What is your favorite childhood memory ?

yourdeadwright

I had a wonderful childhood we didn't have much , we didn't even have a car until i was 16 , no holidays abroad till 16 either, but my parents sacrificed everything to move to a nice area & get us out of Dublin city centre , Im forever thankful to them

In the early 90's as a young teen myself & my friends would head out & god knows what we'd get up , down the beach, abandoned mansion , golf course ,Corn fields , who knows, such freedom something i'll never experience again in my life, I'm not even sure kids of today get it,

Building bonfires in October, was another brilliant time of year,

Getting shots on the older lads scramblers ,

Going ot bed excited about what adventure lied ahead tomorrow,

Summer holidays in Dingle & Galway with the extended family where unreal ,

Both my folks have dementia now & some times all that seems like a lifetime ago, like did it even happen ,

I'll forever be in debt to them & now i just want to give my own kids them brilliant memories we had,

BlackEdelweiss

My father lighting a Major in the car when we were in the back seat. The smell was like something from heaven. I used to sit up between the front seats and inhale deeply through my nose to get a good sniff of it. Bliss! It was only that first puff when he lit it. The nausea probably set in after that, which was probably settled by a good 5 minutes of inhaling the cool, smooth fumes!

JupiterKid

I had a very happy childhood growing up in suburban Dublin in the 1980s - my late father was a self-made man who worked very hard to give my mother, sisters and myself the things and comforts that he didn't have as a boy.

Endless Summer days on the BMX bike with my mates going around the area exploring, visiting abandoned houses etc. A mini-adventure much of the time! 🚲

Holidays on our boat on the Shannon and a much slower, different pace of life back then compared to today. The occasional holiday abroad in the sun.

No social media and no mobile phones. Over the Summer holliers my mum would say "it's a great day outside there, out you get 'til dinner time." Lots of freedom.

I was aware that things were very, very grim back then on the economic front from the news on TV in the evenings (yes, Anne Doyle and Eileen Dunne were reading the news back then 😁) - factories closing down every day, mass unemployment, mass emigration - but for a boy who was pretty much shielded from that and really wanted for nothing, it was pretty close to an idyllic childhood. 👍👍😊

toggle toes

When my kids started going to discos I would not sleep a wink until I heard the key turn in the front door. When I look back I thank God they got home safe. I would like to think things have changed but if anything things have gotten worse.

I can't imagine the worry parents go through when their kids hit the teenage years and start going to discos and partying. Different times unfortunately. A far cry from when my brothers, sisters and I were able to go to a disco in the 70's and 80's and feel safe walking home alone at 2.00am in the morning.

They really were innocent times that we may never see again unless today's society changes which is something I can't see happening in the immediate future.

Cluedo Monopoly

When I think of my childhood, I immediately think of the local river. I spent so much time down there with friends - swimming, jumping off a bridge, running the rapids on tyre tubes, fishing, camping, chatting, bonfires or simply walking the bank for miles. Bliss. Whenever I am home, I always pop down to the river for a look. Nothing has changed. I told my wife I want my ashes scattered in 2 spots on the river.

cj maxx

Playing 45 and drinking ginger ‘wine ‘ at Christmas. I still keep a ginger drink in the car. And 45 is still the best card game.!

cj maxx

Also bringing bales of hay out to calves out wintered with my brand new cassette walkman

listening to this

https://youtu.be/lDK9QqIzhwk

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120890728#Comment_120890728

Me too . Growing up in the 80’s on what used to be a farm I went whole hog into it , while my brothers and sister were embarrassed. I caught rabbits that we lived on and brought fruit back to mammy to make tarts . I went to , and loved, the bog where we kept the house warm during the winter . Good and innocent times , then the celtic tiger roared and the ones who were embarrassed about where they came from suddenly developed an interest in sites etc

scudzilla

If 16/17 is considered childhood then my greatest memory is riding 16/17yr old girls.....i just cant get away with that now

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120891779#Comment_120891779

Yep, similar. Magical times.

SuperBowserWorld

I remember a first heavy snow and school was off for 2 weeks. Early eighties. Think we were about 10 at the time.

We went to a local hill to slide down snow for the first time on plastic bags, and then better, plastic bags files with snow, and then somone made a sled that wasn't as good as the plastic bags and the big lads arrived with car bonnets to slide down on and the whole hill was full of people.

I'm not sure how people were not killed by the car bonnets. And then someone actually arrived with skis ... which noone had ever seen before. No plastic rain gear, maybe plastic bags to keep the snow out of your wellington boots. Totally frozen and cold, but did t even notice.

We got a few days out of that and then it all turned to brown slush and we had to go back to school.

SuperBowserWorld

Primary school summer holidays. Out all day messing about on borrowed bikes and going to the river/stream every day to paddle, swim, fish for stickleback (pinkeens) /minnows/lamprays/ .. with a few dogs and even some cats to follow us sometimes. Bring a picnic with food. Sometimes our mothers would come with us. We were never bored or unhappy. Sometimes we'd go to the river in the evening, and the whole place would be packed if the weather was right. Just the happiest times.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120892069#Comment_120892069

Classic. We had the same name for the little fish - sticklebacks, pinkeens, minnows and even Jarr-ogs.

We had this old heavy frying plan and we'd light a fire and throw in some butter and sausages. When the sausages were "cooked", we'd dump a can of beans into the pan and simmer for a while. We'd gulp it all down with heavily buttered white bread. Heavenly. Then we'd throw the pan into the river rapids for a thorough clean.

toggle toes

Playing marbles. There was only one shop in our town who sold marbles. I would do some chores for my gran father enough to be able to buy a bag of marbles. The coloured marbles were the ones that were worth the most.

Three was only one coloured marble in one bag so they were pretty rear. Sometimes I would offer a friend four or five marbles for a coloured one to add to my collection. Great fun was had all round.

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120891956#Comment_120891956

I think the best childhoods are ones with freedom & sheer adventure, We only moved to North county Dublin but it had so much space & freedom at your front door it was amazing ,

I'm back in towards the City now with my own family but even with my own kids i try my best to make weekends full of outdoors's & exploring ,beeches, woods, fields , there's just more sense of adventure & freedom to it all.

Hyperbollix

My abiding childhood memory is endless games of football in my aunt's garden in the summers of the mid 90's with my cousin and two guys who lived locally.

Over the space of 3 or 4 years we all went from innocent kids playing games, climbing trees and exploring in the local woods, to drinking in those woods and having our first kiss (not with each other, I might add!) to eventually hitting 17/18 and the inevitable closing of that chapter of our lives.

It was idyllic in many ways. Rural/small town Ireland of the 1990s. We didnt have much, but we had freedom. No phones, no internet, we were so innocent compared to todays kid's. Wouldn't change anything about it.

cj maxx

^^^^^

remided me of birthday parties with my neighbours ( and best friends ) with cheap light footballs . And queue our collie bursting it 😀 . There was no big party , just a cake and rice krispie buns . Then out to play.

kerryjack

Simple life in west Kerry in 70s and 80s helping the father on the small farm staying up late with the mother and father if they was a cow ready to have a calf and the sheer excitement of it all. How important that little farm was to them and the joy they got out of it back than. Yet looking back they had so little but they were so happy and proud of there lot.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120901553#Comment_120901553

Alot of people , me included , get as much joy out of farming land and seeing it being productive. Its worth it to pass on something better than you received . If that makes sense.

dartboardio

When my grandparents used to take the family down to a tiny village in Kerry every Summer for two weeks. I had no siblings so my cousin was my bestfriend, both mad as hatters. Getting our wellies on and going to explore the local fields, the smell of the countryside, making grandad drive us down to the shop to buy sweets and hide them in our bedrooms.

Playing 'Shop' in my grandmothers kitchen on New Years Eve, around 7/8 years old. We were allowed to stay up late for the first time ever, we had an ironing board laid out in the kitchen with all the Christmas sweets and we were pretending it was our little shop.

The smell of my grandmothers 'old lady' perfume, the safety and sense of security and love I felt and still do feel in her presence. She used to take me on a 'granny day' into town; basically meant going to get cake, hot chocolate and her spoiling me for the day. :')

Happy memories playing 'I spy with my little eye' with granny as she washed me and combed my hair in the bath.

Calling up to my grandmothers neighbors house 'to say hello' , which really meant every single time she would act surprised that we were there, take us into her kitchen and let us dig into her sweetie press, she always had little ready made bags of jellies, crisps and lollipops to hand out to us

Loafing Oaf

Probably reading Lord of the Rings at 10/11

Hotblack Desiato

Spending endless hours a week doing mind numbing crap like Irish and religion class and being made go to mass.

Teachers that were complete pricks, most of them violent thugs too, thought nothing of whacking the **** out of kids half their size.

Not being allowed to do pretty much anything.

Never having any money.

Couldn't wait for it to be over.

toggle toes

I Remeber learning how to ride a bike for the first time. I was 11 years old and I didn't have a bike. My best friend had a blue rally chopper and he thought me. I had plenty of cuts and bruises after falling off a number of times. My mom used to put the antiseptic lotion TCP on the cuts to try help heal them. By did it sting.

Dramatik

One of my friends 10th or 11th birthday party, we did the usual and went to see something in the cinema. Afterwards we went to his mother's car in the carpark, she opened all the car doors, then turned on the car headlights and finally she lashed on "the prodigy - experience" album at full blast and we danced our socks off.

Good times... simple times...

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120901606#Comment_120901606

I used to call up to my elderly neighbours, once i got by their son’s house and his collie who’d chase after me on my bike. Then probably go round to my batchelor ? neighbours and their crazy ( probably alzimers) mother . Especially when school would give us fund raising draws, lines to sell . The batchlors would buy lines but not put their name for religious reasons

toggle toes

One of my many fond memories was back in the 70s. I come from a family of eight. Three more brothers and four sisters. Some of you may remember when the pubs used to close at 3.00pm on a Sunday. Well my dad and my grandad used to go for a pint after mass.

At 3.00pm my seven siblings and i would meet them outside the pub and they would give each of us 50p which was a lot back then. Out of the 50p we would go to our local cinema to watch the Sunday matinee which would be a John Wayne movie or a Laurel and Hardy movie

The movie cost 30p and out of the 20p I would buy a bag of Taytos which cost 10p and some hard boiled sweets such as my favorite lemon sherbets. Those were some of my childhood memories I will never forget.

Hotblack Desiato

I remember when 50p seemed like a lot of money.

Taytos were 10p so that's what, late 70s?

Seems mad that you could see a film for the price of 3 bags of crisps. I've no idea what it cost in Dublin then but presumably a lot more than that.

BTW that post above of mine is pretty negative, it wasn't all bad... but I could never grow up fast enough, more freedom and less BS...

toggle toes

I don't agree that the post above your's is negative. I's a positive memory from the late 70's but having said that I do respect your opinion.

Riddle101

Holidays mostly, going to Florida with my family and visiting all the theme parks in Orlando, and doing the same in Los Angeles.

I also remember playing with toy soldiers a lot as a kid, the little green plastic army men that used to be sold in the toy section of most newsagents and toy stores.

Watching cartoons like Pokemon, Spider-Man and Hey Arnold.

toggle toes

I remember playing toy soilders but also playing cowboys and indians. I had the cowboy hat 🤠 the gun and holster with the red paper caps that made a loud bang when you pulled the trigger. We made our own fun back then.