Strange Things Our Parents’ Generation Used to Think Were Normal

As time moves forward, so do cultural norms. Something that’s commonplace and widely accepted to one generation sounds absolutely ridiculous just a few decades later.

Our parents’ childhoods were far different from our own, and looking at what they experienced really shows how much the world has changed.

Leaving Kids Unsupervised

Let’s start with a big one. Nowadays, parents are incredibly (and understandably) protective of their children’s safety, making sure they’re looked after at all hours of the day in case anything goes wrong.

Not so for older generations— it wasn’t uncommon to be left alone all day while their parents were working, or ushered out in the street to play around the neighborhood without anyone to keep an eye on them.

Smoking

Another big one— attitudes towards smoking have understandably changed as we’ve learned more of the science behind cigarettes. It used to be completely ordinary not only to smoke around children, but also let them try one occasionally.

After all, what doesn’t kill you only makes you cooler, right?

Seatbelts? What Seatbelts?!

The rules of the road are very carefully maintained these days. One big rule is that each passenger in a car or vehicle gets their own seat and must be wearing a seatbelt.

This strict rule, though, is only relatively new; it used to be incredibly common for families to cram half a dozen kids in the back seat, even on each other’s laps when necessary.

Picking Up Hitchhikers

A related car trend that fell out of fashion: hitchhiking! People used to wander alongside freeways, hoping to be picked up by a stranger and given a free ride. This was a cheap way of seeing more of the world, and you got to meet some interesting people.

This trend fell out of fashion when people became less comfortable sharing a car with a complete stranger.