November First, Elon Musk & Twitter, we change clocks this weekend... and a poll!

[steve-in-kville]

Time to liven this forum up a bit. Fun poll. Keep the politics in the appropriate forum, please.

How sheltered were you growing up? I realize there are no benchmarks as we all had different upbringings. Also, given the recent poll of forum members' ages, most of us grew up in a different world than what our own children are growing up in.

For example, we had TV in the home growing up, but I was really restricted in what I was allowed to watch. Yet I could jump on my bike and ride all over the county and no one asked where I went or who I could have been with.

Vote and comment. One (1) being you had "free range" parents. Ten (10) being you had "helicopter" parents.

[steve-in-kville]

[Ken]

No TV until HS and then only a small one with no cable, only network
No record player
No going to the movies
No toy guns, playing cards, etc.
No sugary cereals, soft drinks, processed foods, snack foods
No school dances (went to public school)
No brand-name clothes (Nikes, Adidas, etc.)
Virtually no eating out and then only to a local buffet. Most certainly no fast food.

On the other hand I could roam outdoors, bike anywhere until dark.

Once I started working outside the house (picking beans, strawberries, cherries, etc.) dishwashing at a local restaurant most of the rules seemed to fall away but probably mostly because I was the "good kid" and by then my parents were pre-occupied by my younger more rebellious brothers who gave them a run for their money.

[steve-in-kville]

No TV until HS and then only a small one with no cable, only network

I was the last student in my class that had a black & white TV. Soon after my parents got a VCR. Wasn't allowed to have a Nintendo game system, which in hindsight was best.

We often went to Pizza Hut or Burger King after church, yet my mom pitched a fit when I went to K-mart on a Sunday.

[QuietlyListening]

We often went to Pizza Hut or Burger King after church, yet my mom pitched a fit when I went to K-mart on a Sunday.

I grew up not overly protected but not free range either.
My parents went out to eat on Sunday and we could walk on the boardwalk but could not ride the rides, etc. We also could not go to a store- grocery or otherwise tho most weren't open when I was young- just in my later teen years and into college and once that occurred mom would go only if it was an 'emergency' so to speak. We went to the beach but could not go to the movies on Sunday or play cards as in regular deck of cards but could play old maid or crazy 8s. TV was monitored, we could go anywhere around the neighborhood and my parents knew my friends and their parents. But I had to tell them if I went any significant distance.

[steve-in-kville]

I grew up not overly protected but not free range either.

My wife on the other hand, she was really sheltered compared to me. It worked out both for the good and sometimes not so good, but we made it work.

[RZehr]

I’m still sheltered.

[Bootstrap]

We were sheltered in the sense that we could watch TV only once or twice a week, spent a lot of time in church and cub scouts / boy scouts, and had a life focused on family.

We were free range in the sense that we were allowed to spend lots and lots of time outside just wandering all over the woods or riding our bicycles around the countryside. As long as we did our chores and homework first.

[mercysfree]

I'm the outlier--#2 on the poll--I was raised as a spoiled and very nearly free range only child in the '60s and '70s. The few restrictions I had were rather odd and mostly things my parents (raised during the Depression) considered a waste of money. For example, no "belly wash" (soda pop) even though I could go to the ice cream parlor at will with friends. I was only allowed to use Ivory soap to bathe because it floated and thus was less likely to waste. I can remember begging for Dial soap without success, but I could have bubble bath. No showers, either--they wasted water. (I left my dirty bath water for my parents.) No chores.

I had only two spankings in my entire life. If I wanted to do something I thought might be denied, I knew which parent was more likely to give in, and boy, could I manipulate! We lived in a large city till I was 11yo and I wandered at will until the street lights came on, which was hardly even a restriction because by then there was no one else left to play with anyway. I watched whatever I wanted on TV. I read whatever adult library books I wanted, and I remember some quite inappropriate ones. I wore bikinis and extremely!! short skirts and skipped the bra. I started dating when I was 14yo. I wore makeup and dyed my hair. And so on.

I've got a theory about why my parents were so extremely permissive, but it might veer us off-topic. Despite almost no external fences, I was a compliant child and seldom got into serious mischief.

[steve-in-kville]