The things your parents did that would have social services called now

"My mother used to put Vaseline on my bedroom door handle so I couldn’t get out…" Note: this article contains discussions of sensitive topics. 

As we look back on our childhoods, it's hard not to cringe at some of the things our parents did.

In today's world, some of their behaviours would be enough to have social services on speed dial.

But in reality, our parents were just doing their best with the knowledge they had at the time.

And most likely, their parenting skills were heavily influenced by how their parents raised them in a very different era.

Remember when your rents would run into the supermarket "just for a minute" and leave you in the car with the windows ever so slightly down?

Or what about letting you ride your bike without a helmet?

Well, people in a popular internet forum have taken a trip down memory lane and shared their recollections of a much simpler, albeit less-safe, time. 

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No helmets and smoking in the house and car. Image: IStock

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Kids as babysitters

Taking to the forum, the original poster asked: "What are crazy stuff your parents did that would have social services out now?"

They gave examples like, dipping the dummy in sugar and giving toddlers soft drinks and they even shared their own anecdote:

"I looked after my younger siblings when I was 11 (they were eight and five) overnight a few times a week due to clashes in my mum and dad's nightshift work. No adults in the house, just the three of us. It didn't cross my mind that it was crazy at the time but when I think back, it was insane."

People quickly flooded the post with their own stories of things their parents did that definitely wouldn't fly now. Here are some of their comments:

No seatbelts and travelling in the boot of the car

- "My parents drove from London to Devon overnight in a station wagon with my two small brothers bedded down in the back luggage area. We of course had no seatbelts.

- "I loved travelling in the boot. Sad that my children will never know the joy."

- "Sitting on my mum's knee in the driver's seat."

- "Leaving us kids in the car outside the pub all day on the weekend and just occasionally giving us a bag of crisps or a bottle of Coke."

Locking us in our rooms

- "My mother used to put Vaseline on my bedroom door handle so I couldn’t get out…"

- "My parents used to take the whole door handle off my sister’s bedroom door to achieve the same end with more certainty!"

Smoking around kids

- "My parents had a 40-a-day smoking habit, in the house, car, everywhere."

- "My rents chain-smoked in unventilated rooms and the car around an asthmatic child. Yes, the hospital was my second home."

- "They'd send us up the road with a couple of dollars to go get them fags."

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Alcohol as a parenting tool

- "Dipping our dummies in neat alcohol or giving us a tot of whisky as babies so we slept."

- "They let me have a glass of Port and lemonade at a family party when I was nine, which got me drunk."

Allowing us to walk and play alone

- "My brother and I used to walk to school together when I was four and he was five. It wasn't far but did involve crossing two roads, one of which was a busy main road."

- "Going out to play in the summer holidays and returning home when it was dark/you were hungry. No one heard from us for hours."

Other stories

- "We were locked in our bedroom at night. We did not get on as siblings, so we’d get a nightly beating before bed. We were going to misbehave anyway, so my parents punished us before it happened to get it out of the way."

"As a six-year-old in charge of a family pet, if it didn’t get fed, no one cared, it was up to the youngest."

- "Dad got fed up with me and my brothers arguing one day, so drove us to an abandoned warehouse and told us he was dropping us at the orphanage, he actually drove off leaving us crying and came back five mins later by which point we were convinced we had been abandoned."

No wonder our parents think we coddle our kids these days!

This article was originally published in April 2023 and was updated in August 2023. 

Originally published as The things your parents did that would have social services called now