# Stuff you do now because you couldn't when you were a kid. . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 27, 2001, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920 "2001-07-27T02:30:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eo\_Echo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ebca7d/32.png) [@Eo\_Echo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eo_Echo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/41 "2001-07-27T18:26:40Z")
I drink Sprite. In fact, I drink it by the liter. When I was a kid my grandfather worked for the local Pepsi bottling plant. As a result, our house was always full of free Pepsi, but I was also strictly forbidden from drinking any Coke product, including my favorite soda, Sprite. So I used to have to take my allowance down to the corner store and buy it there. “Do you want a bag?” the clerk would ask. “No thanks,” I’d reply, “I’ll drink it here.” For years, Sprite was a guilty pleasure, one that I couldn’t enjoy openly until adulthood. So perhaps it’s ironic that now I drink Sierra Mist, which is in fact a Pepsi product. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/42 "2001-07-27T18:26:59Z")
I bought a cage full of rats. I stay up late. I watch tv before doing my studying. I watch tv with swear words. I open one package of cookies, then open a different one before finishing the first. Also goes for cereal. Growing up is good. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/43 "2001-07-27T18:36:02Z")
This reminds me of the first thing I did when I got my first apartment. I whistled the diddy form _Snow White_ Fopr reasons I can’t fathom whistling wasn’t allowed in the house. My house contains no oatmeal, unless in teh form of a cookie. I slide down railings I put whatever I want in my ear I try to heat the outdoors whenever possible ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/44 "2001-07-27T18:37:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PinkyDVM \* > Actually, I’ve become more of a neat feak than even my mom, but it has more to do with my mother-in-law. Until I had spent some time at her house, I never realized how truly awful a place can be when you NEVER clean or throw anything away… Eerie! I had the same experience. **Shiver** It caused me to clean our apartment and buy a guest bed. I never want any guest at _my_ house to feel as grossed out and uncomfortable as I was at _her_ house. I wore my socks the whole time. Even in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![Frumious\_Bandersnatch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Frumious\_Bandersnatch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frumious_Bandersnatch)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/45 "2001-07-27T20:02:07Z")
From the time I was a small child I wanted a pet snake. This was not going to happen in my mothers house. When I first lived on my own, I had a pet python before I had a stereo or a TV. The food things in my life are pretty trivial. I buy more than one box of cereal if I like it. I eat peanut butter and marshmallow fluff with a spoon, right out of the jar. I regularly eat spaghetti, chili, or pizza for breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/46 "2001-07-27T20:07:34Z")
I had some rather permissive parents, but I am about to leave a fairly regimentated place for my own apartment, so I’ll share what I’m looking forward to: [ul] [li]Eating what I want, when I want. If I feel like having chicken for dinner, guess what? I’m eating chicken for dinner.[/li][li]Coming and going as I please. Not having a strict curfew. Being able to go to a party or a baseball game or a date and not have to worry about being in at a certain time, nor account for my whereabouts.[/li][li]Not having to go to religious services. If I want to go, I’ll go.[/li][li]Being able to lounge about all day in my nightgown.[/li][li]Not having to keep my place spotless.[/li][/ul] Can y’all tell I’m excited? 😃 Robin ---
**Author:** ![Tyklfe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@Tyklfe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tyklfe)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/47 "2001-07-27T20:24:47Z")
I don’t think anybody else said it so: I sleep **buck _Naked_!** I also walk around the house **buck _Naked_!** Yea 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/48 "2001-07-27T22:38:23Z")
Let me second the walking around **buck naked**! I love that. Wear black (my Mom would never let me wear black when I was a kid.) Stay up all night. Jump on the furniture. Eat dinner in front of the T.V. Not get dressed/shower until 3:00 p.m. (Shhhhh…) Shower every _other_ day. Use paper plates and utensils so I can just throw them away instead of washing them. Rarely eat vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/49 "2001-07-27T23:24:47Z")
I eat bananas _caveman style_. Y’know, the way my mum thought was uncouth - peeling it in four strips, but only halfway down, and holding the unpeeled part. My mum always insisted I take the banana right out of its peel first. I love travel because my parents never took us _anywhere_. I always have a bottle of coke in the fridge because it’s NOT an occasional luxury, dammit. I’ll have a third helping of dessert. I sit too close to the television. I have long showers. The walk may do me good, but bugger that - I’ve got a car. Sex, drugs, and Rock & Roll. Cigarettes and coffee. [sub] Oh yes, and I hereby swear never to clean a child’s face in public with the handkerchief / spit method (what gives with mothers and that crap?).[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/50 "2001-07-27T23:32:47Z")
I’ve _been_ living with my parents for the past year while I’ve gone to school, and it’s been pretty traumatic. Sometime in the next month, I move into my new place. (Cue _Hallelujah Chorus_.) Play **my** music on the stereo as loud as I like, dance through the house while I do chores. Watch _The Pretender_ without having to explain or defend it to Dad. Watch _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ and _Angel_ without having to explain to Mom what happened since she fell asleep halfway through the last episode. Cook actual vegetables in such a way that they’re edible and still possess most of their nutrients. Wash the dishes or let them pile up, however I feel like it at the time. Eat a snack when I’m hungry without getting _that_ look from Dad. Eat dinner at a godly hour instead of an ungodly one. Put my altar together and actually take part in my own religion as opposed to shutting up about it because it makes the parents uncomfortable. And maybe, just maybe, one day have sex again. (Wouldn’t that be lovely?) Oh, I could go on and on . . . I’m not bitter, but I am way the hell ready to get out of here. ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/51 "2001-07-27T23:49:55Z")
Lemme see, I stay up as late as I want, even if I have to get up early, that’s what alarm clocks are for. I don’t separate colors and whites in my laundry. I vote. I don’t wait an hour after eating to go swimming, I never really understood that one… I eat what I want, when I want, as much as I want. I spit into the wind, look directly at the sun, drink beer, have sex, sleep naked and whole lotta other stuff that I was told not to do. Being a legal adult is cool. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jeffro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jeffro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffro)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/52 "2001-07-28T01:01:06Z")
Buy fireworks!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tevya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tevya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tevya)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/53 "2001-07-28T01:09:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stuffinb \* > \*\* > I try to heat the outdoors whenever possible \*\* This reminds me of another thing. I walk in and out of the house as many times as I want when the air conditioning is running. Sometimes I walk outside and then walk right back inside several times without making up my mind if I want to be in or out because the damn air conditioner is running. ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/54 "2001-07-28T01:13:57Z")
Wow. Other than bedtimes I pretty much agree with the house rules. Share limited resorces fairly. (I may grump about having to share the internet when I’m home, but I can’t complain that they are being unfair about it. I’m just spoiled.) Tell people where you are going and when you think you will be back. (So they can call the police when you get left in a ditch.) I’m very trusting. So far I have walked into and out of potentially dangerous situations just fine. But its always good to know someone will notice if you don’t turn up. Other than that, my stuff and space at home is given enough respect that if I want to clean my room, I do, but if I don’t my mom ignores it. just about the living conditions I have on my own. Food wise, my mom has a philosophy of making people happy. As long as you get basic nutrients daily you can drink Coke, eat brownies, whatever. She’ll buy it if you will take care of it. We wear our hair they way we want. We wear the clothes we want. If we are happy, healthy, capable people, she doesn’t see anything wrong with what we are doing. (She says she can’t see stepping in unless we are doing something morally or physically dangerous.) My mom rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/55 "2001-07-28T03:56:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pnuk Guy \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Lyllyan \* > > Wh-wh-what? You mean your suppose to bake that stuff **before** you eat it? \*\* > > What? You mean you bake it **after** you eat it? 🙂 \*\* ya know, it made perfect sense to me when I posted it. I no longer have to marathon shop at Sears for school clothes - and don’t but winter coats in July. ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/56 "2001-07-28T03:57:56Z")
or _ **buy** _ them either. (preview is your friend only if you actually read what you wrote) ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/57 "2001-07-28T04:48:34Z")
I say “fuck”. All the fucking time. Fuck fuckity fuck. Fuckin’ -ay. Once when I was a kid and thought I would go without underwear for the day, my mom chided me into wearing it. So now I hardly ever wear underwear. Sometimes I go bra-less, too! _gasp!_ ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/58 "2001-07-28T06:58:52Z")
I drink chocolate milk and eat sugary cereals, while avoiding liver, squash, and eggplant. I wear clothes that are really worn out and should be thrown away. I sleep with my clothes on, and wear the same clothes two days in a row, if I feel like it. I sleep until 2:00 PM during summer, and stay up until 3:00 AM, mainly because that’s the only time when my favorite MB isn’t too damn slow. And I use profanity. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/59 "2001-07-28T07:59:18Z")
I can keep a clean and neat house. I know this sounds funny, but my parents were slobs. I mean, for a while they were edging towards the Langley brothers: they never threw anything away, just stacked up more and more junk. My mom didn’t do dishes: I did them. Laundry: I did it. For years, I tried and tried to get some kind of organization, but my mom was like, she’d read the newspaper, drop it on the floor next to her chair, and let it pile up until the chair wouldn’t recline. Then I’d hit my saturation point, clear them away to reveal a **gray carpet** , bundle them up for recycling…and she’d scream because “There were things in there I wanted to save!” My dad was more agreeable: when I swept up the peanut shells that surrounded his workbench, he’d smile and say, “It’s about time somebody did that.” Yes, they were lunatics. Luckily, I married another control freak. Everything in our apartment, down to the extra soap under the sink is organized. ---
**Author:** ![Nimue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Nimue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nimue)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920/60 "2001-07-28T13:11:45Z")
Add me to the sugar cereal and junk food list. I never got that stuff growing up, except for at the occasional party. I don’t actually eat junk food all that much, but I have an undying love for cocoa puffs. And I have BIG servings of it. Mr Nim refers to my bowl of cereal as my “trough” – I have tripple or more the serving size, and then skip lunch. I throw away twisties (those little strips you twist to close bags) after one use. My parents had a whole drawer dedicated to these things. I’m not afraid to have a damned good cleaning out of my wardrobe every now and then, ruthlessly taking out everything I don’t wear anymore, even if it still fits. I will fix the same thing for dinner 3 or 4 times in one week if I’m really enjoying it. I’ll play the same cd half a dozen times a day every day until I’m tired of it. Every now and then I’ll impulse buy things that I want but don’t at all need. I’ll watch trashy stupid television shows. When my husband is away (every other set of 6 weeks) I eat dinner on the coffee table in the living room in front of the television. And I time dinner so that a trashy stupid television show is on – they seem to be conducive to enjoying dinner when alone. I’ll go to bed at 10:30 and stay up past 4am reading. If I’m not going out, I won’t bother getting dressed, brushing my hair, or making myself at all presentable, beyond brushing my teeth. (It’s only embarrassing when the postman comes to the door – doh!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-do-now-because-you-couldnt-when-you-were-a-kid/73920.md?page=4)