Gen X Reveals 35 Childhood Norms That's Hard to Believe Was Actually a Thing: 'Not knowing where your kids are for 12 hours'

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  • 01
    • r/GenX 5 hr. ago bigt197602 What's something that was normal growing up that is hard to believe was actually a thing? Whatever I'll go first smoking in airplanes -
  • 02
    Otaku Tacos • 8h ago Standing in line for cheap concert tickets. We had it so good. Yea it was hard to do, but part of the experience and you knew who the actual fans were. Now it's online bots that mass purchase tickets that costs hundreds of dollars, that are then resold for triple the price.
  • 03
    PhoenicianInsomniac Baby GenX • 8h ago Free range children roaming neighborhoods in packs, with no adult supervision.
  • 04
    revchewie 8h ago • Smoking pretty much everywhere. I remember walking through malls with a cigarette in my hand, walking into every store. And feeling guilty for flicking ash in carpeted stores. I still did, mind, but I felt a little guilty about it.
  • 05
    burnedimage • 8h ago I never saw a car seat in my life! We just rolled around in the back window, floor boards, etc on road trips while our parents drank beer while driving. And smoked! With the windows up!
  • 06
    Solo_is_dead • 8h ago Going to a department store. With my grandmother's credit card and a signed note from her allowing me to make purchases.
  • 07
    PDM_1969 · 8h ago Riding our bikes without a helmet. Hit something one day went flying forward over the handlebars and landed on my back, got up, dusted myself off, looked around to make sure nobody saw that and then got back on the thing like nothing ever happened.
  • 08
    AriadneThread 8h ago Moon boots. Left feet sweaty, practically soaked up water and never dried out. Clunky, no way to run. Ugh. Opposite: jelly shoes for girls. I have SCARS still from ankle blisters. Also sweaty, no matter how many holes in them to "breath". Dust and rocks right in the holes. Dang, how did we walk?
  • 09
    discoamie 8h ago • Having absolutely no sun protection in the form of a spray, lotion or clothing. I sure miss the smell coppertone and peeling off my sunburnt skin.
  • 10
    Harold_Spoomanndorf • 7h ago Those slides at the public park that were made of steel and baked in the summer sun to the sum of a BAJILLION degrees so that no kid wanted to take a ride between the hours of 10am and 6pm
  • 11
    folkvore • 7h ago 1980 Having to memorize phone numbers. You'd either have a little address book or would just have to rely on memory. It's hard to imagine doing that now when everything is just a tap away.
  • 12
    SubatomicGoblin . • 8h ago Edited 5h ago Airplanes? Smoking in hospitals.
  • 13
    gdgardenlanterns •8h ago Being a child and able to buy cigarettes for adults with just a signed note.
  • 14
    GandolfMagicFruits • 8h ago Kids with weapons. Like everywhere. Chinese stars, blow guns, and butterfly knives, oh my!
  • 15
    Appropriatelylazy • 8h ago feeling Minnesota Public phone booths Mailboxes on every corner
  • 16
    Free Thinker4ever 8h ago Not knowing where your kids are for 12 hours.
  • 17
    lazerdab • 7h ago Letting your dog out the front door
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    Beret_of_Poodle • 7h ago 1970 Sitting in the car and waiting while your mom got her hair done, or went shopping, whatever
  • 19
    oddball_ocelot • 8h ago Besides smoking at the gas station and in surgery (scalpel...ashtray... retracter...)? Riding around in the back of a pickup. Like 6 people in the bed of a pickup truck rolling down the streets.
  • 20
    wwaxwork • 8h ago Back before vaccinations, if one kid caught something like measles or chicken pox all the mums would try and get you to go play with them and catch it too. And that is how I got shingles, thanks mum.
  • 21
    Swimming Anxiety3441 7h ago Mailing an envelope with money and expecting (and usually getting) something back.
  • 22
    Namolsland 7h ago . Waterbeds. Penny candy. Skipping school and riding a public bus to the mall, and no adult said a word. riding my bike to the mall that was like 15 miles away and I was 13.
  • 23
    HGFantomas • 7h ago Candy cigarettes
  • 24
    • regent040 7h ago Hitchhiking. It was dying out by the 80's, but some people were still doing it. Just the idea of standing on the side of the road, thumb out, hopping into a strangers car for a ride. You want to end up the victim of a serial killer? Because that's how you end up the victim of a serial killer.
  • 25
    Silrathi • 7h ago 1968 College was $6/credit with a cap at 10 credits. $60 a trimester.
  • 26
    NOW-collector • 7h ago Receiving a call from your SO in front of all family members and you can't move the phone to talk in privacy bc it's stationary
  • 27
    mike_mc • 7h ago DWI, DUI, and open containers were no big deal.
  • 28
    Deep-Nebula5536 • 7h ago Backwards facing pop-up trunk seats in the family station wagon. Granted, that was an upgrade from the "just ride in the back and hold on. Granted, that was an upgrade from getting in the trunk of a sedan!
  • 29
    Ok Duck_6865 • 8h ago I remember being a kid sitting in the front of the grocery cart that had ashtrays and my mom smoking while grocery shopping. Of course smoking/non smoking sections in restaurants which to this day I don't understand. Smoke travels. Non smoking tables still had cigarette smoke hovering around. I don't remember restaurants making much of an effort regarding barriers.
  • 30
    • Koolmidx 7h ago How little I cared about 90°+ weather in the summer. No AC? Oh well. Now I'm "warming" up the AC in my car cause I hate sweating.
  • 31
    stephenforbes • 6h ago Writing checks at the grocery store that were accepted with an empty bank account but knowing it would take 2-3 days to go through and your paycheck will have deposited by then.
  • 32
    NiclnNS 6h ago • Me at 12-13 babysitting 5 year olds. ☑
  • 33
    1234RedditReddit • 7h ago Seat belts-our earlier cars didn't even have them and when we had cars that did, we never wore them-just rolled around in the back seat.
  • 34
    Strong-Piccolo-5546 .7h ago Anyone can go to the boarding area in an airport. I remember I had a I think a cub scout trip to Newark Airport and we got a tour around and were just walking around the boarding areas. You could literally get there last minute and make the plane.
  • 35
    emarasmoak • 7h ago Mercury thermometers. Toxic
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