Whaaat were they thinking?!

amother

Lily ↓

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 9:29 pm

Librarian wrote:

Me too. 1980's. In Brooklyn. It was not safe. It was stupid. I was afraid walking in the street to and from the subway station in the dark. I kept a scissor in my pocket.

Hypothetically, what would you have done with the scissors?

amother

↑ Junglegreen ↓

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 9:34 pm

Here's another one I just remembered, and this one my mother actually was the one to bring up what a bad idea it was. I wanted guitar lessons when I was in high school and my parents asked around for recommendations for an instructor. Apparently, the best instructor in town was a man who gave private lessons in his home in a totally soundproofed room 🤦‍♀️ BH everything was perfectly fine, he WAS a great instructor and totally professional and I was perfectly safe and nothing happened other than me learning how to play guitar. But looking back at it now in 2024, it was such incredibly poor judgment by all the adults involved (in fact, I wonder, if he's still giving lessons, hopefully he's changed his setup!) My mom in particular can't believe she just allowed that arrangement no questions asked.

amother

Magenta

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 9:41 pm

Ha so many

I went away for school when I was 13, I had my own laptop with internet access. We watched America's next top model lol

As kids my parents would leave the house and we'd sneak into their room and turn on my mother's little TV and watch friends and everybody loves Raymond. Then we'd hear the car coming, quickly switch to a random channel and race into bed hahaha. She for sure knew but never said anything

amother

Pearl ↓

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 9:56 pm

amother Topaz wrote:

My grandfather would drop off my grandmother at the hospital to give birth and tell her to call when the baby was born 🙈

I think this was pretty standard practice back then. Women often went to the hospital without their husbands because many men couldn't be reached during the day.

amother

Moccasin

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 10:05 pm

This is like bajillion years ago, when my mom was still single, her older sister dropped off some kids at our grandmother's house to babysit,while she went to give birth, and took my mom, a single teenager, along as her support person. Nobody in the family to this day can figure out why the teenager didn't stay home to babysit and the adult, mother go along to support the laboring woman. I mean, what an education.

amother

↑ Lightgray

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 10:10 pm

amother Pearl wrote:

I think this was pretty standard practice back then. Women often went to the hospital without their husbands because many men couldn't be reached during the day.

She specifically said her grandfather dropped off her grandmother at the hospital and left. The issue wasn’t that he couldn’t be reached.

amother

Mint

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 10:35 pm

Ha this is gonna be a fun one…

My mother took me to an R-rated movie in theaters when I was eight years old. There was a scene with r@pe. Fun times… my eyes are still hurting.

amother

Beige

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 11:32 pm

giftedmom wrote:

We used to go tubing on the Delaware. Recently with all the drownings I was thinking about how wild the water was and how there were dangerous rocks all over. I wonder if camps still go.

I remember this too. So many frightening moments for my friends and me. I'm pretty sure we had to sign something beforehand that they're not responsible for our lives. Absolutely insane. I sure hope the camps don't do this anymore.

amother

Zinnia

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 11:46 pm

amother Midnight wrote:

our parents let us take greyhound buses. alone. for four and six hour trips.
with no phones (in the early/mid 90s.
the people were very creepy and gross.

This. I remember going on a 6 h greyhound ride w friends. We were the only ones on the bus at some point (no cell phones) and the driver took a detour to show us around a big city.

amother

↑ Pearl ↓

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 11:48 pm

amother Lightgray wrote:

She specifically said her grandfather dropped off her grandmother at the hospital and left. The issue wasn’t that he couldn’t be reached.

Right, this wasn't unheard of back then. Husbands weren't allowed in the L&D department in the hospitals. So many men just opted to wait at home instead of hanging around the hospital lobby or the street.

amother

↑ Pearl ↓

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 11:50 pm

amother Moccasin wrote:

My mother was 14 years old when she went to the hospital with her mother when her mother gave birth to twins.

amother

Vanilla

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 11:55 pm

amother Lily wrote:

Hypothetically, what would you have done with the scissors?

What my students do with scissors. Stab each other. Isn’t that what scissors are for? 😂

amother

Purple

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 12:41 am

We were up North for the summer ( Montrealer here). I was about 12 . I came into the city with my Dad at 5:00 am. No cellphone at that time. During the day I went shopping downtown all by myself. Took the city bus and the metro. I had to meet my Dad after work to return to the country. No one was able to reach me during the day. Okay, that's about 30 yrs ago. Nowadays I wouldn't go downtown myself!

Einikel

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 12:43 am

amother Pearl wrote:

My mother was 14 years old when she went to the hospital with her mother when her mother gave birth to twins.

amother

Cornsilk

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 12:50 am

amother Beige wrote:

Sternberg goes canoeing down the Delaware

heidi

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 7:22 am

UQT wrote:

Maybe change the title of this thread to “Lets curse out our Parents”

Agree!
What a nasty nasty thread
Most of the stories here are normal
The real dysfunctional parents were dysfunctional
People really do their best

JasmineDragon

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 7:36 am

amother Topaz wrote:

My grandfather would drop off my grandmother at the hospital to give birth and tell her to call when the baby was born 🙈

My Bubbie told me that they wouldn't let her husband in, so he went back to work until she had the baby.

amother

NeonYellow

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 7:40 am

JasmineDragon wrote:

My Bubbie told me that they wouldn't let her husband in, so he went back to work until she had the baby.

That was the reality in NY hospitals 70 years ago.

When my father was born they didn't allow my grandfather to be there.
He came back to check in on her and they told him that his wife gave birth.

He asked is it a man or a woman?
It remained the family joke.

amother

DarkViolet

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 7:56 am

amother Pearl wrote:

In those days they put the woman under general anesthesia to give birth. That's probably why husbands weren't allowed because the wife was unconscious the whole time anyway so doesn't need emotional support presumably.