What is that thing you always wanted as a kid but your parents never let you have?

Horseback riding lessons.

A trip to the cinema.
A piano.
Piano lessons.

No doubt many things, but that was so long ago now that I can’t remember a one.

I’ll tell you this, though. My son wants some kind of fancy Samsung Galaxy Nexus and he is not getting that from us.

A sleeping bag. Get this. My parents were well off. Upper middle class. The first couple of years I was sent to Girl Scout camp my mom made me put together a bedroll. That’s just putting sheets and blankets together and rolling them up. It was horrible in the middle of the night. Everything would get all twisted up. I have never figured out why she did that.
A couple of years later she picked up sleeping bags at garage sale.

We DID get Sea Monkeys though, so neener, neener, neener!!!~!!! We got all kinds of crap at souvenir stores on our yearly family vacation. :)

My kids never got video games from me. I outlawed them in my house. Then my Mom picked up a working game at a garage sale for my son. She knew I didn’t allow video games. Pissed me off.

I refused to buy my kids those Power Wheels motorized cars to ride on. I told them they were only allowed kid powered riding toys. They have yet to forgive me for that!

Dance lessons. The only dance studio in town had only tap dancing and Mom didn’t like Shirley Temple. It didn’t help that, when I was 5, I called myself Shirley Temple “Smith”.

playing sports. until highschool, when i could arrange it all for myself, i couldn’t play sports. sucks too. in 8th grade i got the presidential physical fitness award, and my coach was very excited to welcome me to the baseball team too.

my mom said she couldn’t take me to the games and everything else that was involved with it. another mom said i can go with her and her kid (my best friend who’s house i spent many a night over, so trust wasn’t an issue). my mom said no, it isn’t someone else’s responsibility. i think she didn’t allow it b/c she felt guilty she “couldn’t do it” herself.

Oh….In 8th grade I wanted to join a softball team. Mom said No. To this day I don’t know why. They practiced just a few blocks from me.
My Junior year I wanted to try out for the volleyball team. I did, didn’t tell Mom. I was accepted and I played.

@SuperMouse LOL! When my son was two, we were all outside. I was doing yard work. I looked around doing a spot check of the kids. He was standing on the seat of his kid powered Power Wheels, reeeeeaaaaching for the latch to the gate to the back yard. It’s like a movie in my head. I hear a very deep, slo-mo “NOOOOOOOOOOO” and I started to run. It was like in molasses. I saw the whole thing. Power Wheels went out, Chris went down…it was the first time he got stitches in his chin. Between then, and the time he was 6, he managed to get stitches in his chin every single year.

The last time I will NEVER forget this little bitty six year old, lost on that big long gurney, looking up at the doctor with fire in his eyes and saying (he had a lisp) in NO uncertain terms, “I don’t want sthithches. I want Stherie Sthrips.” The doc looked at me, I shrugged, like, “Well, sounds like you’re gonna get beat up if you try to put stitches in!” so Stherie Sthrips it was. :) Doc was cool. After that I bought my own Stherie Sthrips, and my own iodine (it makes them stick better.) Chris still has yet to grow a great beard! But, then again, he has a good infusion of Asian blood in him. That might be part of it. :)

A water gun! I understood not being allowed to have the ones that looked like guns, but we couldn’t have ones that didn’t look like guns either just because of the association with guns. It wasn’t until our summer camp had a scheduled water gun fight that we would not have been able to participate in that our parents finally broke down and got us some. Even then, they went out and found the least gun-like water guns out there, even though they were much more expensive.

But mostly, I wanted to be able to participate in more than one activity. When we were little, we were each allowed to choose only one activity. There were three of us, so I understand where my parents were coming from, but I made a lot of sacrifices in order to try new things. I loved dance when I was little, but I wanted to try gymnastics, so I had to quit dance; Then I wanted to do Girl Scouts so I quit gymnastics; Then I wanted to try soccer, so I quit Girl Scouts; Then I wanted to try basketball, so I quit soccer; and so on. As it turns out, dance is the only one of those things that I loved, and I think I would still be dancing today had I not been given that ultimatum.

That had to have been the 80’s @Fly. We new parents were rabid about ALL KINDS of silly stuff! I wouldn’t let my kids watch “Scooby Doo.” Or the “Smurfs.” I’m sorry. Hey..I have two Super Soakers on my back deck….cost $20 each…that you can borrow any time!

@Dutchess_III Nope, it was the 90s. @augustlan just has a big problem with guns. And TV, actually- my TV-watching was very restricted, and I wasn’t allowed to watch Spongebob until I was seven!

LOL! GO AUGGIE! Man…I would hate to have a Fluther moderator as a mom! T’would just suck. :)

A trampoline.

Wait! It just hit me! OMG!! Auggie…I did NOT just offer your daughter free and unlimited use of my super powered water gun!! It wasn’t me!! Really. It wasn’t. It was @MilkyWay. Really.

@bkcunningham Totally understandable, that.

I agree with @Fly about the more than one activity thing. I was a Girl Scout and wanted to dance, so I quit Girl Scouts. And you know what? I wasn’t even put in dance classes at first! They put me in gymnastics instead, saying it was basically the same thing. It is not the same thing. I quit gymnastics and was finally put in dance classes.

And a trampoline, I’ve always wanted a trampoline. My dad always says no though.

Totally understandable that ^^^^

A Ferret.
A vocal coach.
Piano lessons.

A dog. Always. Which I never can understand considaring I was willing to walk it, feed it, and pay for the vet and food bills, (yes I did have a job). Both my parents liked dogs too. And I promised to get one from the animal shelter that didn’t shed. We had plenty of space. Still to this day I don’t understand why my parents said no. They never gave me a single reason that I didn’t find a simple solution for that they could agree to.

@15acrabm How old were you at the time?

I always wanted a horse. I once said to my parents “If I can’t have a horse for Christmas, I don’t want anything!” – So that’s what I got – NOTHING. I got a lot of extra presents for my birthday four weeks later.

I got a horse. AND Sea Monkeys! I was spoiled rotten. Except for the sleeping bag. And the softball. Neither of which I understand to this day. As a kid I’d always tell myself “I’ll figure this out when I get older.” Some stuff I did. Some I didn’t.

I wanted a horse, but since we lived in the city of Dallas – my request was totally impractical. However, I did do a lot of babysitting when I was a young teen & there was a riding stable within walking distance, so whenever I could afford it, I did ride.

A loving family and a normal life.

@talljasperman I hope we approximate. XXOOXXOO (((( hug ))))

A little sister.

I’m the baby of six so I understand why I never got what I wanted, but I didn’t understand then.

A pet tiger.

A working pancreas!

A pet…I love animals, but we were never allowed to have a pet.

A rocket launcher.

Meat.

Going to rock and roll concerts. I was NEVER allowed, not even after my 16th birthday. My husband thinks I am some sort of troglodite because by the time he was 21 he had pretty much seen every one of his favorite bands or artists. I still haven’t seen Sting in concert and he was in Oslo this past weekend, and about 8 years ago, I was given tickets to see him in concert but he cancelled. Cursed for concerts.

When I lived with my mum I had to be without a dog. I had become used to living with dogs as a young child when my parents were still together but when they split up my mum wouldn’t let me have one. I was miserable without a dog and, eventually, after 8 years my mum realised this and gave in. Now she loves my dogs nearly as much as I do.

Rare: a pony. Most families in our canyon had horses and/ponies so I didn’t think it was outrageous to also want my own. It was only later in age I realized most kids never get a pony ride much less their own beast.

Pushing it: a BB Gun. My parents were anti-gun but my grandparents got me one.

Weird: Violin lessons. My parents said the Violin was elitist and so I was given guitar lessons for hippie folk music instead. All my friends either played classical instruments or took ballet so I felt pushed out of the little group. Most other parents thought my parents were a bit ridiculous at the time.

Common: A Big Wheel pedal tricycle thing. I don’t think they were expensive but my parents wouldn’t let me have one and I remember crying about it. Now that I think it over, they probably thought I’d be hit by a car.

Super Cool: Tonka had the Mighty Mo Dump Truck that you’d rev up on the floor, let it go and it would run a bit on it’s own. I’m pretty sure my mother knew I’d have it chase her cats and that’s why I wasn’t allowed.

I wanted spider monkey. It’s pretty funny now, but at time, as child, I was furious. I want a monkey! Why won’t you horrible people (my parents) let me have a monkey?!?! :-)

@lillycoyote: Some adults keep monkeys for fun little toys (or “vanity pets,” some call them) and I think it’s pretty messed up…

Oh god, I wish I hadn’t clicked on your link. They were selling them in Florida, no less :-/

@lillycoyote ROFL!!!

I did have alot of freedom as a kid, in the sense that I could roam almost anywhere that I wanted, but yet they (parents) were always overprotective of me when it came to things such as quads, weapons (even pellet guns), bikes, etc. I had to ride my friends bikes since I was never allowed to have one as a kid. I had to not only be very creative as a kid, but I usually had to work for many of my possessions too.

I got my first bike at 5. On Christmas. It was a BIG bike. A grown up bike. It was Dad’s idea. I learned to ride on that bike. It was taller than I was. Mom used to tell me that she just shook her head, watching little me riding that great big bike. All I remember was peddling like hell, then jumping on the pedals to get into the seat and coasting and looking around, then jumping back on the pedals to get my momentum going again (obviously it was a “girl’s” bike, with the support bar running down and under, rather than straight across.) I never really thought about this before! But that was my first bike! My bikes got smaller as I got older. Banana seats, chopper handle bars.