Over the coming weeks I’m going to be sharing some childhood memories from other bloggers. I don’t know you but I love reminiscing about my childhood, talking about the toys I used to play with and looking at old photos.
Before I start sharing the responses I’ve been collecting from other bloggers I thought it was only right that I share my memories with you too.
Which decade were you born in?
I was born in the late ’70s.
What is your earliest memory? How old were you?
This is difficult because I think a lot of my early memories actually come from having seen photographs. (On a side note, I wonder if this will be different for our kids because there are so many photographs of almost every moment of their lives?) However, we went on holiday to Sweden when I was two and I definitely have memories of that holiday that don’t come from photos. I remember the campsite we were staying on had a brick wall at the bottom with a wooden door that went to beach. And I remember dropping my apple in the sand and my dad telling me to rinse it in the sea – I thought salty apple was very tasty and kept dipping my apple before taking a bite!
I actually remember the day before this picture was taken too. My mum had commented she should have had my fringe cut for the play group photographs the next day so I took myself off to her bedroom and had a go myself with the nail scissors and I remember doing it and thinking she would be so pleased!
What was your favourite toy at 5 years old? At 10?
At 5 I had a soft toy panda that I got from London Zoo – he was wearing a little red bow tie and so had the imaginative name ‘Little Bow Tie’. I think I was just starting to get into Care Bears then and they were a big favourite for a long time. I collected all the pose-able figures, even the Care Bear Cousins. At 10 I loved playing outside on my bike or my roller boots. I think it was probably a prime age for Lego too – my brother and I had a massive bucket full of Lego that we played with all the time.
Do you still have any toys from your childhood?
I still have all my Care Bears and have just got them back out of the loft for Toby to play with. I’ve got a little knitted teddy (Little Ted) that was given to my mum for me before I was born, and I think there are still quite a few other soft toys in my parents’ loft too.
Who was your favourite pop group/artist as a teenager?
In my early teenage years I loved cheesy pop – Kylie and Jason, New Kids on the Block, Bad Boys Inc, and a bit later Take That (Mark was my favourite – still is!). I remember going to the Smash Hits Poll Awards Tour when I was 14 or 15 and saw Ant & Dec and loads of other pop acts from the time – it wasn’t cool but I loved it!
What was your favourite TV show(s)?
We were only ever allowed to watch the BBC (I think so we didn’t pester my parents for things we’d seen on adverts!) – when I was younger I loved Play School, Blue Peter, and cartoons like Mr Benn and King Rolo. As a teenager it was all about Byker Grove and Grange Hill. Oh and Neighbours!
What was the first film you remember seeing at the cinema?
I went to see Transformers: The Movie at the cinema with my brother when it came out in 1986 so I would have been 8 at the time and he was 10. He convinced me to go by telling me I’d like it because there was a girl Transformer in it! My dad took us and then I think sat outside in the car while we watched the film.
Do you have any dodgy haircut/ outfit memories that you’d rather forget?
Oh my, so many! When I was 10 I really wanted a perm but my mum wouldn’t let me so we compromised with a straight bob and permed fringe!
The full perm came a year later, and was a proper poodle perm. And look at those glasses!
And as a teenager in the early 1990s I made some horrendous fashion choices – super baggy joggers, shell suits, purple jeans, hi-tops with the tongues stuck out…I wore it all. I’m very glad there aren’t too many photos around from that era! There is this one though – taken on holiday in Holland when I kept being mistaken for a boy…
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Honestly? I really didn’t know. I did a lot of dancing all through my childhood and for a while I had dreams of being a professional dancer but I was never the right shape. And I had a vague idea that I might like to be a teacher – which is what I eventually trained to do, but not until I was 32.
If you could go back to being a child again what age would you choose and why?
I think I would go back to being 9 or 10. I loved primary school, I was in Brownies, I went to lots of dance classes, it was before I started worrying about what I looked like, or what other people thought of me and basically I just had a lot of fun.
So that’s it from me for this week – come back next week when another blogger will be remembering their childhood.
