My sisters and I always ask “Why?” about this; When we were in elementary school (60s & 70s) we would often have classroom parties - Valentine’s Day, Halloween, etc. Kids would bring treats - homemade stuff back then!!:eek: and we were all to bring a can of pop. Now pop back then was a big treat. It was something we’d get to have at the cabin or for some special occasion. We drank a lot of Kool-Aid. And I think that was the norm for most of our friends. So I would think that when these class parties would happen, my dad could have picked up a couple of cans of pop on his way home from work or my mom when she went grocery shopping. But they never did! The other kids all had pop. I remember bringing Kool-Aid in a thermos!!! (talk about being mortified) Or we’d run to my grandma’s house who lived a short distance away to see if she had any pop. A can of Shasta cost about 25 cents back then (maybe 15 cents). We weren’t poor - middle class. It wasn’t like pop was taboo. We had it once in a while and were never told we couldn’t have pop. So why? It was like it was too much effort to get the frickin’ can of pop. Geez Louise! One time I remember class party time rolled around and lo and behold we had a large bottle of pop in the fridge - what luck! My mom put some in a thermos for me - well you can imagine the outcome when I opened the thermos at my desk!!! Pop foamed all over the place. :smack:
We’ve asked my mom why they would never buy us a can of pop and she just says, “really?” Like she can’t believe that ever happened!
Anyone else have a strange and peculiar childhood question of WHY?
Very similar experiences. Parents thought KoolAid was decent, Hawaiian Punch better, hi-C better yet, sodapop something that should be reserved for special occasions and held in suspicion.
I can’t give you any specifics as to their reasoning, but honestly I think it mostly amounted to “You kids like that damn stuff way too much, so if we keep it around you’ll drink more sugary beverages than are good for you.”
In our house, you’d have thought Pepsi was the Holy Grail. My parents would split a bottle of Pepsi once a week. Maybe twice, if it was really hot out. For them, Pepsi floats were a celebratory thing. I hated Pepsi. No Kool-Aid was allowed in the house, and Hawaiian Punch was soda to my mom. It was hi-C or (shudder) Tang.
Then my Great Aunt Evelyn started coming over. She loved Fresca (with saccharin!) so my parents kept a 6-pack of cans in the basement fridge for her and I became a serious mooch.
I do remember hanging out at my dad’s shop and the guys would give me change for the soda machine, so I would buy a bottle of Big Red and hide it in the shelves.
On a different line, I never understood why my parents were so reluctant to try new foods. It was the 70’s - so many ready to eat foods available. Not at my house. Dinner was meat, veggies, starch. Period. Separated on the plate. No tacos. No lasagna. Hot dishes were for church, unless Hamburger Helper or Chef Boyardee Box o’ Spaghetti was on sale, and then one box would be purchased for weekend lunches only. I didn’t have pizza until I was 8 or 9, at my grandparent’s house. My parents did loosen up, eventually. But until the day he died, my dad grumbled when I would make lasagna or something “foreign”.
A friend of mine was called into school to discuss her son’s behavior. Unbeknownst to her, he had taken a bottle of Whiskey Sour mix and party cups to share with all the first graders.
She was embarrassed, the teacher and principal were aghast, I laughed my ass off. I mean, there is no alcohol in it, right? Just the mental image of a bunch of first graders slurping down mock Whiskey Sours still makes me laugh.