Things your friends had, but parents wouldn't let you have

[Rallygirl]

That is sad. But I have to say, I'd rather eat the healthy garbage instead of cat food. Did your mom ever find out?

I ate cat food for quite a while until the neighbor kid, Stevie, told his mom, who in turn told mine. I got the standard "if everyone else jumped off a cliff" speech. I heard that speech a lot, like when all the girls at school had cute jacket/snowpants sets and I got a green John Deer snowmobile suit from the farm store. As far as the healthy thing goes, I don't think the occasional fun snack or cereal would have hurt me.

[HardyGirl]

That is sad. But I have to say, I'd rather eat the healthy garbage instead of cat food. Did your mom ever find out?

All my friends got to eat fun, sugary cereals, not only for breakfast, but out of baggies as recess snacks also. I got to eat generic stuff from a hippie bulk food store. Yuck! In second grade, I hatched a wonderful plan. Didn't Friskies look almost exactly like Count Chocula? I certainly thought so. Off to school I went with baggies of cat food and, yes, I was so desperate to fit in that, I actually sat and ate cat food.

[Captain Big Trousers]

All my friends got to eat fun, sugary cereals, not only for breakfast, but out of baggies as recess snacks also. I got to eat generic stuff from a hippie bulk food store. Yuck! In second grade, I hatched a wonderful plan. Didn't Friskies look almost exactly like Count Chocula? I certainly thought so. Off to school I went with baggies of cat food and, yes, I was so desperate to fit in that, I actually sat and ate cat food.

That's terribly sad. I'd give you a hug, but you know... cat breath.

@johnmiic: I remember all of my mates going to the KISS concert, but as far as my father was concerned "they send actors to play as the band".

I wonder if it's possible, in this day and age, to be as messed up in the head as our parents were?

[babycyclops]

Geez I feel lucky that my parents let me play with and watch just about anything.
We never had soft-drinks (pop) except at family get-togethers and eating McDonalds or other junk food was a super treat, but as for toys, well I guess I was pretty spoiled.

I remember the one time my parents sent me to my room so I would not watch a report on 60minutes about 'sex changes' (these days called 'gender reassignment') I think the next week my dad took me to the movies to see 'The Wild Geese'.

[Rallygirl]

All my friends got to eat fun, sugary cereals, not only for breakfast, but out of baggies as recess snacks also. I got to eat generic stuff from a hippie bulk food store. Yuck! In second grade, I hatched a wonderful plan. Didn't Friskies look almost exactly like Count Chocula? I certainly thought so. Off to school I went with baggies of cat food and, yes, I was so desperate to fit in that, I actually sat and ate cat food.

[johnmiic]

Sometimes because we couldn't afford it and sometimes because of perceived harm to us: fire-crackers, the Big Green Machine, KISS Megos.

My father flat-out refused to allow anything related to KISS in the house. His thought was the members of KISS were gay because they had long hair and wore make-up. In my father's mind for my brother and I to own KISS items might encourage us to persue the gay lifestyle. It's not so much out of concern for us as kids but it would be more of an embarassment and disgrace to the family if me or my brother turned out gay. My family is mostly made up of ignorant, racist, stupid people. I have worked hard all my life not to be like any of them.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

For me it was mostly anything that could cause a fire or ruing carpets: slime, super elastic bubble plastic, shrinky dinks, sparklers, etc.

Also, the big wheel was seen as a big "why?" since I had a trike and later a bike. The Atari was seen as an expense that we didn't really need (also, my mom had seen a news show where they said that the system would burn shapes into the tv screen and ruin your tv. I think that was the original Odyssey game system and not the Atari, but that was moot).

[Iron Mego]

I don't think anything I missed out on was a matter of "couldn't have," but always more a matter of money. My sister and I still talk about not getting a Big Wheel, but I don't think there was any real reason why we didn't get one. It just didn't happen. I did find it odd that I never got some of the Megos I so desperately desired as a kid. Some of it was due to availability, but for others, like Cornelius and Zaius, I distinctly remember seeing, and holding them, at the drugstore. Maybe my mom thought they were too freaky. I didn't get a Stretch Armstrong as promised, but that was because he was the Tickle Me Elmo of the time, and there were simply none to be had. Got the damn Stretch Monster instead and I never really took to it. That happened a lot to me as a kid. I'd really want something particular and my mom would get the next best thing.I now have a lot of pent up disappointment from childhood! Which is why I now own all the Megos I REALLY wanted as a kid.

[Zemo]

For me it was a mini-bike/go cart. They just wouldn't even hear it lol.

[Hector]

One time at the now defunct Gemco store (the Target of its day), I was there with my family, and was at the toy section full of Megos. I vividly recall seeing Star Trek and Superheroes, at the time, I was really into Trek, so I asked my dad if he would buy me some Trek stuff, I of course wanted the two big Mego Trek items at the time, the Entrrprise playset and the pair of Trek walkie talkie communicators. He said no, that the playset was too big, and that the communicators were too delicate and expensive for me. But dad compromised, and bought me a carded Kirk and Spock, lol.,

[cjefferys]

It took a lot of whining and begging before we finally got one, but my parents were very resistant about buying an Atari 2600 for my sister and me. We finally got it one Christmas when at that point it seemed like everyone else in school already had it for a couple years. Of course, my dad ended up loving it as much as we did, maybe that's the real reason why my mom didn't want to get us one.

I never had a Big Wheel or Green Machine, but then again, I don't really recall bugging my parents for one. Surprisingly, I did have plenty of Slime: regular Slime, Slime Worms and the Slime Monster board game. It probably helped that I was careful and managed not to ruin any carpets, furniture or clothing.

[z3zep]

I don't think there was anything my mom did want me to have, just we couldn't afford some things.

[Hector]

Great Matchbox collection!

[VintageMike]

As far as what my friends had, I can narrow it down.

1-Darth Vader's Star Destroyer. My folks were good about getting me Star Wars stuff but for some reason didn't get me this.
2-Original White Tie Fighter. Less of a mystery here. My aunt bought me the Darth Vader version one Christmas so my parents refused to get me the white one because it was "the same thing." To this day when i see them, I want to buy it, but don;t because I know it will just sit in a box.
3-The AT-AT. Just too big
4-The Atari 2600 for the longest time. More my Dad because had the foresight to know "you'll only want the next thing". He was right, of course. They finally gave in when I was about 12. Despite wanting new systems there was no give until a got a Nintendo four-five years later.
5-Mego Green Goblin & Joker. I will qualify this one saying if they had been able to find them in the store, they probably would have bought them for me. By the time I was old enough to ask for them though, you could only get them by ordering through Heroes World and they weren't keen on that.

[Captain Big Trousers]

Thinking about the thread title, it wasn't so much that I wasn't allowed certain things - it was just that any specific requests were completely ignored (I can't recall ever getting a toy I'd actually asked for), and my toys were completely random. eg: I had four "action figures" but they were all different scales: An Action Man (pilot, no vehicle for him), a Butch Cavendish (not the Lone Ranger or a horse), a Matchbox Fighting Fury (Peg Leg, not the Hook I'd asked for) and a Mego Ivanhoe. Consequently all my play with action figures involved battles with a giant earthbound pilot versus a midget jouster without a horse, or a large cowboy baddie versus a dwarf amputee pirate, or variations thereof.

And my whole toy collection would fit into two boxes.

Actually they did fit into two boxes, when we moved to Australia (when I was nine) and my parents made me give away all my toys.
"We're moving to a country you don't want to go to, and you have to give away all your toys." Parenting 101. Annoyingly, they did bring all of their cheap ornaments and knick-knacks (which mostly ended up in a hock shop when they divorced a few years later).

Not that I'm still bitter or anything.

So I gave my Matchbox car collection (that I'd bought myself with pocket money) to a kid who lived two doors down. A few years later that kid's family also emigrated to Australia. When I was sixteen I visited them. The kid says "I have something to show you" and pulls a box out from beneath his bed. It was my old Matchbox collection, on the other side of the world! Amazing to see after all those years.

"Here," he said, "they're yours. Take them."

Not really. He slid the box back under his bed and kept them all.

Never really got into toys after the age of nine anyway. Spent more time outside.

I've got a nice collection of Matchbox cars now.



TAKE THAT, KARL!