Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Yeah, the 80s rocked.

We had 16 candles a movie that glamorized date rape

+1

It was a great time to be a rich teenaged boy in Chicagoland with no consequences.

John Hughes had an active fantasy life.

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?

The kids across the street and my siblings and maybe some other kids from the neighborhood always had a backyard campout every Memorial Day weekend. We'd run across the street back and forth to the tents, playing various games -- tag, Smear the Queer, a version of "War" etc. And then on Monday morning we'd all get up at the crack of dawn to go down to the American Legion and watch the cannons shoot a volley in honor of the fallen.

Rest of the summer was a lot of time at the pool, running around playing "Hot Box" in the streets with the older kids (two kids throwing a ball back and forth between two bases while smaller kids ran back and forth.) There were games of Red Rover. Lots more Smear the Queer. The moms would put out watermelon and ice pops. We drank from the hose. And we basically were expected home when the streetlights came on.

There was a fair amount of watching reruns of Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley and Star Trek in the afternoons of peak heat.

Fourth of July parade and carnival every year.

Then August was typically a trip to the grandparents' for three weeks while our parents when off to the Carribean and bonked like rabbits for three weeks. The grandparents' had a forest and their own pool, so we basically enjoyed "Camp Grandma."

It was splendid.

I lived in a residential part of a medium sized city, it was a “bad” area but that just meant a lot of my neighborhood friends had druggie parents with no supervision. My mom was a sahm 80s style so probably neglectful by today’s standards but was attentive by 80s standards so probably perfect balance so I felt loved yet still gained independence. So I ran around on my bike with the pack of neighborhood kids, we went to the public pool which was walking/bike distance and lots of parks, we had a park program that (and still does here) did afternoon crafts and activities so we did that a lot.

I usually did swim lessons and library (I was a big reader) summer reading program. By 11 I took the city bus around.

Family wise we usually had driving trips involving seeing family or camping. My parents had a lot of friends so there was always evening hangouts with their friends kids.

Teen years I got a job but less running around before I started driving, bc we moved to the suburbs when I was 13 and people there just weren’t like city kids. But I had neighborhood friends and I bussed into the city by myself a lot to go to used bookstores.

Honestly - my kids childhood has been pretty similar. Other than they aren’t readers, sadly and they’ve never had to live in the burbs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother and I, and everyone we knew, went to camp for eight weeks in the summer. I never drank from a hose. I was never allowed outside without an adult for more than 15 minutes at a time. I was allowed to go to very specific places only. I only got ice cream from an ice cream truck once in my life. I was in 9th grade before meeting anyone who didn't go to camp.

Omg that’s terrible. I hated summer camp so much.

I loved my camps! Well, not the first one that was like a boring general day camp when I was four and five. But after that, my mom picked camps based on our interests and I LOVED them. It was a bummer to never get to go further than two houses to the left and two houses to the right on my bike, and a bummer to never get to run after the ice cream truck to buy an ice cream (that one time I got it my mom bought it for me, but I wanted to give the money). I couldn't have cared less about drinking from a hose or not.

I was always fascinated by summer camp--and read all the YA books about it with envy. Kids didn't really go to camp where I grew up (it was more blue collar).

Same. I never went to camp and none of my friends did either. I remember in elementary school some kids would come back to school in the fall talking about Camp Pretty Lake and I wanted to go but my mom figured out it was for underprivileged youth and we didn’t qualify. I think a lot of the kids who went were foster kids.

Not to be a bummer, but a lot of those hoses had lead in them. Seriously. It's probably why we all recall it so fondly. Tasted sweet as hell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother and I, and everyone we knew, went to camp for eight weeks in the summer. I never drank from a hose. I was never allowed outside without an adult for more than 15 minutes at a time. I was allowed to go to very specific places only. I only got ice cream from an ice cream truck once in my life. I was in 9th grade before meeting anyone who didn't go to camp.

Omg that’s terrible. I hated summer camp so much.

I loved my camps! Well, not the first one that was like a boring general day camp when I was four and five. But after that, my mom picked camps based on our interests and I LOVED them. It was a bummer to never get to go further than two houses to the left and two houses to the right on my bike, and a bummer to never get to run after the ice cream truck to buy an ice cream (that one time I got it my mom bought it for me, but I wanted to give the money). I couldn't have cared less about drinking from a hose or not.

I was always fascinated by summer camp--and read all the YA books about it with envy. Kids didn't really go to camp where I grew up (it was more blue collar).

I was a teen in the 90s and my summers were always amazing. My younger brother, sister, and I spent 90% of each day at the neighborhood pool. We'd sleep in until around 10, wake and eat breakfast or early lunch, toss some snacks into our pool bag, and head to the pool until around 4 or 5 most days.

We each played a sport but IIRC, our sports practices didn't start until pretty late in the evening, like 6 or 7 pm. They were not like practices today that sometimes start as early as 4 pm!

Other things we did:
-took the local free bus down to the mall and spent the day walking around, goofing off, visiting friends who had jobs, and eating greasy mall food court food.
-got jobs at 16 but got very few hours; just enough to give us junk food money & make our parents think we were being super productive
-rode our bikes everywhere! I didn't realize it at the time but we rode 6-10 miles some days to visit friends & cousins

My sister had band camp, but that didn't start until late July and was a daily thing, not a sleepaway type camp. Then marching band practice would start in August in the early mornings and late evenings to beat the heat. I have so many fond memories of playing glow-in-the-dark ball with the rest of the neighborhood kids while listening to the distant marching band practice music late into the evenings. We had to be home by dark but were allowed to hang out in our neighborhood as late as we wanted in the summer.

I've tried to adapt similar low-stress, less scheduled summers for my kids. I think it makes them happier overall and makes them produce better academically.

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

I wish more teens, at least young teens would play outside again! This was normal from when I was a kid. Especially in summer! Night games were the best!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother and I, and everyone we knew, went to camp for eight weeks in the summer. I never drank from a hose. I was never allowed outside without an adult for more than 15 minutes at a time. I was allowed to go to very specific places only. I only got ice cream from an ice cream truck once in my life. I was in 9th grade before meeting anyone who didn't go to camp.

Are you Jewish?

Jewish and from the NY suburbs, yes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother and I, and everyone we knew, went to camp for eight weeks in the summer. I never drank from a hose. I was never allowed outside without an adult for more than 15 minutes at a time. I was allowed to go to very specific places only. I only got ice cream from an ice cream truck once in my life. I was in 9th grade before meeting anyone who didn't go to camp.

Omg that’s terrible. I hated summer camp so much.

I loved my camps! Well, not the first one that was like a boring general day camp when I was four and five. But after that, my mom picked camps based on our interests and I LOVED them. It was a bummer to never get to go further than two houses to the left and two houses to the right on my bike, and a bummer to never get to run after the ice cream truck to buy an ice cream (that one time I got it my mom bought it for me, but I wanted to give the money). I couldn't have cared less about drinking from a hose or not.

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

In 1988 I was 7 or 8, biking solo around the neighborhood with no helmet. Somehow I crashed and random grown ups driving by fished me out of the ditch, had me put my hands on my head until I could breathe again and pointed me back home (uphill!) Not a good or bad memory— just vivid. Another time when I was 4 or 5 I was trying to follow my mom on cross country skis. She did not realize that I’d fallen and — true to the time— couldn’t get up. Random German-speaking people found me a few minutes later. I suppose I was not the center of my parents’ world, yet they were good parents.

I was 8 the first summer of the 80s and 17 the last summer of the 80s. At younger ages, I was on the swim team, did day camps (I think some were half day). At 11, I did my first sleep away camp for five days in addition to day camps. At 12 I did two two-week sessions of sleep away camp b/c my newly separated Mom went to Europe with a friend for two weeks and it didn't line up with the sessions. I also was gone for four weeks at camp at 13. I don't really remember what I did the summer after Freshman year, but it probably involved going to the pool a lot, also went to a one week French camp. After soph year, I worked part-time at Baskin Robbins and did French camp; After Junior year, I did a month long sleepaway Governor's School; summer of 89, worked at Thalheimer's bakery and went over a boy's house after his busboy job ended and made out on the couch in his basement until 1 a.m.
I always read a lot. I think I actually watched TV less in the summer -- all those reruns! -- but as a latchkey tween, I watched an absurd amount of bad TV (Love Boat, Three's Company, etc)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't go to camp except for day camps here or there, but nearly all my summer days until I could work were spent at the pool from morning to night. I'd walk there from my house, meet up with my friends, and spend the entire day swimming and eating from the snack bar. Our pool would have teen nights and we'd hang out for that too and then walk home...in the dark! If I wasn't at the pool, I would be out roaming the neighborhood with friends or playing Nintendo at someone's house or sunbathing (no sunscreen!) and reading my seventeen magazines in the backyard. Both of my parents worked and I had older siblings, so I was on my own most of time. My favorite memory of summer was being out all day and coming back to an ice-cold air conditioned house and drinking a cold diet sprite (since that was the only soda we were allowed to have), turning on Oprah and chilling out in front of the tv. loved those times! now my kids are programmed all summer long at overnight camps and other activities.

Programmed summers are super depressing. I hope the next generation changes that

I'm the PP--when I say programmed, I mean they're occupied while I'm working. Mine go to overnight camp pretty much all summer and they absolutely love it. For 1-2 weeks leading up to and after overnight camp they're pretty much on down time or going to the pool, or the younger one takes some sports day camps since he can't sit in front of the tv all day or be out alone by himself with friends. I didn't grow up going to overnight camp but my DH did and I wish I had--my kids experience a whole other world outside their home bubble and have their camp friends and a whole other world there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't go to camp except for day camps here or there, but nearly all my summer days until I could work were spent at the pool from morning to night. I'd walk there from my house, meet up with my friends, and spend the entire day swimming and eating from the snack bar. Our pool would have teen nights and we'd hang out for that too and then walk home...in the dark! If I wasn't at the pool, I would be out roaming the neighborhood with friends or playing Nintendo at someone's house or sunbathing (no sunscreen!) and reading my seventeen magazines in the backyard. Both of my parents worked and I had older siblings, so I was on my own most of time. My favorite memory of summer was being out all day and coming back to an ice-cold air conditioned house and drinking a cold diet sprite (since that was the only soda we were allowed to have), turning on Oprah and chilling out in front of the tv. loved those times! now my kids are programmed all summer long at overnight camps and other activities.

Programmed summers are super depressing. I hope the next generation changes that

+1

More depressing than sitting home alone watching TV for days on end? Our parents sometimes wouldn't even let us turn the a/c on until they got home because it was too expensive. The current generation is lucky.

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.

So many of us lived the same life. This is too true. Until we were old enough to ride our bikes alone to the pool so around 8 or so. And sunscreen? What's that? Kids today would never!