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

[mike69]

My Mom wouldn't allow us to have these things because they where to expensive at the time.:
Atari 2600
VHS or Beta player
Cable TV.
Of course this was back in the late 70's and early 80's. If I remember correctly, the Atari cost around $150.00, a VCR was like around $600.00 and I can't remember the cost of cable TV. My Mom did eventually get cable TV in the mid 80's when they offered a free month. After the month was over my Mom had it disconnected, this was before you had to sign a year or two contract.

[Captain Big Trousers]

I couldn't believe my eyes! They were just as I had seen them in Famous Monsters.
And then it came: "No, I'm not giving you the money...."

I remember, around the age of twelve, using my (earned) pocket money to purchase weekly issues of "Animal Encyclopedia". I was up to week 13 (of 24 IIRC) when I must have done something wrong and my pocket money got cut off for a week, to teach me a lesson.

"But I'm collecting..."

"Don't care."

After missing out on Week 14 I figured it was pointless continuing, so I forever had half a set.

All these years later I can't remember what I'd done wrong to deserve that, but I do remember my father being a complete dick.

[JediJaida]

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.

OH MY GOD!!! You poor thing! What on earth did your parents say when they found out???

More to the point, how long did it take them TO figure it out???

Hippie food??? ICK! And no one dumb enough to trade something for it at lunch. That's double the trouble.

I'm so glad that I ate school lunches at my school. Sure, it wasn't the greatest stuff, but it was more edible than Hippie Dippie food!

[Red Hulk]

I had a pretty good childhood,I got pretty much anything within reason.The one thing my mom did tell me I couldn't have was a motorcycle,I was a fan of Evel Knevel he crashed a lot so that was that.

[torgospizza]

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.

My folks were the same way about KISS, but they were convinced they were Satanists. Little did they know those guys (or Gene, at least) only worship Mammon.

[megome1132]

I had 2 guns (a rifle and a shotgun) but I wasn't allowed to go hunting

Where I grew up EVERYBODY hunted --- but not me

To this day I still feel like I missed something

I was not allowed to have a bee bee gun...but when I was 12 I got a 22 cal rifle ..lol never got that .

[Donkey Hoatie]

1. A dirt bike. All my buddies had their own dirt bikes with mag wheels. In 1977, on our block, this was a big, big deal. I had to make do with my used, red, 1971 Schwinn. Looking back at the pictures from that time, my parents were right - a Schwinn was a much better bike.
2. Sugar cereals. Life cereal and Honey Nut Cheerios were the sweetest things we would get, and that was only if they were on sale and my mom had a coupon. Usually, it was Cheerios, Wheaties, Rice Krispies, or Raisin Bran (which, oddly enough, has more sugar in it than most "sugary" cereals). Again, my parents made the right call. I'm a little more lenient with my kid these days, but still steer her towards less sugary stuff.
3. Pop. We almost never had it in the house until I was a teenager. Even then, my mom made us put a quarter into a jar every time we wanted a can of it.

[EMCE Hammer]

Mini-bike, go cart, cap guns, fire crackers, lawn darts, jeans that didn't say 'plain pockets,' and cable.

[Earth 2 Chris]

The only thing I can really think of was Manglors. My Mom didn't buy it. She knew they didn't go back together like the commericals said. I wanted one anyway. I think that was the only time I was flat-out told "NO" on a fairly inexpensive toy. Turns out, she was right! They were totally lying about how you could rip him apart and stick him back together.

She also vetoed Atari games on the color TV. I've told this story before, but it bears repeating. She read that video games could burn patterns into your TV screen (and yes, they actually can, IF you leave the same image up for 30 years or something), so when Ol' St. Nick brought us an Atari when I was 6 or 7, it had to be hooked up to my sister's black and white TV set. I never saw Atari games in color, at least at my house. By the time the NES rolled around, I had worn her down. Besides, my Dad wanted to play Duck Hunt in color.

Chris

[Figuremod73]

The funny thing is some of the NEWER tv's are more likely to have screen burn.

[Iron Mego]

I guess my parents lucked out a little bit, neither my sister or I liked video games so we never even considered asking for a console.

[piecemaker]

Most things i couldn't have was because they were too expensive,Atari etc. We did have that Pong game,lol.When i was around five,i found out i wasn't allowed to have any rubber snakes in the house or anywhere period.I found a four foot long rubber snake one day that someone had thrown away.Its head was cut off and i'm assuming thats why it was pitched. I proceeded to walk into the house with it,my Mom turned around and saw it and was a little startled,to say the least.I think she thought it was real at first.'Get that thing out of this house'!!! I told her,'its not real,its a rubber one,its fake'. 'I dont care,get out of here with that'!!! Of course i was laughing the whole time.She told me to get rid of it,she did not want that around here.That was the day i found out i wasn't allowed to have any headless 4 foot long rubber snakes,period,lol.