drunk all the time. But back then going to the bar with my dad and having a coke while he had a shot and a beer was the highlight of our weekend.

And that was the reality of the 80’s .

It’s not some time to wish we go back to.

Thanks MADD.

It was worse for some reasons, but better for others. It’s not all black and white.

This brought back a lot of memories! Mid-80s (84-86ish) my friend's mom would pick us up in her little convertible Spider (like Sweet Valley High) and go to the pool. I also remember a babysitter driving us to the pool who picked up a hitchhiker on the way! This was in suburban Pittsburgh, crazy and random.

Lots of MTV, eating Kool-aid powder out of the cannister, weekly trip to the library, being bored, reading Stephen King, YMCA pool time with its high dive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Just because you didn’t recognize it until you looked at it in hindsight doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Lots of girls didn’t even realize they were sexually assaulted until much later when they learned what sexual assault was.

My H is an investigator and a girl took the required sexual assault and alcohol abuse training in college and was like oh yea my teacher did that to me. Called the police and was like I did realize that was sexual assault until I saw the video.

Another wrote her college essay on the hardest part about being a step daughter is sex with her step dad, the college turned the essay over to the police.

I don’t think “recognizing things were bad in hindsight” was the point of this thread.

If it is, then I will add having an alcoholic father who drove us around drunk all the time. But back then going to the bar with my dad and having a coke while he had a shot and a beer was the highlight of our weekend.

And that was the reality of the 80’s .

It’s not some time to wish we go back to.

Thanks MADD.

Anonymous wrote:What were your summers like in the 80s if you were a kid/teen? Fun? Boring? Both? I was a kid on the 80s and keep hearing about how boring they were. My summers in the 90s as a teen weren't even boring. So what was it like for you? Was I just lucky?

I'd describe them as mostly unstructured and carefree. Not a lot of worries. They were both fun and boring. We mostly ran feral through the 'hood, hopping from house to house, going to the pool, riding bikes, playing tag, etc. etc. (Obv as I got older I worked and partied, too). We had to learn to find things to do and mostly were told to "go outside."

We also spent a week or two with each grandparent in the summer.

Graduated high school in 1988 so I am approaching elder status. As a kid I was only slightly bored but I was either at camp, with my SAHM on trips to visit her sister & the beach. Outside, climbing trees, riding bikes, fishing. As a teen: riding bikes, state park swimming, sleepovers with friends, parties with drinking, long walks with friends & end of summer was always band drills and cheer pratice all of August. Idyllic & could not ask for a better childhood.

I feel sorry for my kids & want to take away their phones. We send them to a no tech camp for a month so they can detox and just be people. I wish they had the interest to go somewhere, anywhere, on their own. We are in a walkable neighborhood with good transport nearby!

Let’s see the decade started with me being a six year old being left alone all day while parents worked. I literally just sat in front of the tv all day…until we got the pool, then I would swim…alone, while no one else was home. If I was lucky my older cousins would remember I existed and walk over to take me on a bordering on criminal adventure.

By the end of the decade…drugs, sex.

But, always chores, list was left for me daily.

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.

We’re talking the truth about the 80s. I easily had five friends I know that were sexually assaulted. Romanticizing about a time and creating an image of it that is unrealistic makes no sense.

SAHM’s Didn’t even let their kids in the house. The kids who were allowed to be in the house watching TV all day were the ones with working moms because the SAHMs moms were like get out drink from the hose.

Some people’s SAHMs were like this, and everyone knew which ones, but other SAHMs were wonderful. I sometimes worked as a mother’s helper to a wonderful mom with 5 kids. I loved it - she basically treated me like a very helpful oldest child and I got to do fun things with them.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Just because you didn’t recognize it until you looked at it in hindsight doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Lots of girls didn’t even realize they were sexually assaulted until much later when they learned what sexual assault was.

My H is an investigator and a girl took the required sexual assault and alcohol abuse training in college and was like oh yea my teacher did that to me. Called the police and was like I did realize that was sexual assault until I saw the video.

Another wrote her college essay on the hardest part about being a step daughter is sex with her step dad, the college turned the essay over to the police.

I don’t think “recognizing things were bad in hindsight” was the point of this thread.

If it is, then I will add having an alcoholic father who drove us around drunk all the time. But back then going to the bar with my dad and having a coke while he had a shot and a beer was the highlight of our weekend.

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.

Just because you didn’t recognize it until you looked at it in hindsight doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Lots of girls didn’t even realize they were sexually assaulted until much later when they learned what sexual assault was.

My H is an investigator and a girl took the required sexual assault and alcohol abuse training in college and was like oh yea my teacher did that to me. Called the police and was like I did realize that was sexual assault until I saw the video.

Another wrote her college essay on the hardest part about being a step daughter is sex with her step dad, the college turned the essay over to the police.

Lived in a beach town in Massachusetts, was straight out of a movie. Didn't realize how lucky I was.

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.

We’re talking the truth about the 80s. I easily had five friends I know that were sexually assaulted. Romanticizing about a time and creating an image of it that is unrealistic makes no sense.

SAHM’s Didn’t even let their kids in the house. The kids who were allowed to be in the house watching TV all day were the ones with working moms because the SAHMs moms were like get out drink from the hose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This.

My mom was a SAHM and she wasn’t going sh!t with us.

Same. It was the 80’s! My mom was smoking and watching soaps. She took us to the pool only after All My Children. Otherwise we were outside on our own, all day every day.

I’m the first PP and while I know the SAHM’s weren’t like they are today, they would at least offer to take me to the pool or drive me to their church VBS for a week. Anything to get me out of the house. I can’t even believe my parents were cool with how I spent my summers at home. I honestly don’t think they gave me much thought. As a direct result I became a SAHM who is probably over involved and my kids will one day complain the other way.

You met a rare SAHM.