Adults--did your mother put ice packs in your lunch?

[tinkntraining]

No - no ice packs for me in the 70s. I jumped up and down for joy when I went on a field trip and got to take a can of grape soda pop as a treat (frozen overnight, and wrapped with foil, of course!)

No seatbelts either -- but really, what would have been the point? I always called the little itty bitty cubby in the back of the VW bug -- really, would a seat belt have helped at all?

And I loved the candy cigarettes and little waxy things filled with juice. Oh, and the pixie sticks, remember them? They were great, until we figured out we got alot more for our money by putting kool-aid mixed with sugar in a little baggie and dunk our wet pointy finger in and lick it off. Everyone in school had a red, purple or orange pointy finger in those days!

And we walked all over the neighborhood, alone, and never thought a thing about it! Oh, them were the days.

Can you keep a secret? I've become one of those moms who remind the kids to pack the ice thingee in their lunch these days. The car doesn't move until all seatbelts are fastened, and the bike doesn't leave the carport until a helmet's on. Guess I'm not willing to take a chance with my kids' health.

 

[connorlevismom]

This thread is just cracking me up!

I grew up in the 80's and never had an ice pack for my lunch. I took a cheese sandwich to school EVERYDAY and by the time lunch came, it was nice and melted. I loved that!

I don't remember what I drank but I am sure it was milk or something that I bought at school because I don't remember having a thermos. I had to bring lunch in a brown bag because lunch boxes were just to expensive.

Ne seatbelt here either. We had a van and I just remember sitting either on the seat or on the floor.

I also walked to school everyday and it was about a mile. The bus did not pick me up because I lived to close (the cut off was one street over) so I walked.

Kristine

 

[mjkacmom]

Sorry, but that's funny. Uh…NO. Got some kind of lunch meat sandwich on wheat bread, and an apple. Bought a white milk for 5 cents.

Didn't get ice-filled water bottles when I did sports either ("the drinking fountain is over there…across that giant field…down the hill…through the parking lot…and to the left."). Oh, and my parents (and everyone else's parents) rarely attended our sporting events. They were fun and exercise for US, not entertainment or boastful events for our parents.

Walked or rode my bike everywhere, ESPECIALLY to my friend's house 3 blocks over ("Will you drive me to Suzy's?" "Are you NUTS? Walk!").

NEVER got driven to school. Not one time. Ever. Walked or rode the bus every day for 13 years. If I was late, I walked FAST.

Did all my own homework, all my own projects, posters, science fairs, etc. Never even occurred to me to ask my parents to help. It was MY homework.

My parents never once intervened at school when I got a bad grade, had a fight with a kid, etc. The bad grade was my fault. Period. The fight? Well, it happens.

Eating fast food was "a treat." Happened maybe twice a year.

Oh, and I got spanked. And sometimes had my mouth washed out with soap.

Sorry, but your post just made me realize that what some of us called "childhood" they now call "child abuse." It's an upside down world sometimes…

Well, my kids (starting around the age of 8) walk or bike to their friends' homes, they walk to school, we have fast food 6 times a year, tops, my kids mostly do homework on their own (and I don't check it! ), and it would never occur to me to put ice in their water bottles!

 

[Todd&Copper]

OMG! The lack of ice pack MUST be the reason I had terrible trots every afternoon for my entire elementary and jr. high school career! The warm lunchmeat!!!!

J/K. No, I never had an ice pack. For field trips my mom might remember to freeze a juice box, and the teacher might have dumped all of our lunch sacks into a cooler, but that was it.

And we didn't get to have lovely bottles of water at our desks in school either. If you wanted a drink, you used the water fountain between classes or bought a milk or juice at lunch (and no, we didn't have cola machines in my high school).

 

[mjkacmom]

And we didn't wear seatbelts. Actually, my mom's car didn't have seatbelts, and the front passenger door would always fly open, so if you forgot to lock it, you flew out of the car (both my sister and I fell out). I walked 1/2 mile, to kindergarten, all by myself, every day(my neighbors were older, and kindy was 1/2 day).

Once a year, we'd drive to WDW from NJ, with my sister and I sprawled out in the back of the station wagon, choking on the cigarette smoke.

 

[diznygirl]

Nope, no ice pack here. For my kids it's to keep the juice cold, not the sandwich. But they buy lunch now (thank goodness).

When I was in school (the dark ages) they provided milk at lunch, nice and cold!!!

 

[petchie]

No ice pack, was not a "cafeteria eater"

We lived 5 blocks from the school. First day of school, kindergarten year your mom walked you. After that, you were on your own.

Circa 1966-1972
We had a walking school bus so to speak. Mary Ann walked to my house stood on the front sidewalk and Yelled for me. "Hello PETCHIE", we then walked to Cheryl's where she was always ready, then we picked up Maura on the way past, Ronnie, Vince and Sue met us on the corner at the last block before school.

We then walked home for lunch, watched the Donna Reed show or some other sitcom while we ate, and walked back to school repeating the routine. We had 20 minutes home to eat. In nice weather, we would eat fast while sitting on the swingset and play as soon as we were done. If your mom was not going to be home, you could take a lunch or just eat at one of the other kids houses. It was a big treat to bring a "cafeteria friend" home for lunch with you.

Then we walked back home at the end of the day. With messing around, the walk home took 3 times longer than the other walks of the day.

in 1972, we were no longer allowed home for lunch.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

No ice packs here, when I did take my lunch. Back then I could walk home for lunch-Campbell's tomato soup! When I pack my kiddos lunches, I put in a half frozen drink pouch, which thaws by the time they eat.

loco4dis, our milk was 5 cents, too! I always got chocolate. Your post was great, and reminded me so much of my childhood, I had a little "moment".

 

[petchie]

we were not allowed to have chocolate in 1973! white milk only, so my mom would put a pill bottle full of Nestles quick in my brown paper bag so we could make our own. Sr. Saint Michael was not impressed.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

we were not allowed to have chocolate in 1973! white milk only, so my mom would put a pill bottle full of Nestles quick in my brown paper bag so we could make our own. Sr. Saint Michael was not impressed.

Contraband!!

 

[MickeysMommy]

Sorry, but that's funny. Uh…NO. Got some kind of lunch meat sandwich on wheat bread, and an apple. Bought a white milk for 5 cents.

Didn't get ice-filled water bottles when I did sports either ("the drinking fountain is over there…across that giant field…down the hill…through the parking lot…and to the left."). Oh, and my parents (and everyone else's parents) rarely attended our sporting events. They were fun and exercise for US, not entertainment or boastful events for our parents.

Walked or rode my bike everywhere, ESPECIALLY to my friend's house 3 blocks over ("Will you drive me to Suzy's?" "Are you NUTS? Walk!").

NEVER got driven to school. Not one time. Ever. Walked or rode the bus every day for 13 years. If I was late, I walked FAST.

Did all my own homework, all my own projects, posters, science fairs, etc. Never even occurred to me to ask my parents to help. It was MY homework.

My parents never once intervened at school when I got a bad grade, had a fight with a kid, etc. The bad grade was my fault. Period. The fight? Well, it happens.

Eating fast food was "a treat." Happened maybe twice a year.

Oh, and I got spanked. And sometimes had my mouth washed out with soap.

Sorry, but your post just made me realize that what some of us called "childhood" they now call "child abuse." It's an upside down world sometimes…

I missed this post - how the heck could I - but I could have written it!

 

[Stargazer]

Let's see - I went to school starting in the early 80's and I can't recall Mom ever putting an ice pack in my lunch.

I usually had pb&j with the occasional bologna & cheese, some fruit, and Doritos in a baggie! I bought my drink (white milk) from the cafeteria.


On a side note - my DD about stroked out the other day when we were out some of her favorite lunch foods - string cheese, a pudding cup, and snack-size bag of pretzels. I also NEVER remember any of my lunch being pre-packaged (well, except for field trips when I was allowed to bring a CapriSun)!

 

[Disney Doll]

Nope...no ice packs.

Also didn't wear a helmet to bike ride, didn't wear a seat belt in the car. Ran around in the woods behind my house all day and never got abducted. Had to actually stay after school if I got detention for misbehaving....Mommy never came and argued to bail me out.

I think I was abused.

 

[themarquis]

I have a lot of memories of my dad driving while un-seatbelted, smoking a cigarette, and **drinking a Budweiser** that he held between his legs!

It sure is amazing a lot of us survived!

 

[petchie]

I remember my sister having a car seat that hooked over the back of the front seat of the car, it had a little steering wheel on it.

I remember her as a baby in a car bed in the back seat too.

and every car had a car blanket

 

[Pooh93]

No I didn't have ice packs either but remember hating eating a warm sandwich at lunch especially if it had mayonaisse on it.

I guess I have enabled my kids, because I always have made sure they had an ice pack.

 

[Dalton5]

we were not allowed to have chocolate in 1973! white milk only, so my mom would put a pill bottle full of Nestles quick in my brown paper bag so we could make our own. Sr. Saint Michael was not impressed.

Heaven forbid a parent would do that now a days..."unidentified powdery substance" grounds for expulsion!

 

[Freyja]

Nope, never got icepacks. And not because I was in Iceland where it was cold enough, I didn´t get them when I lived in Kuwait either. I have never even heard of such a thing, let alone seen a lunchbox with an icepack. Therefore it´s needless to say I don´t pack any in my kids lunchboxes.

 

[mjkacmom]

No ice pack, was not a "cafeteria eater"

We lived 5 blocks from the school. First day of school, kindergarten year your mom walked you. After that, you were on your own.

Circa 1966-1972
We had a walking school bus so to speak. Mary Ann walked to my house stood on the front sidewalk and Yelled for me. "Hello PETCHIE", we then walked to Cheryl's where she was always ready, then we picked up Maura on the way past, Ronnie, Vince and Sue met us on the corner at the last block before school.

We then walked home for lunch, watched the Donna Reed show or some other sitcom while we ate, and walked back to school repeating the routine. We had 20 minutes home to eat. In nice weather, we would eat fast while sitting on the swingset and play as soon as we were done. If your mom was not going to be home, you could take a lunch or just eat at one of the other kids houses. It was a big treat to bring a "cafeteria friend" home for lunch with you.

Then we walked back home at the end of the day. With messing around, the walk home took 3 times longer than the other walks of the day.

in 1972, we were no longer allowed home for lunch.

My kids are still allowed home for lunch, or they can walk to the deli (but they like to stay in - they still eat in the gym). Our only closed campus is the JH - the HSers are free to leave too.

 

[dismom2]

No - no ice packs for me in the 70s. I jumped up and down for joy when I went on a field trip and got to take a can of grape soda pop as a treat (frozen overnight, and wrapped with foil, of course!)

No seatbelts either -- but really, what would have been the point? I always called the little itty bitty cubby in the back of the VW bug -- really, would a seat belt have helped at all?

And I loved the candy cigarettes and little waxy things filled with juice. Oh, and the pixie sticks, remember them? They were great, until we figured out we got alot more for our money by putting kool-aid mixed with sugar in a little baggie and dunk our wet pointy finger in and lick it off. Everyone in school had a red, purple or orange pointy finger in those days!

And we walked all over the neighborhood, alone, and never thought a thing about it! Oh, them were the days.

Can you keep a secret? I've become one of those moms who remind the kids to pack the ice thingee in their lunch these days. The car doesn't move until all seatbelts are fastened, and the bike doesn't leave the carport until a helmet's on. Guess I'm not willing to take a chance with my kids' health.

We used to not only bring Kool-Aid and eat it dry like you mentioned, but we also used to bring boxes of Jello and eat that with our licked fingers!! One day I made the mistake of trying to eat a package of Kool-Aid that did not have the sugar pre-mixed into it---that was NOT good. Yes, we all had colored fingers, tongues and lips

For a while all the craze was eating pomagranates (sp). It was cool to eat because it had all those seads with juicy stuff around it. We would just suck the juice off, then spit out the seads.

Did anyone ever have classmates that would stand against a wall and put their hands around thier throat until they passed out? I never did that, and I never knew if it was real or not. Did they really pass out, or was it all for show? What a dumb thing to do!

I loved Marathon bars, and what was that white nouget bar? I'm having a lot of flashbacks...

My parents, even though we never wore seat belts (even when they were available) insisted we have the doors locked. They were more worried about someone swinging the door open and kidnapping one of us kids while at a red light than if we got killed in a car accident. Oh, the memories!