If you grew up in the 1980s, your childhood probably looked very different from today’s. For instance, you likely roamed the neighborhood freely until the streetlights came on. Back then, parents considered optional car seats and alcohol-laced cough syrup to be standard. It was, after all, the era of latchkey kids and “benign neglect.” While many of us look back on it with nostalgia, the reality is that many common 80s parenting styles would raise serious red flags today. Consequently, modern standards, drawing on decades of child safety research, have changed the game completely.
Here are nine parenting practices from the 80s that would likely trigger a call to Child Protective Services in the present day.
1. Leaving Kids in the Car
In the 80s, parents frequently left their kids in the car while they ran into the store. They simply saw it as a matter of convenience. Today, however, we recognize this as a massive safety hazard. We now understand how quickly a car’s interior can reach deadly temperatures. As a result, leaving a child unattended in a vehicle for even a few minutes can have tragic consequences and is illegal in many places.
2. No Car Seats or Seatbelts
Many 80s kids remember bouncing around in the back of a station wagon. Car seats were rudimentary at best, and moreover, authorities inconsistently enforced seatbelt laws. It wasn’t uncommon to see children riding on laps or even in the open bed of a pickup truck. In contrast, strict car seat and booster seat laws are in place today for a reason. In fact, they have drastically reduced child fatalities in car accidents.
3. Physical Discipline as the Default
“Wait ’til your father gets home!” was a common threat. Indeed, many people accepted spanking with a belt, wooden spoon, or hand as a valid form of discipline. While opinions on spanking still vary, the line for what constitutes abuse has shifted significantly. Today’s emphasis is on positive discipline. For this reason, authorities will likely investigate any physical punishment that leaves a mark.
4. Unsupervised All Day, Every Day
The “latchkey kid” was an 80s hallmark. Children would come home from school to an empty house and had to care for themselves for hours. Furthermore, parents often left younger kids in the care of slightly older siblings. While this practice fostered independence, authorities now view leaving young children unsupervised for long periods as neglect in many situations.
5. Sending Sick Kids to School Medicated
A parent would often give a child with a fever a dose of Tylenol and send them off to school, hoping the medicine would get them through the day. Unsurprisingly, people heavily frown upon this practice now. Schools have strict policies about fevers and contagious illnesses. Therefore, modern standards could easily view the act of knowingly sending a sick child to infect others as a form of neglect.
6. Serving Alcohol to Minors at Home
It wasn’t unusual for parents in the 80s to offer a teenager a small glass of wine at a family dinner. Some parents genuinely believed it would teach responsible drinking. Today, with a better understanding of alcohol’s effect on the developing brain, this is a much bigger deal. In fact, providing alcohol to minors, even your own, can carry serious legal consequences.
7. Smoking in the House and Car
Shockingly, secondhand smoke was a normal part of the atmosphere in the 1980s. Because of this, people smoked everywhere, including in cars with the windows rolled up and inside the house. We now have overwhelming evidence of the dangers of secondhand smoke, especially for children. Consequently, authorities today could consider deliberately exposing a child to that environment a form of medical neglect.
8. Kids’ Medicine with Active Narcotics
Many over-the-counter cough syrups and cold remedies in the 80s contained ingredients like codeine or alcohol. Parents gave these to their children without a second thought. However, we now know these ingredients are dangerous and addictive for children. Today, giving a child an unprescribed narcotic would be a huge cause for concern.
9. Vague “Stranger Danger” Talks
The 80s approach to safety often relied on a simple “don’t talk to strangers” warning. Today, however, safety education is much more nuanced. We know that most harm to children comes from people they know, not shadowy figures in vans. For this reason, modern parenting focuses on teaching consent, body autonomy, and identifying trusted adults—a far cry from the simplistic 80s parenting styles.
From Nostalgia to Acknowledgment
It’s easy to laugh at these outdated practices, but it’s also important to acknowledge how much we’ve learned. These changes in parenting norms aren’t about judging the past. Instead, they reflect our increased knowledge about child development and safety. Our parents did the best they could with the information they had. Today, we simply know better.
What’s a parenting trend from your childhood that would never fly today? Share it in the comments!
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