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Curfew flashbacks

12 memories which will strike fear in the heart of anyone who had a sheltered childhood

‘I need the names and addresses of everyone going.”

Being the sheltered kid among your friends was one of the most frustrating things you could endure as a child.

FRIGHTEN OUR DAUGHTER

And it was even more traumatising if this sheltered phase continued into your teenage years.

Sure look, that was when it stopped being a phase and started being a way of life.

THIS SI MY LIFE

Not only did it mean you were massively restricted in what you could and couldn’t do outside of school hours, but it also meant so many jokes and references went completely over your head.

And this, in turn, meant you existed in a limbo land when all your friends were living their best life and you were watching from the sidelines.

We mean, what a time to be alive.

Here are just a few things you’ll recognise from a life spent living under your parents’ thumb.

1. You had a curfew that you were forced to adhere to, no matter what.

There were no ifs, ands or buts on this one, so you didn’t waste your breath arguing with your parents every Friday night.

You just waved your mates adieu approximately an hour before they were gonna mosey home, and prayed that you didn’t miss out on too much.

rying goodbye

2. You weren’t allowed to go anywhere without your parents looking into every detail of the event.

No matter how much information you provided, it was never enough.

You gave and you gave and you gave, and still they needed a revised list of everyone attending.

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3. You didn’t get half the jokes that were thrown about in class.

Like, pretty much everything went over your head.

And you lived in fear of the moment you would be desperately laughing along and then be forced to explain the punchline.

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4. Your parents were always the ones who called other parents.

And sometimes they even walked you to the doorstep.

It would take some serious persuading to get them to stay in the car and not check in quickly with the owners of the property.

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5. When your parents weren’t around, your older sibling was forced into the role.

And because they endured the same hardship in their day, they often loosened the leash somewhat.

But not too much, because that litany of rules cast a long shadow.

PastedImage-13602 KaitlynGoolsb / Twitter KaitlynGoolsb / Twitter / Twitter

6. You didn’t get to watch a lot of the shows your classmates got to watch.

If you wanted to have any idea what anyone was talking about in school, you needed to watch these shows around at a mate’s house, and get your mates to fill you in when a viewing couldn’t be scheduled.

7. You never owned a CD with a Parental Advisory sticker on it.

In the early noughties, you were no one if you didn’t have a few CDs with ‘explicit lyrics’ stickers kicking around.

But the chance of you getting your hands on one was slim to none, and you knew it.

8. Some music videos were out of bounds if your parents were in the house.

Like CDs,  you knew certain music videos just weren’t going to fly if your parents were in the room.

And to be fair, you had no intention of watching them with your parents present, anyway.

PastedImage-90136 Saxy_Enginerd / Twitter Saxy_Enginerd / Twitter / Twitter

9. The idea of seeing a film before you reached the age rating was absolutely unheard of.

Obviously, you’d see 15 or 18 films when you were hanging around your friends’ houses, but there wasn’t a hope in hell of you getting permission to go to the cinema to see one.

And that’s why the vast majority of your cinema visits were built on a web of lies.


10. Teen magazines caused ructions in your house if they were ever left open on the Problem Page.

Teen magazines were a minefield because one page might be showing you how to create a face mask out of egg white and lemon juice, and another page might be detailing a teen’s fling with her mother’s boyfriend.

And you could never be sure which one your parents would land upon while looking for something to line the cat’s litter tray with.

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11. You were routinely forced to lie to your parents despite knowing you would never get away with it.

Peer pressure was the bane of everyone’s life as a teen, but none more so than that of a sheltered teen.

People just didn’t get the way your parents operated, and honestly you knew that the repercussions of lying would never have been worth the effort in the first place.

That didn’t stop you trying though.

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12. You swore you’d give your own children more freedom.

There was no way they were going to endure the same.

But ah hell, they probably will.

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