Two weeks ago, I shared photos from my childhood and asked everyone to submit their own throwback photos for a contest sponsored by Munchkin. I wanted to contrast how different parenting is today from how parenting was back in the 70s and 80s. Not only did our parents have to make due without Miracle 360° Cups and Arm & Hammer scented diaper pails, most of them didn’t even have car seats or a respectable fashion sense!
Looking through the photo submissions, it became more and more clear. All our parents should be in jail.
Here are 30 things our parents did that should have been totally illegal:
1) They let us ride bikes without helmets
2) They let us ride bikes without helmets naked
3) They used us to improve their television reception
4) They didn’t care if we lost our fingers
5) They sent us into alligator infested swamps with nothing but a tube and a paddle
6) They forced us to all wear coordinating t-shirts
7) They made us ride in the trunk with guns and dead animals
8) They carted our high chairs around the house with a dolly
9) They dressed us in Underoos like it was outerwear
10) They forced us to go to Brownies against our will
11) They stuffed our play pens with bears large enough to suffocate us
12) They trapped us in walkers on wheels and let us loose in split level homes
13) They let us go roller skating in rainbow colored latex onesies
14) They propped our bottles with pillows so they wouldn’t actually have to hold us
15) They filled our bottles with apple juice
16) They let us drink soda
17) They let us relax with a beer
18) They let us drink beer straight from a keg while wearing nothing but a diaper
19) They cloaked us in dead animals
20) They made us get matching bowl cuts
21) They bought us toys that doubled as fire hazards
22) They let us swing so long we lost circulation in our legs
23) They called this a car seat
24) They attached our car seats with rope
25) They threw those “car seats” in the front seat
25) Car seats? WHO NEEDS CAR SEATS???
27) They thought four kids hanging out the back window of a station wagon was a great idea
28) They piled us all in the back of a pick-up
29) They didn’t use bouncer straps correctly
30) They didn’t Use bike seat straps at all!
31) They gave us Ogilvy Home Perms
32) When they weren’t giving us mullets
33) They let us pet real life lions
34) They smoked while they were holding us
35) They let us smoke
36) They dressed us like retired kindergarten teachers
37) They took us on boats without life jackets
38) They filled our cribs with every flammable object imaginable
39) They thought introducing solids meant a slice of pizza
40) They let our older siblings drag us from their bicycles by a long rope down a main road
41) They put us in outfits like this and called it easter
Seriously— How the hell are we all alive and well today??? Luck, I think. Pure luck. That, and probably our parents did a few things right. Like love us and make sure we didn’t starve.
Thanks, Mom and Dad!
For 57 more photos that would get our parents arrested if they were taken today, click here.
If you’d like to submit a throwback photo that might get your parents in trouble, post them on the Mommy Shorts Facebook page or tag @mommyshorts and @munchkininc on Instagram with the hashtag #whenweweremunchkins.
Throughout this contest, I am randomly awarding six parents who post Throwback photos with $100 gift cards from Munchkin.
You can read the full rules here.
You can use those $100 Munchkin gift cards to purchase innovative products for your kids like plates that turn white when your baby’s food is too hot and pacifiers that beat like Mom’s heart. Below are 17 products from Munchkin that make parenting easier, safer, cleaner and less likely to land you in jail.
1) White Hot® Infant Spoons 2) Day & Night Light Musical Auto Mirror 3) Click Lock® Bite Proof Sippy Cup 4) Arm & Hammer™ Diaper Pail by Munchkin 5) Mist™ Wipe Warmer 6) Miracle 360° Cup 7) Click Lock® Weighted Flexi-Straw Cup 8) Lulla-Vibe™ Vibrating Pad 9) Click Lock® Super Suction Bowl 10) Grippy Dots 11) White Hot® Sun Safety Shades 12) LATCH™ 4oz Bottle 13) Deluxe Fresh Food Feeder 14) LATCH™ Heartbeat Pacifier with Clip 15) Click Lock® Deluxe Snack Catcher® 16) Auto Close Designer Gate 17) White Hot® Bowls.
Are you ready for the first three winners?
This kid with the baby wearing dad— talk about forward thinking!
These children about to be attacked by a monkey in a diaper:
And these twins sleeping comfortably in their molded plastic carseats:
Congrats all! Please contact abby@mommyshorts.com to claim your prizes.
We’ve got three more winners to announce next week so keep those questionable throwback photos coming!
I promise not to report anybody’s parents.
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This post was sponsored by Munchkin but all thoughts and opinions are my own. Munchkin rids the world of the mundane by developing clever, innovative solutions that make family life safer, easier, and more fun. You can find Munchkin products at Munchkin.com, Target, Babies’R’Us, Walmart and Amazon. It’s the little things!
I didnt make my First Holy Communion untill i was 14 back in 1972.I was in the class with the 7 year olds so my parents dressed me like the little girls,in a poofy,short sleeve,above the knees communion dress and veil with lace anklets and the white mary jane shoes.They made me wear the same cloth diapers and toddler rubberpants and a tee shirt under my dress like the little girls all wore.Mom took a couple of pictures of me with the tee shirt,diapers and rubberpants on before my communion dress was put on me,then she took a some more pictures of me in my dress and veil with me holding up the front of my dress showing the diapers and rubberpants.She showed the pics to some of her friends and relatives.My parents surely would have been in trouble with the law if other people had seen them!
holding up your dress you should have pulled the diaper off to show your bald p-ssy, its nice at 7
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I’m so glad that I have had the privilege to live in those days an have that kind of childhood.
It’s so refreshing to see some real-life photos! Like – not a photo session with a kid and a thousand filters, settings, and scenography.
This is awesome. I grew up 60s 70s iron members doing so many of the same things probably about three fourths of everything. I remember drinking beer and booze all kinds my step dad’s poker games the next morning. Mom found me passed out on the floor. I sure miss letting kids ride in the back of the truck with the dogs we had a blast. We would laugh so hard while drinking our soda pop that it would come out of our nose!!! Thank you for reminding me what fun we had. I loved her station wagon and I love the fact that we did ride in the car’s back window even during long vacation trips. I had a good laugh.
This is some bullshit
And we all lived. Well, most of us!
The only thing this site shows is that there is a government, and people, you, that love to control and regulate the lives of others. Sure, there used to be a lot more risk. Innovations such as better child seats and increased knowledge about cigarettes is great. But increased every day intrusion by ‘The State’ and ‘Busy Bodies’ who think they know best how others should live is truly what is wrong with this country today–the increasing LOSS OF FREEDOM.
Do you have any video of that? I’d like to find
out some additional information.
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