Hilarious Thread of 80s Parenting Hacks Moms Used to Raise Gen X Kids: 'Hosed me off in the backyard so I wouldn't have to take a bath'

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Isabella Penn
Jul 10, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

Remember those shows like Saved by the Bell? The 80s were like that, but cooler. You lived on a diet of Tang and Pop Rocks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Saturday mornings were the best. You'd wake up early for cartoon marathons of Transformers, He-Man, and Care Bears, and then your parents would let you roam free all day. You just had a slap bracelet and a quarter for the payphone. But even though this generation didn't have Wi-Fi, smartphones, or TikTok, the 80s were amazing. You had to learn to have fun without all the gadgets, enjoy the little things, and make your own adventures.

We did everything without all the safety stuff – bikes with no helmets, drinking straight from the hose. But hey, we survived. Maybe it was from the help of our mom's crazy parenting hacks in the 80s. Are you ready to take a trip down memory lane? Below, Gen X shares some of the hilarious 'hacks' every 80s mom used to do that you probably forgot about (and maybe that's a good thing).

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  • 01
    . r/GenX 11 hr. ago BLM4lifeBBC Thread of mom hacks from the 70-80s like wrapping a orange soda in aluminum foil in our lunch box Wait, I'm HOW old?! Let's list the now silly things the 80s moms did.
    via u/BLM4lifeBBC
  • 02
    mafuman . 19h ago Wrapping school books in grocery store paper bags to protect them
    via u/mafuman
  • 03
    Stay_At_Home_Cat_Dad • 19h ago Pack a frozen drink box in the lunchbox. By lunchtime, it's thawed, but still cold. Bonus, it kept my pb&j sandwich cold. I love cold pb&j.
    via u/Stay_At_Home_Cat_Dad
  • 04
    Elegant-Phone7388 • 19h ago Wrap your feet in bread bags before putting on your rubber boots so your feet stay dry in the snow.
    via u/Elegant-Phone7388
  • 05
    . dogmatixx • 19h ago When the Chuck E Cheese opened in our town we got Chuck E Cheese T shirts, and their deal was if we wore those shirts when we visited we would get 10 tokens. So she kept those tshirts in the trunk, and she'd take us to Chuck E Cheese on the regular, we'd get our 10 tokens each, she would find a corner with no singing robots and read a novel and we'd run wild. When we ran out of tokens we would leave.
    via u/dogmatixx
  • 06
    Failingforthewin . • 18h ago Call collect, "You have a collect call from Pick me up at Angie's" Do you accept the charges?"
    via u/Failingforthewin
  • 07
    ravenwolf1122 • 19h ago Whatever we couldn't afford to buy she made. Homemade Pound Puppies and Cabbage Patch Kids. More 90s here with this one but as a teen | wanted Guess jeans so bad so she made the triangle patch and sewed it on a pair of jeans.. adhered some sort of blue plastic piece to the back of a Kmart sneaker so it appeared to be a pair of Keds. Yes kids knew the difference and I was ridiculed so bad
    via u/ravenwolf1122
  • 08
    • Famous_Competition95 18h ago My mom was one of those artsy craftsy people, and she saved old pantyhose and stockings and cut them up to use as stuffing in her projects. She made huge "floor pillows" for my dad who liked to lie on the living room floor to watch television. Every year she had a different thing she was into and she made everyone Christmas gifts. One year it was crochet, then macrame, then glass lamps, another year she made quilts, another year it was pine cone wreaths, and my fav
    via u/Famous_Competition95
  • 09
    clocks with embroidered faces and my dad made a little wooden frame for them. I think the last thing she did like that was to make everyone a crazy quilt made up of all her old scraps of material left over from sewing clothes for 5 kids for decades. That Christmas she announced that her presents were "ugly this year," so from then on we all called them our "ugly blankets." We all recognized pieces of clothing from our childhood in them. Good times.
    via u/Famous_Competition95
  • 10
    bossdankmemes • 18h ago Thermos with hot soup. Tie string around hot dog. Leave string hanging out a bit when you screw down the lid. By lunch time you'll have a fully. cooked steaming hot dog to retrieve using the string. Bun and ketchup/mustard packets in the bag.
    via u/bossdankmemes
  • 11
    dragonfliesloveme •19h ago I don't know, but i know that my mom would have you feeling shame for a week for saying "a orange" instead of "an orange".
    via u/dragonfliesloveme
  • 12
    SamTheHamJam • 18h ago When we took road trips my mom always had: • a wet rag in a baggie • fig newtons • bologna sandwiches with mayo on squishy white bread
    via u/SamTheHamJam
  • 13
    Failingforthewin • 18h ago Sewed a little mark on the front of my underpants when I was wee so I could put them on the right way by myself.
    via u/Failingforthewin
  • 14
    Fearless_Lab • 19h ago Coffee cake on Sunday mornings (before church). We couldn't have sugary cereal growing up, but somehow we could have cake for breakfast then? And a lunch of fluffer nutters or PB&J? I'll never understand it.
    via u/Fearless_Lab
  • 15
    ancientastronaut2 18h ago . I think it was called dippity do? But was she put in my whatever that hair, however she styled it that day - barrettes, ponytails, braids, it would stay in place all day. I would come home from school with not one hair out of place! (Ok, maybe like one)
    via u/ancientastronaut2
  • 16
    ernurse748 18h ago Baking soda in the fridge to get rid of odors. Putting a piece of bread in with cookies or brownies in a Tupperware container to keep them fresh.
    via u/ernurse748
  • 17
    DubsAnd49ers • 16h ago Rolling up your bathing suit in a towel. No back packs then.
    via u/DubsAnd49ers
  • 18
    everyoneinside72 • 18h ago Old enough to not care what anyone thinks. Put lemon juice on my apple slices so they would not brown so much by lunch time. Hosed me off in the back yard so I wouldnt have to take a bath.
    via u/everyoneinside72
  • 19
    unsoulyme • 17h ago Remember these folders Pee-Chee ALL SEASON PORTFOLIO No. 33-1750
    via u/unsoulyme
  • 20
    vdh1979 • 14h ago Once your toddler girl outgrows her baby dresses, put a pair of brown corduroy pants on under them and they become shirts. I have Olan Mills portraits done like this.
    via u/vdh1979
  • 21
    Cheezburger Image 10371886336
    via Jennifer Murray

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oddly specific hilarious hacks kids nostalgia 70s parenting nostalgic 80s entertaining gen x family 1970s reddit thread Reddit mom funny children 1980s
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