As a kid I was jealous of my friends because they had...

[PsYcNeT]

We did pretty decent until my dad went bankrupt, so mostly I had all the stuff people wanted.

I did hang out with some kids from school who lived in Pump Hill that had a zipline in their backyard, that #### was bonkers.

[VladtheImpaler]

I was always jealous of kids whose parents knew how to drive. Being driven anywhere by my father was always embarrassing and dangerous.






By the time I was 35, I had no choice but to get a DL.

[timun]

Originally Posted by ben voyonsdonc

I never had as nice of a house as my friends.

My friends also would get ski passes and would go out to the mountains as a group regularly and that wasn’t an option for me.

Skiing wasn't something I was jealous of, but it made young me cognizant of how much less money my parents had than most of my friends'. I never learned to ski; I tried precisely once, when I was 21. People can't reconcile it when I tell them I was born here and my family had been here >100 years. "You're the most Calgarian Calgarian I know, and you DON'T ski?!"

Nope! I don't golf either, never enjoyed it!

I don't know how much I really missed out on; I suppose I'm "paying for it" as an adult, as lots of friends go skiing in the winter and I obviously don't get included.

[activeStick]

Sort of on the flip side, things that my parents always encouraged and would pay for that I hated at the time but appreciate now were anything that had to do with education, health and the arts. Would have much rather have had other things at the time than a piano, swimming and arts lessons at the Village Square Leisure Centre but I really appreciate it now especially considering how little money they had back then. Heck, even the World Book Encyclopedia they got me I feel now really helped give me the appetite I have to learn.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by timun

Skiing wasn't something I was jealous of, but it made young me cognizant of how much less money my parents had than most of my friends'. I never learned to ski; I tried precisely once, when I was 21. People can't reconcile it when I tell them I was born here and my family had been here >100 years. "You're the most Calgarian Calgarian I know, and you DON'T ski?!"

Nope! I don't golf either, never enjoyed it!

I don't know how much I really missed out on; I suppose I'm "paying for it" as an adult, as lots of friends go skiing in the winter and I obviously don't get included.

Went through the same thing. Grew up in Kelowna, never learned how to ski, didn’t go camping, didn’t have a boat. The only thing is at least learned to swim at a relatively young age without lessons.

Our elementary school even did outings to Big White for a week each winter and almost all of the kids (and teachers) except me and a few others went. I wasn’t too upset at the time because we didn’t have to do anything at the school. We took a stab at skiing in later life, but never really enjoyed it. It was more to get our kids into it so they wouldn’t be too socially awkward later in life.

[edn88]

The only thing I can remember is one family had an Intellivision another had a Colecovision.

[Mickey76]

We didn’t have much money but most my friends didn’t either so never felt I missed out on much as far as stuff goes, but the one great disappointment from my childhood is we could never afford to play organized hockey. I wanted to play so bad and we just couldn’t afford it. I remember asking my dad again after the flames beat the oilers in 86 when I was 10 if I could play next year, and he could tell how much I wanted to so he said he would look into it. I was so hopeful but then he called a friend who had 2 kids in hockey and asked him to ballpark what it cost and he said it was just too much. Still hate all the kids who played. Lol.

[Sylvanfan]

Friend of mine had a lot of Star Wars Action figures from the Empire Strikes Back era to Return of the Jedi. He had the Millenium Falcon plus the Darth Vader Action figure holder. His family wasn't poor but they were not that wealthy either, so he took really good care of his stuff. We didn't play with his stuff when we went to his house, we just looked at it. Needless to say no one ever wanted to go to his house and play. Someone hid his Boba Fett Action figure and he literally combed every square inch of the neighbourhood unti he found it someone's stack of fire wood.

Four years ago he sold this collection of stuff for like $2000 because it was in such good condition. I told him he should keep it because in another 15 years it might be worth more when a lot of it is 50 years old and still hardly used.

[calgarywinning]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Friend of mine had a lot of Star Wars Action figures from the Empire Strikes Back era to Return of the Jedi. He had the Millenium Falcon plus the Darth Vader Action figure holder. His family wasn't poor but they were not that wealthy either, so he took really good care of his stuff. We didn't play with his stuff when we went to his house, we just looked at it. Needless to say no one ever wanted to go to his house and play. Someone hid his Boba Fett Action figure and he literally combed every square inch of the neighbourhood unti he found it someone's stack of fire wood.

Four years ago he sold this collection of stuff for like $2000 because it was in such good condition. I told him he should keep it because in another 15 years it might be worth more when a lot of it is 50 years old and still hardly used.

This is the way.

[timun]

Originally Posted by bagofpucks

TMNT blimp has been mentioned, but I was also super jealous of the kid that had the TMNT technodrome too. I had the pizza thrower, which was pretty cool, but not on the same level.

I had the Technodrome...

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

We did pretty decent until my dad went bankrupt, so mostly I had all the stuff people wanted.

I did hang out with some kids from school who lived in Pump Hill that had a zipline in their backyard, that #### was bonkers.

Funny you say that. When I was 8 my family moved to Pumphill. My parents were immigrants with no money and saved everything to buy that house and get a mortgage at 18%. As a result, we were house poor for years and had to cut back on everything else. When kids at school found out where I lived I got a lot of "oooh Pumphill, you must be rich" meanwhile they had better clothes, toys, lunch, etc. To make things worse, naturally I made friends with the neighborhood kids and they had the best of everything and as a result I was jealous of almost everything. After about 5 years, my parents dug themselves out of house debt hell and had the means to provide other stuff but by that point the allure of having lots of crap was gone and I turned out to be very frugal even as a teenager.

[The Yen Man]

My parents were typical Asian immigrants that owned a mom and pop office cafe for 25 years. They used to never take any days off, pretty much open Mon-Fri, and then Sat-Sun was used to for prep work and stocking. I used to be real jealous of teens that didn't have to spend their Saturdays stocking pop or wiping tables.

What I was really jealous of were kids travelling outside the country. The first time I was ever on a plane was when I was 15, and that was a trip to BC. My parents never took any vacation to leave Canada until they sold the restaurant, so I never actually left the country until I was an adult and could travel on my own.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Mickey76

We didn’t have much money but most my friends didn’t either so never felt I missed out on much as far as stuff goes, but the one great disappointment from my childhood is we could never afford to play organized hockey. I wanted to play so bad and we just couldn’t afford it. I remember asking my dad again after the flames beat the oilers in 86 when I was 10 if I could play next year, and he could tell how much I wanted to so he said he would look into it. I was so hopeful but then he called a friend who had 2 kids in hockey and asked him to ballpark what it cost and he said it was just too much. Still hate all the kids who played. Lol.

Ditto.

"We have no money....so you're going to play Soccer....because its cheap like Borscht!"

Now...I love Soccer, but I also love Hockey, but I can barely skate. The boards are how I stop.

I often hear the comment "What? A Canadian who cant skate? Absurd!"

It is my great shame.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

My parents were typical Asian immigrants that owned a mom and pop office cafe for 25 years. They used to never take any days off, pretty much open Mon-Fri, and then Sat-Sun was used to for prep work and stocking. I used to be real jealous of teens that didn't have to spend their Saturdays stocking pop or wiping tables.

What I was really jealous of were kids travelling outside the country. The first time I was ever on a plane was when I was 15, and that was a trip to BC. My parents never took any vacation to leave Canada until they sold the restaurant, so I never actually left the country until I was an adult and could travel on my own.

This! The Restaurant business is the worst for kids. My dad owned several and worked 7 days a week and his belief was that I should be working when I wasn't at school. We never went anywhere because my dad wouldn't trust anyone to watch over the businesses and I missed a tonne of normal kids activities growing up because I was busing tables, doing dishes, making pizza boxes, etc from the age of 10 until graduation.

[CMPunk]

Originally Posted by Locke

Ditto.

"We have no money....so you're going to play Soccer....because its cheap like Borscht!"

Now...I love Soccer, but I also love Hockey, but I can barely skate. The boards are how I stop.

I often hear the comment "What? A Canadian who cant skate? Absurd!"

It is my great shame.

That explains all the "coaching" you did at the Heckles

[Locke]

Originally Posted by CMPunk

That explains all the "coaching" you did at the Heckles

Yes it does. I was very clear at the Heckles....I wanted to participate but I cant skate. With people who play hockey regularly? Oh man...that would have been a disaster.

[OldDutch]

I think not skiing or playing hockey put you in the middle class experience. With Calgary I found the upper middles did these things, but I feel we were right at the line of too expensive so nope.

My first ski experience was grade 5 school trip to Wintergreen. I can still remember it. I loved everything about it. Then it was only school trips or rentals with saved allowance until I got a job at 15 and bought my own.

I played basketball, soccer and baseball. Because equipment was so cheap.

That said, I was happy growing up. After a while you just learned Mexico trips and Ski trips are what rich kids do. I had a bed and food and clothes and Fish Creek. It ended up ok.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Locke

Ditto.

"We have no money....so you're going to play Soccer....because its cheap like Borscht!"

Now...I love Soccer, but I also love Hockey, but I can barely skate. The boards are how I stop.

I often hear the comment "What? A Canadian who cant skate? Absurd!"

It is my great shame.

same here for affordable sports. played soccer. back in the day when you didn't need to wear cleats or have shin pads.

and the winter sport I was put in was basketball. all I needed was a pair of shoes.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

I was always jealous of kids whose parents knew how to drive. Being driven anywhere by my father was always embarrassing and dangerous.






By the time I was 35, I had no choice but to get a DL.

I am pretty much the first person in my immediate family to drive, mind you not having a car isnt as rare in London

[krynski]

The thing that I wished I had the most was current clothes.

I was a product of my Mom's second marriage (or litter of children), which were considerably spaced apart. When I was 7, my dad took off and moved to Europe. It was only my sister and I in the second litter, and my sister got new things because there were no girls in the first litter. I wound up with hand-me-downs from my brothers that were from the 70's and was wearing them in the 90's. I remember wearing a pair of cordoroys in the early 2000's.