For a while, I had one devoutly Christian parent and one aggressively anti-Christian parent. Which made for some pretty limited leisure options.

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I wasn’t allowed ketchup because my mum thought it was ‘common’

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‘Common’ was a big thing in the 70s/80s but… i think it’s died out now? People probably just say ‘chavvy’ instead so i guess things haven’t moved on much. But ‘common’ had its own weird logic sometimes. Certain colours, certain fabrics, foods etc. It’s a baffling place, The Past.

My mum is pretty much like the main character in keeping up appearances

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I watched so much completely inappropriate stuff too when I was younger, because no-one bothered to monitor anything.

Got out loads of library books that were way too old for me when I was about 9-12 too. The mildest form of rebellion. The library was next to the supermarket, and my dad used to get some odds and ends of groceries while I was picking, and meet me outside.

Except with added religious intensity

My mother is like if Hyacinth Bucket was also a massive hippy.

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Just out of interest: did your parents (and @ttf 's) ever try to foist upon you any of the Christian alternatives to mainstream culture? For instance, DC Talk, Delirious?, Ishmael (though that’s going back a few years)… Oh - and Veggie Tales (which I missed out on entirely).

Mine aren’t Christian (always a bit reluctant to say my religious background on here is there as there aren’t many of them so it identifies me and I’m weirdly paranoid)

They also wouldn’t let me be a vegetarian because they thought I’d die of protein deficiency or something.

Did have to go to lots of religious summer schools and things, could tell my parents wanted me to think of that as my community but I was more interested in the ‘common’ kids

Ah okay - sorry, that was a really daft assumption for me to make. And of course, there’s no need to say. Apologies!

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Pot noodles

Sugary cereal

MR frosty

Screwball scramble

Any games/toys that require batteries

Branded clothing

Watching Grange Hill, think this was down to teen pregnancy story line?

Irking thing is they now buy my kids football kits, battery heavy toys, fruit loop and coco pops cereal etc etc.

ah clearly not, i must’ve escaped all that. the occasional vaguely-religious themed film and tv show but nothing much else.

Theo’s the name, Brio’s the game

A trampoline
Broadband
MySpace

Wasn’t allowed to watch 15 rated movies til I was 14. Once had a 13 y/o friend over and we watched the 40 Year Old Virgin and my dad absolutely flipped when he found out that an underage person was watching a rated film. Went proper crazy. She was like “wtf I watch 18s all the time.” Also wasn’t allowed to drink any alcohol (my mum was going to give me some pimms when I was 12 and my dad went berserk about he was going to get arrested if she did :’) )

any idea why? it was fucking great, exactly the kind of thing my sisters and i played with a lot when we weren’t allowed tv haha

wow, just got a gutpunch of nostalgia. screwball scramble! fucking hell

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Nope, presume it needed batteries? Either that or they thought we’d lose the marbles…or was over priced?

hmm, defo batteries for the timer, pretty sure the set itself didn’t need batteries

my mum is the most thrify person i know, she almost certainly found it in a charity shop - may well have been expensive new tho