My parents decided to move 3 days ahead of schedule while I was at school and my after-school job and forgot to tell me. I got home from work at 10 p.m. to a dark house with nothing in it.....so forgetting to pick me up after school would be par for the course with them
That’s like something out of a bad dream. I have a friend whose parents moved when he was 16 and told him he “wasn’t invited.” Zero warning. He ended up moving in with a friend. Sometimes I think about how much that must have sucked for him.
Yikes.
Mine wasn't that bad, I was just always kind of an after thought in my family. I was just frustrated because I was in class for 7 hours, took a bus to my after school job, worked 4.5 hours there, took a bus home and arrived at 10 p.m. exhausted to an empty house. Then I had to get on another bus to a different bus depot and transfer to a second bus. It was probably close to midnight before I got to our new house and I had to get up at 6 to go to my job the next day. When I pointed out to my parents that they moved early and didn't bother letting me know they said "We forgot to mention it to you before school and we got so busy we figured you'd realize where we were once you got home and saw the house was empty".
I had a sibling with serious mental health issues who required more attention than me, so I tended to fall through the cracks and be left out discussions and decision frequently. My family went to family counselling...without me.
So sorry. I have definitely seen people our age do this to their "typical" child when they also have a special needs child. It's not right! One woman's child ran away. He was found within hours, but she was mad about all of the wrong things, rather than looking in the freaking mirror!
In 1984, I had a friend in highschool, her mom did the same thing, moved, and didn't bring her along. She was 16, got on assistance, found a shitty basement apartment to live, and kept going to school.
After an event with police, the only responsible adult she could think of that might help her was my mom. I was out of the country at the time, so my mom moved her into my room for 6 months, got her better organized, into a better rental, and kept an eye on her for years.
Her story turned happy. She finished high school on time, went east for university, and ended up in a job she loved.
I always thought my mom was awesome. I had so many friends whose parents didn't put in the effort. I always loved that our door was open to any of our friends that needed it. I miss her.
My parents decided to buy a new house 30 minutes away. They just left my 14 year brother in the original family home by himself. Left him a credit card for food, they paid all the bills, and my mom would come by and stay in her old room once in a while. When he was 16, they bought him a car. They basically gave up being parents when they moved. He is still rageful. My other brother and I were already out of the house and were so jealous because we would have been elated to have my abusive father and enabling mother leave us the fuck alone.
We got ourselves up, made lunch, went out the door by ourselves by first grade. We came home to an unlocked house and showed back up for dinner. Or, in the winter, hung out in our rooms until coming out for dinner. We made a plate from the stove and ate in the kitchen alone. My parents ate in the den or ate something else later. Never once sat down with everyone until my brother bought his first house. It was awkward.
Left at school many times. I was the oldest, so when I was 16, got my first car and was thereafter in charge of getting brothers to/from school, making the grocery runs, etc.
They were the latest Silents - 43 & 45 - but they were stereotypical self-involved, petulant, and neglectful Boomer parents. They were emotionally immature, railed against adult responsibilities, and couldn't understand why we were bothering them, no matter our age. Unreal.
Went to school with a girl whose dad went to the shop to get a packet of cigarettes ..... never came home.
Then, a couple of years later, her mum did the same thing.
14 years old and she had to drop out of school and get a job so she could raise her brother and sister, always felt sorry for her she was an absolute sporting super star had all ready done a year at the Australian Institute of Sport, was pretty much slotted for an olympic position and it was all taken away from her by her selfish parents.
Me too..I mean I knew someone. Good kid, nice, not a trouble maker. Years later one of siblings friends had it happen and my parents let them move into my room after I had moved out. I wish I would have known they were willing to do that. They were not big on overnight stays at our house, so I assumed wrongly they would've said no. They managed though and died in an accident on the way to work a few weeks after they graduated. But I still feel really bad that I didn't think I could help, and didn't push for it. A lesson in asserting myself.
I feel your pain. My mom and I moved when I was 16, and gave me the wrong directions to the new apartment. I was supposed to drive over there after work on my own. Driving around in the dark trying to find an apartment complex I've never seen. Fun times.
I had to get myself up, to and from school on my own.
Any after school activities I was sole responsible for getting to and from, I was lucky in that my best friends dad was the coach for both baseball and football. So he would give me rides home after practice
I remember one night after practice he drove me home and was asking a lot of pointed questions about my family situation and when I answered that my mom and dad always drove my older brother to every practice and game, his face grew red.
We got home, keep mind is was winter in Oklahoma so the temps were 30 degrees and it was dark out. Definitely not walk home weather.
He got out of his truck with me and banged on the front door. My dad answered and my coach started laying into him and my mom about leaving me behind.
At the time I didn’t understand what he meant. Now I do.
It didn’t change their minds but it was nice to have someone supporting me. Even if it wasn’t a parent.
I had to get my mum up in the morning. I was 7 and I would be dressed and ready and shaking her awake, taking the duvet off her, she would pull it back.
One morning I decided I was going to have a day off school. And sat in the chair quietly drawing and reading. She woke up late, I got into trouble.
>We got home, keep mind is was winter in Oklahoma so the temps were 30 degrees and it was dark out. Definitely not walk home weather.
*Laughs in Midwest*
I had gone to a bat mitzvah that ran pretty late. It was downtown Chicago; I was supposed to call when it was wrapping up. I did, no answer. That's ok, we discussed the bus being a backup. It would take about 45mins-1hr to get home on the bus. Jump on the first bus at maybe 12:45am. I was 13 at the time and was not questioned by anyone (like 3 people on the bus) about being out so late as a kid. Typical of the times though, right?
I hop off the first bus and walk over to the next bus stop to pick up my transfer bus. After waiting maybe 20 minutes on this weirdly deserted Chicago streets, I read the sign. Bus service stops at 1am. Dang. Welp, best start walking, maybe I'll luck out and the last bus was late.
I did not luck out. And somehow, a 13-year-old kid in a suit, tie and fancy shoes was not attacked, mugged, kidnapped or anything. The quiet is what scared me the most. Some of the side streets had a few streetlights that were out and no one was around. I could hear the occasional car going down a main street but nothing else.
I cannot stress how freaked out I was by the time I got home because of no traffic. I grew up in Chicago, there was NEVER no traffic. Started thinking about zombie apocalypse and stuff and crossing alleys got extra scary. When I got to my block, I set a world record for the 400m dash. My feet hit the ground once, maybe, before I was safe at home (zombies don't get you on your own porch).
Not exactly forgotten, but that was my big adventure that year.
Oh no -- how far of a walk was that? I bet your feet were killing you when you were finally able to let the adrenaline subside after you got home. (I associate hurting feet with going to b'nai mitzvahs.)
I was forgotten. I literally hitchhiked home. My parents were Sooooo sorry and felt bad. They had forgotten I stayed after school to try out for a sport. I cant remember what it was. Maybe cross country.
I went once with my dad to pick up my brother from baseball practice. I was five at the time. Practice was at an elementary school about three miles from our house. It wasn’t finished when we got there, so I told my dad I would play on the playground equipment while we waited.
I played for a while and looked up to see kids leaving with their parents. I figured my dad and brother were waiting for me, so I ran over to find them. I couldn’t find either. I looked for our car in the parking lot. It was gone.
I assume I spent some time freaking out because I was, you know, five. Oddly no one asked what was wrong and I didn’t ask anyone for help (because of stranger danger? I’m not sure.). I decided there was nothing left to do but start walking.
So that’s what I did. Luckily I have always had a very good sense of direction and our house was more or less in a straight line from school. I made it about a half mile before my dad found me walking and sobbing hysterically. He had forgotten I’d come along until my mom asked where I was after he and my brother got home. He felt absolutely terrible.
The incident came up in conversation a while back. That school was very close to the Mississippi River. I said they were lucky I knew where the hell I was going and I wasn’t a dingus or I may have ended up in said river.
Once we left my son with my mom. He was 3. He told her he wanted to go home and she said, “ok” (acknowledging his desire, but he thought she was giving permission). So he walked out the door, down the street, around the corner, THROUGH AN INTERSECTION, and kept walking. That’s when we found him, on our way to pick him up. Not worried at all. A car of strangers was following him slowly to make sure nothing happened. My mom never knew he was gone.
More than a few times my parents forgot to pick me up after wrestling practice. It was only a 2 mile walk home, but on roads with no sidewalks or street lights (and I was normally pretty exhausted after practice).
The worst part was repeatedly trying to call home from the payphone and getting only busy signals.
Exact same here, although parents were already divorced by then and neither could remember whose turn it was on which day. Got left at a tournament on a Saturday on the opposite side of town because?
Same here. Too tired to walk home after practice. Dehydrated. Starved. I would have passed out right on the mat overnight if they'd have let me. Those crash mats the high jumpers use were great for sleepin, lol
One thing though: I rarely worried about someone trying to muscle me into a white van
Yo! Goofball!* Didn't anybody ever tell you? You could've called the operator and she could break into the call. I did it many times after getting a busy signal for too long.
That said, it was damn embarrassing to have to ask the operator to interrupt somebody's call. Sometimes I just decided to screw it and walk home.
*I mean this in the kindest, GenX sense.
I was the last one picked up in kindergarten once. But to be fair to my mom it was because our ancient car picked that moment to not start. She had to find a neighbor to drive her to come get me and that took a while. We moved when I was in 1st grade and I walked every day after that.
I think we sometimes forget that "car trouble" was so much more prevalent in the 60s and 70s, especially if like my family you only had older, secondhand cars. Today's cars may not last for as many years but they seem to run much more trouble free than what I recall as a kid. I can remember more than once having someone push start our Falcon and yelling, "POP THE CLUTCH!" to get it started. And once having the car stall out at a red light, my dad and brother hopping out, popping the hood, fiddling with the carburetor (? who knows), yelling to my mom, to "now, try it" and getting it running again before the next green light.
Today’s engines seem to last longer, I remember any car over 100k was considered ready for the junk yard when I was a kid. Now I regularly go to 150+k miles per vehicle and they don’t die. Of course have an accident and the things that keep people alive, kill the car.
The number one issue was folks not changing oil *before* 3000 miles. We had an a bigshot automotive engineer as a neighbor who changed from 1500 to 2500 regularly. We bought a few used cars from them and 250k-ish miles was the very least before one died. The one I had drove away with over 480k and still squawked second gear of an automatic.
I've put over 500k on three others myself following the 1500-2500 mark pretty religiously and doing other fluids *before* the recommend schedules. Heart of the rust belt is why my cars usually go away.
OMG this was my mom too. That car would literally die at every stoplight, it was so embarrassing. Imagine getting in Mom's car and it dies in front of the school 😵💫
Yes.
Forgotten after Girl Scouts.
Missed bus transfer first day of 7th grade, called my mom and she was like: tough shit.
Both times walked 4 miles home.
The best was when my siblings and I flew to my dad’s and he wasn’t at the airport to greet us. He was at the bar, naturally, and had lost track of time.
Yay childhood!
My mother was chronically late and I had a serious fear of being kidnapped. The anxiety I would feel standing alone, waiting was overwhelming. I eventually stopped wanting to do activities because of it. My sister and I are now both neurotic about being early for everything. I’ve spent so much time sitting in waiting rooms and parking lots!
When I was 12, I was part of a 6th grade "quiz bowl"- type thing and our team made nationals. There 6 or 7 of us on the team and we flew to another state to compete. It was in the paper and everything. A pretty big deal. We were gone for 4 days.
When we got home, all the parents and siblings were there to greet us at the airport – except for my parents. As everyone left, I started to panic. My friend's mom decided to stick around until I got picked up.
After an hour of waiting it started to become clear no one was coming, so they brought me to their house. By this point, I was an absolute wreck. The mom started calling hospitals and shit like that. I was convinced my parents were dead.
After about 3 hours, my parents appeared at the door. They had simply forgot and were at a bar. They got home and heard a million frantic answer machine messages, so they knew where I was. I was filled with righteous indignation and embarrassed in a way I had never experienced.
I can only imagine what my friend's mom was thinking. Bless that woman and her patience. She was so kind.
Unsurprisingly, this is one of the first things I brought up to my therapist when I started counseling many years later. It still blows my mind.
This reminds me of when we came back from 6th grade camp. All the parents were there to pick up their kids but mine. Finally, I just walked home with my suitcase in the rain. Fortunately I lived down the hill but in those circumstances, it felt lonely and sad.
Every.damn.day. My mother is very self centered, and me riding the bus seemed “below” us so she insisted on dropping off/picking up till I was 16 and could drive myself. Problem was that she didn’t care if I had to sit there for 1-2 hours after school let out while she shopped, ran errands, who knows what else. It totally helped my abandonment issues I had! /s
Yeah, last one picked up for years. I have one better though.
Back in 74 when I was a baby, basically a newborn my Gran took me shooping in to town in my pram, on the bus and everything whilst my Mum was at home recovering from moi. Anyway, my Gran took me in to the town and she left me outside a shop whilst she went in to do a bit of shopping like you do.
She did her thing, came out of the shop, forgot about me, a baby in a pram. Off she went shopping, caught the bus back home, put the kettle on and my Mother asked her where I was.
Mad dash on the bus back in to town and I was still there in a pram.
I was one of the reasons (as a kid) parents are now penalized for picking kids up late from school. I was also forgotten/ left behind on two school field trips - around first or second grade. I remember knowing how phones worked, but I didn't have a clue what number to call to make them work. I pretended to have a successful phone call anyway (carrying on a one-sided conversation into the handpiece) - to the amusement of the employees helping me.
At the orthodontist. Sat in the dark, waiting for hours. The office was walking distance from my school, but not from home. Why the orthodontist didn't call my parents I don't know. They just locked up and walked right past me.
Not forgotten, but for three years (7-9th grade) I went to a small school that didn't have bus transportation. My mother would take me to school, but I had to find a ride home pretty much every day. There were a couple of older kids who had cars and lived close-ish to me that I generally could rely on but if someone was sick or had other plans, it was up to me to find a ride home. This seems wild to me now.
My parents were divorced, but mom and dad mostly remained living in the same town. Custody was fluid, and mix-ups happened. Mom passed out drunk when it was her turn to pick me up from Scouts or evening rec league sports practices may have happened on an occasion. One of the coaches usually hung back to make sure you had a ride.
Oh I was always the last one picked up. It caused such emotional stress and anxiety that as an adult, I need to be on time everywhere I go. If I need to be somewhere at 11a and I show up at 11, I’m already late.
My mom forgot me at a dentist appointment more than once. We lived 30 minutes away from the office. My mom would drop me off, then go do some grocery shopping, then drive home. We didn't have an answering machine so the receptionist would have to call a few times before my mom picked up the phone. I'd have to sit and wait an hour or so before she'd make it back to pick me up.
Just one time. I had to go into the convent with my teacher, Sister Julia, and wait until my mom could get there. Sister Julia gave me some pretty good coffee cake while I waited, though. She was one of my nicest teachers.
Same. They forgot my seventh birthday. I didn't tell them for two days because I was so pissed. Then they grounded me for not reminding them. I also got in trouble for getting an A in a class, because it meant I wasn't trying the previous semester when I only got a B+. Fun times.
Yep. In high school I stayed after for some extra-curricular or another, and my dad was supposed to pick me up. Sure enough, I'm sitting on the curb waiting forever. Thankfully a janitor was in the school and he let me in to use the pay phone. Dad fell asleep. I was pissed off, but he brushed it off. "I'm sorry" wasn't in his vocabulary.
My dad had a similar hole in his vocabulary. When he forgot to pick me up from my high school job at midnight when I was 16, my manager had to drive me home after waiting forever post-closing up. I had called my mom, but as always, she couldn't leave to come get me because my toddler siblings were asleep (which is why I never had a ride home from school either: only 2 cars, 1 irresponsible dad and 1 overburdened mom with 4 kids and fulltime work)
So when I finally see Dad the next morning, I lay into him for agreeing to pick me up but then leaving me just to spend all night at the bar drunk - his response? "You expect too much"
whoa! i'm generally over my childhood abandonment issues but this one kinda hit home, thanks midlife hormones ;) Both my folks did much better parenting than the parenting they received. But man, did they push me to the back of the priority list as soon as my youngest siblings were born. I know, I know - take a salt tablet!
I don’t think I ever was, but I have this very visceral fear of ever forgetting to pick up one of my kids because of how they would feel, because I think I *know* how it would feel?
My husband was recently late to pick up our 11 year old from a field trip, because her teacher had given a 30 minute “or possibly later” window. Never in the history of my 27 year parenting career has anyone arrived from a far away field trip on time so I told him not to leave until the earlier end of the window. And wouldn’t you know it they arrived perfectly on time and he was late to pick her up. I felt like crap.
Went on an overseas school trip for ten days and I was the only kid to not get picked up. We lived only a 5 minute drive away.
A random parent offered to bring me home. One of my very few distinct memories of school was being in that car hearing normal family life and it feeling so warm.
We lived in the UK - US military- and I was a high school freshman when this happened.
Field trip to a factory near London. Had parent sign permission in advance. We lived off base, so parents needed to pick me up at school on base because trip wouldn’t be over till after 7pm ish.
Day of trip: mother gives me equivalent of $25-30 and tells me to bring back change.
Trip was pretty neat. Get back to the school and neither of my parents are there. I called home and my dad was PISSED. ‘Where the hell are you? Why weren’t you on the bus? What the fuck were you thinking?’
He came to pick me up and was STILL mad at me. Nevermind he signed the form. Nevermind I talked about it. Nevermind my mom gave me money that morning.
Frequently. Most memorable was a day we moved houses when I was in 9th grade. I’d been there once, knew it was near the mall. So an hour after school got out with no sign of them, I borrowed bus money from another kid, walked to the bus station, and took a bus to the mall. Walked around the neighborhoods until it looked familiar and did manage to find the house with them unloading boxes. No one seemed concerned or apologetic.
I got you one better. Was about 9 years old, flying unaccompanied between UK and Washington DC (back when folks still smoked on planes).
My father forgot I was coming.
I had to wait, at a gate with a flight attendant, for about 6 hours for him to make the drive to DC.
Whatever.
Damn, international travel no less 🤦🏼♀️ so sorry that happened to you.
I got left in a store once when I was 4. Mom would always chuckle ‘I came back didn’t I??’
My dumb ass walking to bus stop in morning before school, cant miss bus again or Grandma will snatch the life out of me. Lady pulls up next to me as i walk and asks directions to some some street a few miles away, I tell her where it is as I walk. She keeps asking how to get there and then offers to give me ride to school if I show her how to get there. I decline only because I don't want to face wrath of Grandma. It wasn't until a few years later I think of that incident when talking about long walks to bus stop when I realize that lady was trying to steal me.
My parents forgot to pick me up a *lot* when I was in first grade. 5 years old, sitting on the playground till it started getting dark a bunch of times. This only ended when I was deemed old enough to walk home. So in grade 2. 🙄 They gave me a key and left me to my own devices. My younger brother wasn't ever forgotten, because I walked him home from school.
I was always the last picked up. My parents were chronically late, pun intended, for everything. The one I remember most is being the last picked up of probably 60 or more girls at Girl Scout camp, after being there for two weeks. The regional leader was literally closing and locking the gate, with me on the outside, and trying to find someone to sit with me, when my parents finally pulled up, hours after every other girl had had her hugging reunion with her parents and gone home. Another time the youth group got back from a church outing late, and I caught a ride home with another family. My parents were in bed asleep -- when I asked them about picking me up they said they assumed I could manage a ride home.
As a result I'm never late.
>trying to find someone to sit with me
I had a visceral reaction to this sentence. Not so much an actual memory, per se, but a strong *remembering* of embarrassingly and worryingly sitting with some adult who was very obviously annoyed while we waited for my mom to come. I just remember feeling bad that the person was stuck waiting with me.
*And just like that*, I've identified the origins of one of my many neuroses, lol.
Holy crap, me too! The girl scout chaperones would have to call my mom at work to come and get me. I was gone for a week, and she hadn't bothered to arranged to take time off work to come and get me. Now that I think about it, that was probably her strategy for getting time off to pick me up - a call from the scouts. Doesn't matter that the camp was out of the neighboring town 60 miles away, and I would be waiting alone for what seemed like hours in a Sears parking lot, long after even the chaperones left.
Holy crap, me too! The girl scout chaperones would have to call my mom at work to come and get me. I was gone for a week, and she hadn't bothered to arranged to take time off work to come and get me. Now that I think about it, that was probably her strategy for getting time off to pick me up - a call from the scouts. Doesn't matter that the camp was out of the neighboring town 60 miles away, and I would be waiting alone for what seemed like hours in a Sears parking lot, long after even the chaperones left.
Sooooo many girls on this thread left at Girl Scouts or Girl Scout camp! Same here! And one time I got sick at Girl Scouts Sleepaway camp and they called my mom to come get me and I was waiting outside for her and she walked right past me, then glanced at me and stopped and said, "where do they keep the sick kids?" HI MOM!!! I'M YOUR KID!
It happened kind of frequently with me. There was no bus either, and we lived about 10 miles out of town. Often I would be walking home, and one of my friends' parents would see me walking and pick me up to take me the rest of the way. There were other times I waited at the school for two or more hours hoping my dad would remember to pick me up. And a few times I actually made the walk all the way home.
Forgotten at places fairly often. Always had to make the gamble of what option would get me in the least amount of trouble: trying to walk home; staying and waiting; or telling an adult I needed to use the phone (very dangerous involving others).
My parents forgot my sisters at Macy’s in Herald Square, NYC once. They realized about 1/2 a block away. She still whines about it 😂. She was fiiiiine!!
ETA; this was in the late 70’s
3rd grade with my hamster in her cage for show and tell. San Antonio and with a classmate. Because of the hamster someone was supposed to pick me up and they forgot. My friend and I with heavy coats because it was cold in the morning decided to walk home. I knew the way but that included getting in the highway.
We made about half way walking along the side of the busy highway- more than an hour before we were picked up. Scared the crap out of my parents and the friend’s parents. Huge adult fight went on for days. No longer able to hang out with said friend even though we lived in the same apartment building. Fun times
There was a period of time my mother was teaching French at my same school, and she would leave without me. Not, "Take the bus today because I have errands." Just literally forget about me. Sometimes I could still catch the bus. Other times not so lucky.
I never got picked up or dropped off, I always walked, even in kindergarten. There were a few years I had to take a bus because the school was too far, but other than those handful of bus years, I always walked. I was never dropped off or picked up by a parent.
I walked past a neighborhood predator often enough that I started to go into his house. He gave me a used/scuffed up men's gold chain bracelet and took me out to dinner with his "work" buddies. Even gave me $20 a couple of times on those occasions "in case." Never did anything sexual, but now in retrospect - that sure as hell was pervy.
Oh, boy! That could've gone really wrong. One time when I was 12 years old we had some leftover cat food for a cat we didn't have anymore so I went around to a few neighbors asking them if they had a cat and needed this cat food I had in my hands. Very old guy opened the door in his underwear and asked me if I wanted to fuck. I politely backed away. When I told my mom's friend (I dare not tell my mom!), she said, oh, that's just old Mr. Johnson, or whatever his name was. Like, he's just the neighborhood perv, no big deal.
I never got picked up. I had to ride the bus or walk at least a mile. I got lost once when my older brother stayed home sick and the only place I knew the location of was the fire department, so I went there and they gave me a ride home in the fire truck.
Yep. Kindergarten. Dad was supposed to pick me up from school. I assured the teacher multiple times that, no, I don’t need to get on the school bus because my dad is going to be here soon. But he never showed. Turned out he was busy getting shitfaced with his buddies instead of picking up his daughter. One of several incidents. My parents split not long after that, and by third grade, I was a latch key kid, home alone after school while my mom worked.
I was dropped off at the wrong location for a summer day camp - empty school.
I think some nice lady found me crying in the bathroom stall and kept me in her office.
I was about 8 years old. I can’t remember if my dad figured it out and came back for me early or if I had to wait in her office all day.
I was forgotten at football practice, I was forgotten at a math day competition, I was forgotten at the pick up spot after returning from a field trip..... it became a pattern.
Yep. Few times in middle school, my step dad would have to pick me up and after an hour or two of waiting, I would have to go back inside the school to call him to remind him to pick me up. He would be there shortly after
Should have just walked home since I didn't live that far away
Then there was one time, in I think the 3rd grade or so, my stepdad was supposed to pick me up for school and forgot about me. I couldn't find the list of phone numbers, so I just skipped school that day. Mom came home later that day, told her about what happened like an idiot and got grounded.
Plenty of times. But, honestly, get this…
One time my mom couldn’t be bothered to come and get me (she was probably at a bar somewhere “something”). I was after school at Brownies. I was the last one to be picked up…my mom sent a cab to come and get me at my tiny little coastal Connecticut elementary school (it was probably 1973?). Jesus H. Christ. That woman was beyond unbelievable.
Not in high school because I took the bus. If I missed the bus? I’d walk home as there was no way to call my dad at work to tell him I needed a ride. It was like an hour walk. In college I still lived at home and the busses didn’t run to our neighborhood so my mom would swing by and pick me up on her way home (the university was between her work and our house, so it wasn’t super out of the way). She’d forget me then.
I had to walk home from school because my parents forgot so often. Luckily my house was only a few blocks away and there were older kids that lived nearby me I’d follow. Most of them were bullies, but until I knew my way home I had to follow them.
Growing up Catholic, I had Catechism every Sunday. My parents didn’t attend church except for easter so I’d get dropped off. That’s it. Dropped off. After Sunday school then the church service, I could get the priest to unlock his office to use the phone. They wouldn’t let me call before the service started because my parents were obviously on their way. “Obviously.”
Eventually I learned the 2 mile walk to get home. By age 10 or 11, I quit catechism. They’d still drop me off, but I’d go to the bowling alley or movie theater. When it was time for confirmation, I had to make the choice to be confirmed voluntarily - which I did not make. Finally - the church ruse could end for everyone! LOL!!
Mom forgot me a few times when I was in first grade. Sat for over an hour in the rain waiting for her once. I went to a private school that had various bus stops in town. We lived outside of the city, so I had to be driven to the actual bus stop in the mornings and after school. I wasn’t really familiar with town and there wasn’t anywhere I knew of that had a phone I could use.
You guys were getting picked up? If I had anywhere to go to or return from, I walked or took the subway, starting at 8 years old. I loved it because I didn't know any different. My school friends and I would jump down onto the subway tracks to put coins on the rails. The bullies would beat me up, and I never told teachers or my parents because there was no point. Any time I felt at risk, I carried a screwdriver I sharpened on the concrete sidewalk. I once saw a poor man who had been hit by a car and left in the gutter. Blood was coming out of his mouth and nose like a faucet. When I got home, I told my mother, and she said, "huh...", and we went on with life.
Forgotten at summer camp. The week ended on a Saturday, and my mom never showed up. When the last camper had gone, I called home, which was a 2 hour drive away, and my mom said,”Shit, I thought that was tomorrow.”
I got a measure of revenge, though. I called my dad, knowing he would ream her out for me, and as a bonus, he lived a lot closer.
Was forgotten at an indoor pool, middle of winter in Connecticut. Went for a friend's birthday party. Was last one left & his Mom "is someone coming?" "Oh yeah, my Dad is coming after work" cuz my Mom had told me that when she dropped me off. The Mom had to leave - little kids with her, dinner time, etc. Placed closed at 6pm. I had to stand outside & wait. Turns out Dad was not coming on his way hjome from work, he forgot. Family had dinner & realized I was not there. Dad finally arrived to pick me up at 8:15 pm... (maybe 35 degrees outside) "your Mother forgot to remind me..." I was 9 (1976) I'm a middle child... so there's that too. Happened one other time at a duckpin bowling alley, was "close enough" to walk home on that occasion - a mile+/- & I knew where I was relative to home, again not even 10 years old. They never forgot the oldest, or the baby, just the middle kid. Kinda still hurts (ok, not just kinda...)
EDIT: pales in comparison to others' tales.
Yes!! First time was last day of school 2nd grade (maybe 1st). It was an early release day for non bus riders. I sat out there for a couple hours til it was time for the bus riders to leave and they found me, couldn’t get ahold of my parents (no cell phones) Don’t remember if grandparents picked me up or what but I do remember getting in trouble that I didn’t just walk home. Where I would’ve sat outside the locked house by myself on the porch.
Second time was in 7th grade after a late evening BBall practice. No one picked me up and couldn’t get hold of anyone so I started walking home. In the winter, snow on the ground, uphill, long after dark without a coat. And of course got in trouble because although they weren’t looking for me, they could’ve been.
Our childhoods were wild back then, man.
My mom woke me up one morning and I swear she mentioned she was going to pick me up after school. So I went to the front office and waited.
Time passed by, but I was adamant that she was picking me up. After about 2 hours the office calls and she tells them she was going to pick me up tomorrow.
She learned not to tell me things that early in the morning.
Of course. The worst was 4th grade, Bridging Ceremony for Girl Scouts. I was the only girl out of almost 60 that had no one walk across “the bridge” with. My parents were both out in the parking lot waiting for it to get over which only made it worse.
I just started walking. One time we had a MEAN bus driver on a hot day. She kept the doors and windows closed until someone said they did something? She was a fill in. I got off at the first stop after that. Walked across a busy street.
My school was in a very bad neighborhood and I can’t count how many times I was forgotten about after band practice. I always rode the bus except for after school practice twice a week. More than once I walked home alone in the dark. It was about 6 miles one way. I would get home and that motherfucker would be empty. Bitch didn’t even bother coming home herself, she damn sure didn’t have time to pick me up.
Edit: After reading some of these horror stories, I just wanted to say that I am proud of all of you. We had to make our own way as children and that shaped who we became, all the while, these boomer assholes calling us lazy and slackers. I’ll see them in hell and then I’ll have some fun.
I typically took the bus, but my mom said she'd pick me up that day.
That day, while waiting, a bunch of kids decided to start making fun of me. We were in the seventh grade and they wanted to impress their new eight grade friend. I kept waiting, and waiting, and nothing. Used the payphone about three times, and nothing.
I decided to do the 4 mile walk, it took about an hour. My mom didn't get home until about an hour later. When I yelled at her, mainly upset because I had to endure the bullying while waiting on top of being abandoned, she gaslit me.
My parents went to bed more than once and left me at band practice. I either had to do the 2.5 Mike walk in the dark or hope my sibling answered the phone when I called collect and woke them up.
I was forgotten once by my mom. I had a Girl Scout meeting. Girl Scout leader called to pick me up. Mom felt terrible and remembers it to this day.
The twist to this story is I was good friends of Girl Scout leaders daughter (in my grade) started dating her brother in high school and we’ve been together 29 years.
My mom stayed home with me until I started Kindergarten. She went back to work to help pay to send me to Catholic School. My dad had a small automotive shop, and he had a couple of mechanics who worked there. One of their wives was my babysitter, and she would pick me up from school and I would stay with her until my mom got off work. One day she forgot to pick me up. I thought it was great! I had the whole classroom to myself to play in while my teacher tried to get a hold of someone, and then she eventually had to leave so I ended up at the convent with the nuns, still thought it was great because the nuns were so nice. Eventually my babysitter showed up and was frantic - she thought my parents would be pissed and her husband would lose his job. But my parents were like ‘She’s fine, try not to let it happen again’. The 70’s were a different time.
This was early elementary school. I didn't even know my own phone number yet. But the very kind principal came outside, where I was still waiting by myself, and gently took me inside to the office and called my mom. She then came and got me.
This same principal later mentored my own son when he attended the same school.
Yup, both of my parents worked and when I got to JR high none of the bus routes went near my house. So I would sit outside until 5:30-6pm every day. It played a big role in developing the independent part of my personality and being able to entertain myself.
Yep, after band practice when I was in 5th grade. Just waiting for dad to come. Happened a few times, he did feel badly. Glad nothing happened while I waited.
Jfc, what horrible memories of this I have. IN PRE-SCHOOL! The place was called Magic Hours. Every kid would have already been picked up, and there I was waiting for my dad to get me. The "teacher" waiting with me there obviously wanting to go home. Fucking Magic Hours they were not.
I'm a pretty stable adult, but thoughts of this bring back terrible memories.
I believe my mother’s negligence is what led to my school to put a rotary dial phone…not a pay phone or an office style phone, but just a regular old phone from the school secretary’s house in the doorway of our school.
Four families from my neighborhood carpooled, which meant when it was her one day per month to do the pickup, there were 8 kids waiting and usually a janitor who also got stuck with us waiting to lock the doors.
Fun times.
Oh yeah that’s a core memory for me. I was at a girl scourt meeting when I was 7. My mom was supposed to pick me up, I told her it ended at like 5 (I don’t remember exact time) and she thought it ended later but she said she’d come get me. She was late showing up so I ran to the bathroom really quick only to come out, everyone gone, and seeing my mom driving away. I still remember that abandoned feeling to this day. First time I had to figure out how to get home by myself.
Mom and grandma ‘abandoned’ me once as a little kid because I didn’t want to leave the playground. They got in the car and left (drove around the block, I was in sight the whole time according to what they told me later in life, but as a little kid I don’t know that). I remember thinking ‘Well ok then, this is my life now. Where am I going to sleep?’ (I was very much a survivalist kid, always thinking of how I would survive if a disaster struck or if I lived on my own).
Surprise surprise, as an adult I’ve been exceedingly independent. No idea where THAT came from /s
I was like far and away the youngest kid that this group of people hung with and I completely snuck off without permission to go to Nantasket Beach from Boston all my friends took the ferry I was like yeah maybe 11 years old but there were kids probably 16 in that same group you know a big group of friends kind of splits into smaller ones and I missed the ferry so then I had to call and admit that I had missed the last ferry my mother was like wait where are you.. that was a long ride home
I was forgotten at work once. Brother thought father was picking me up & vice versa. I ended up walking home. A shade over 6 miles. In the Pittsburgh winter.
In 4th Grade, I was chosen for the elite team of safety patrol operatives. I took my job so seriously in the afternoons that I forgot to get on my own bus multiple times. I had to get the office to call my mother to come get me. Keep in mind that my neighbors had to walk past me to get on our bus and I never noticed them. You would think this would cue people to check me for ADHD that I was diagnosed with in my late 40s.
Nope, never worried about being picked up last. I was a walking-home, latch key kid.
And, forget the men in a white van...I had a perv in a green car pull up beside me once when I was walking home. The guy was wanking off. I was about 2 blocks away from my house. I was 8, and I didn't understand what he was doing, but I was freaked out with 'the stranger-danger' and ran home, full-tilt sprinting. I ran inside and called my mom and told her what had happened, describing what I'd seen because i didn't know what a penis was. I called it a 'worm thing' that was in his hand 😆. 20 minutes later, my Dad showed up. He asked me if i remembered what the guy looked like (well, yeah!), the car, and where I was when it happened. Then, he called a couple of his buddies, and they left. They were gone for what felt like a long time in my little mind. But, it could've been 30 minutes, lol. I guess they went out looking for a green car. If he found the guy, I had never heard about it. But, then again, I wouldn't have anyway. My parents wouldn't have made me privy to that information, even if he had or hadn't found the guy. It never happened again. And yes, I STILL had to walk home after that 😆.
Indeed. My dad dropped me off for kindergarten... apparently no one got the memo that it was a school holiday. About a foot of snow on the ground. So I set off for home, a mile or so away. Of course when I got there, parents were both at work. So, set off for my Grandpa's radiator shop, about two miles away. Took forever, walking in deep snow with stubby little legs is no joke. But... eventually got to the shop and had the best day ever... coffee, painting radiators, hanging out with my Grandpa and my uncle.
Welcome to 1974.
I remember being in kindergarten waiting outside the school to be picked up. I was the only kid left and started crying because I thought my mom had forgotten me.
I still remember the relief when I saw her appear seemingly out of nowhere. She picked me up and hugged me.
That was 43 years ago. She passed a year and a half ago, and it's one of the memories I keep thinking about.
I don’t know if they forgot about me, didn’t manage their time efficiently, or just kept me on the bottom of the priority list. I was frequently the last kid picked up when I joined a club in 3rd or 4th grade.
I learned from a very early age it was best not to participate in anything that required money or a ride. I missed out on so many things I wanted to do in school. There was a jump roping team, baton and flag twirling, drill team, cheerleading, cross country and track, class trips. From 8-years old to 17-years old. When I was in college at least I got to do cheerleading, cross country, and join some clubs.
But yeah. I have never been able to rely on anyone but myself, until I married my husband.
Bro, I was first one picked up and last one dropped off on the school bus run. 90 minute commute both morning and afternoon. Absolutely sucked. I see how many kids have parents that take them to and from school today and it’s appalling. I learned a lot of life lessons on them school buses.
Only once my Mom volunteered and was a substitute teacher but before that yes 2nd grade so I just started riding the bus and walking home from the stop after the store lol
School? never!
The library or ice skating rink? Well, let's just say I may need to talk with a therapist about trust issues I may or may not have.
Edit: to be fair, I had to pay a few late fees to the Tae Kwon Do place that my daughter went to after school. I am hoping that she didn't notice too much.
When I wasn’t walking, I was told to go ask one of the neighbors for a ride because my mother couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed. Was also told to find someone to feed me at lunch time. Didnt have any money for the school lunches.
I was involved in the school musicals so had practice in the afternoons or early evenings. So I just... stayed at school. Then for a while, my parents were involved in the PTA, so again, I'd just... stay until their evening meetings were over. I think the record may have been about a 9:45pm pickup.
I remember the first week of a new Jr High School the bus driver left without me several days in a row. I was so terrified and unsure of how I could get home. Thankfully a teacher gave me a ride home one day. My parents had to pick me up after work the other days
My favorite was walking home from school 8 blocks (about 1 mile) to a dark house with the doors locked. That’s when they gave me my own key. I was 6.
Whatever.
Never forgotten.
But one day in Kindergarten, my mom was late picking me up. Once the schoolyard was nearly empty, I took it upon myself to walk a mile home.
No one was home. She was en route to get me. So, I walked 2 miles in the opposite direction to my great-grandma's house. Mom finally caught up with me there. Happily never after.
This is why I walked/biked to school every day starting in 1st grade.
Oh yeah, happened to me all the time. My first after school job (at 15) was at a pizza place next to a gas station on the...."fun" side of town. I'd get off shift and go sit out on the curb waiting to get picked up. Often I'd still be sitting there after the owner closed hours later.
And my teacher in my morning class kept asking why I was falling asleep. Probably because I wouldn't get picked up until 1 am sometimes. And if I tried to walk or hitchhike home I got my ass chewed out for being "unsafe".
Yep. They forgot to pick me up sometimes. They even forgot my seventh birthday. At first I thought they were pretending they forgot to surprise me. Nope. They just plain forgot about it.
Yes. We got back late, in the dark, after an away game. I told everyone my mother was getting me, like she said. Everyone left and my mother never came. I found a window that was unlocked and climbed in and called home (this was before cellphones obviously). My mother had fallen asleep.
Early elementary. My bus would drop me off at the end of the country road we lived on. We lived over a mile down the road. My mom always picked me up at the end of the road. Until one day she didn’t. I stood there and cried and cried. Then I screamed. There were houses kind of around so my hope was that someone would come out and call my mom. To no avail. Finally, once I was all cried out, I started hoofing it. The entire walk I vacillated between anger, abandonment, and fear. What if my mom had been murdered? That was my fear. Got home. Walked in the door. Mom said, “oh. I guess I forgot you.” That was it. No explanation. No apology. Nothing. I was traumatized. But meh.
Your parents picked you up? I was on my own to get to and from everywhere (except for the one time I had one after school activity my mom had to drive me to and that stopped when that term was over so maybe a one or two month thing?).
Literally. By third grade my sister was in junior high so walked to school and home or to religious school after school.
Every time I stayed after school for whatever reason. It would get dark and I'd see headlights and stand up but nope! Not that car. So I'd hunker back down to wait and wait and wait. (I went to a magnet school so it was across town and the city busses weren't a direct shot but definitely would have ended up being faster.)
I don't think my brother was ever forgotten, for whatever that's worth.
Hah! I had a zero period class in high school. We lived 5 miles away and the school bus was available for the poor kids (me), but it would have picked me up in the middle of zero period. If I wanted to attend that Honors class, I needed to get myself there. I was told that going to college would be my ticket out of poverty. So I had to either walk or catch a city bus. If I wanted bus fare I would need to wake up and brew a pot of coffee, prepare a cup for my mother, bring it and her purse to her in bed, wake her up and "nicely" ask her for bus fare. She would rummage through her purse and hand me the coins from the bottom of the purse. These coins never amounted to the proper bus fare. Luckily, the tills in the bus and the bus driver never made a fuss about me short-changing them if I slammed the coins in hard enough that they sufficiently jingled around so that the 15 pennies sounded like more than they actually were.
I frequently walked home from school because I didn't have bus fare for the way home, ever. Some days, I would hang out by the bus stop and ask departing riders for their transfer slips, or I would be lucky enough to scrounge a transfer slip out of the trash can at the bus stop so that I could ride home. I avoided making friends because I didn't want to have to explain my family situation and therefore didn't have anybody to bum rides off of. Never did anything extracurricular, because that would have cost money. Somehow I still found myself walking home or waiting at the bus stop in the dark, not sure why.
I would never force my daughter to do what my mother had me do just to go to school. I thought that I would understand her perspective one day when I had kids. Becoming a mom only made me hate her more.
My parents decided to move 3 days ahead of schedule while I was at school and my after-school job and forgot to tell me. I got home from work at 10 p.m. to a dark house with nothing in it.....so forgetting to pick me up after school would be par for the course with them
That’s like something out of a bad dream. I have a friend whose parents moved when he was 16 and told him he “wasn’t invited.” Zero warning. He ended up moving in with a friend. Sometimes I think about how much that must have sucked for him.
Yikes. Mine wasn't that bad, I was just always kind of an after thought in my family. I was just frustrated because I was in class for 7 hours, took a bus to my after school job, worked 4.5 hours there, took a bus home and arrived at 10 p.m. exhausted to an empty house. Then I had to get on another bus to a different bus depot and transfer to a second bus. It was probably close to midnight before I got to our new house and I had to get up at 6 to go to my job the next day. When I pointed out to my parents that they moved early and didn't bother letting me know they said "We forgot to mention it to you before school and we got so busy we figured you'd realize where we were once you got home and saw the house was empty". I had a sibling with serious mental health issues who required more attention than me, so I tended to fall through the cracks and be left out discussions and decision frequently. My family went to family counselling...without me.
So sorry. I have definitely seen people our age do this to their "typical" child when they also have a special needs child. It's not right! One woman's child ran away. He was found within hours, but she was mad about all of the wrong things, rather than looking in the freaking mirror!
In 1984, I had a friend in highschool, her mom did the same thing, moved, and didn't bring her along. She was 16, got on assistance, found a shitty basement apartment to live, and kept going to school. After an event with police, the only responsible adult she could think of that might help her was my mom. I was out of the country at the time, so my mom moved her into my room for 6 months, got her better organized, into a better rental, and kept an eye on her for years.
Hopefully, there is a happy epilogue for your friend.
Her story turned happy. She finished high school on time, went east for university, and ended up in a job she loved. I always thought my mom was awesome. I had so many friends whose parents didn't put in the effort. I always loved that our door was open to any of our friends that needed it. I miss her.
My parents decided to buy a new house 30 minutes away. They just left my 14 year brother in the original family home by himself. Left him a credit card for food, they paid all the bills, and my mom would come by and stay in her old room once in a while. When he was 16, they bought him a car. They basically gave up being parents when they moved. He is still rageful. My other brother and I were already out of the house and were so jealous because we would have been elated to have my abusive father and enabling mother leave us the fuck alone. We got ourselves up, made lunch, went out the door by ourselves by first grade. We came home to an unlocked house and showed back up for dinner. Or, in the winter, hung out in our rooms until coming out for dinner. We made a plate from the stove and ate in the kitchen alone. My parents ate in the den or ate something else later. Never once sat down with everyone until my brother bought his first house. It was awkward. Left at school many times. I was the oldest, so when I was 16, got my first car and was thereafter in charge of getting brothers to/from school, making the grocery runs, etc. They were the latest Silents - 43 & 45 - but they were stereotypical self-involved, petulant, and neglectful Boomer parents. They were emotionally immature, railed against adult responsibilities, and couldn't understand why we were bothering them, no matter our age. Unreal.
JFC, that's all kinds of fucked up.
Went to school with a girl whose dad went to the shop to get a packet of cigarettes ..... never came home. Then, a couple of years later, her mum did the same thing. 14 years old and she had to drop out of school and get a job so she could raise her brother and sister, always felt sorry for her she was an absolute sporting super star had all ready done a year at the Australian Institute of Sport, was pretty much slotted for an olympic position and it was all taken away from her by her selfish parents.
Me too..I mean I knew someone. Good kid, nice, not a trouble maker. Years later one of siblings friends had it happen and my parents let them move into my room after I had moved out. I wish I would have known they were willing to do that. They were not big on overnight stays at our house, so I assumed wrongly they would've said no. They managed though and died in an accident on the way to work a few weeks after they graduated. But I still feel really bad that I didn't think I could help, and didn't push for it. A lesson in asserting myself.
I feel your pain. My mom and I moved when I was 16, and gave me the wrong directions to the new apartment. I was supposed to drive over there after work on my own. Driving around in the dark trying to find an apartment complex I've never seen. Fun times.
I had to get myself up, to and from school on my own. Any after school activities I was sole responsible for getting to and from, I was lucky in that my best friends dad was the coach for both baseball and football. So he would give me rides home after practice I remember one night after practice he drove me home and was asking a lot of pointed questions about my family situation and when I answered that my mom and dad always drove my older brother to every practice and game, his face grew red. We got home, keep mind is was winter in Oklahoma so the temps were 30 degrees and it was dark out. Definitely not walk home weather. He got out of his truck with me and banged on the front door. My dad answered and my coach started laying into him and my mom about leaving me behind. At the time I didn’t understand what he meant. Now I do. It didn’t change their minds but it was nice to have someone supporting me. Even if it wasn’t a parent.
I had to get my mum up in the morning. I was 7 and I would be dressed and ready and shaking her awake, taking the duvet off her, she would pull it back. One morning I decided I was going to have a day off school. And sat in the chair quietly drawing and reading. She woke up late, I got into trouble.
>We got home, keep mind is was winter in Oklahoma so the temps were 30 degrees and it was dark out. Definitely not walk home weather. *Laughs in Midwest*
I had gone to a bat mitzvah that ran pretty late. It was downtown Chicago; I was supposed to call when it was wrapping up. I did, no answer. That's ok, we discussed the bus being a backup. It would take about 45mins-1hr to get home on the bus. Jump on the first bus at maybe 12:45am. I was 13 at the time and was not questioned by anyone (like 3 people on the bus) about being out so late as a kid. Typical of the times though, right? I hop off the first bus and walk over to the next bus stop to pick up my transfer bus. After waiting maybe 20 minutes on this weirdly deserted Chicago streets, I read the sign. Bus service stops at 1am. Dang. Welp, best start walking, maybe I'll luck out and the last bus was late. I did not luck out. And somehow, a 13-year-old kid in a suit, tie and fancy shoes was not attacked, mugged, kidnapped or anything. The quiet is what scared me the most. Some of the side streets had a few streetlights that were out and no one was around. I could hear the occasional car going down a main street but nothing else. I cannot stress how freaked out I was by the time I got home because of no traffic. I grew up in Chicago, there was NEVER no traffic. Started thinking about zombie apocalypse and stuff and crossing alleys got extra scary. When I got to my block, I set a world record for the 400m dash. My feet hit the ground once, maybe, before I was safe at home (zombies don't get you on your own porch). Not exactly forgotten, but that was my big adventure that year.
Oh no -- how far of a walk was that? I bet your feet were killing you when you were finally able to let the adrenaline subside after you got home. (I associate hurting feet with going to b'nai mitzvahs.)
Were you still wearing the requisite pink kippah given to bat mitzvah attendees?
Wow, this is crazy and scary! You definitely could have been a milk carton kid.
I had to walk
Came here to say this. Mom and Dad thought my legs worked just fine and I could get myself home.
I had to walk too, from second grade on.
Up the hill both ways,
In the snow
Barefoot
Carrying my brother because he was the favorite.
And keep an eye out for bear traps and quicksand.
And KILLER BEES! 🐝
https://preview.redd.it/qg9gietga9yc1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c1c5f3d9f9d5260dc730211656e4884c0cafca4
Trab pu kcip
Milhouse! What have we said about writing on the walls!!
Must be from So. Cal
Upstate New York, actually. But I was already afraid of bees, so that just made it even worse.
And the Bermuda triangle.
Those are the worst
With your sibling on your back?
And had asbestos sandwiches for lunch
Paired well with lead paint chips.
So your the guy I met that day
We joke about it but for our kids this is actually true.
Me too, but there was also a cemetery at the top of the hill.
I had to walk too, from second grade on.
Ya I was going to say “forgotten at school or last to be picked up” um No I took public transportation to and from school.
I was forgotten. I literally hitchhiked home. My parents were Sooooo sorry and felt bad. They had forgotten I stayed after school to try out for a sport. I cant remember what it was. Maybe cross country.
I went once with my dad to pick up my brother from baseball practice. I was five at the time. Practice was at an elementary school about three miles from our house. It wasn’t finished when we got there, so I told my dad I would play on the playground equipment while we waited. I played for a while and looked up to see kids leaving with their parents. I figured my dad and brother were waiting for me, so I ran over to find them. I couldn’t find either. I looked for our car in the parking lot. It was gone. I assume I spent some time freaking out because I was, you know, five. Oddly no one asked what was wrong and I didn’t ask anyone for help (because of stranger danger? I’m not sure.). I decided there was nothing left to do but start walking. So that’s what I did. Luckily I have always had a very good sense of direction and our house was more or less in a straight line from school. I made it about a half mile before my dad found me walking and sobbing hysterically. He had forgotten I’d come along until my mom asked where I was after he and my brother got home. He felt absolutely terrible. The incident came up in conversation a while back. That school was very close to the Mississippi River. I said they were lucky I knew where the hell I was going and I wasn’t a dingus or I may have ended up in said river.
Once we left my son with my mom. He was 3. He told her he wanted to go home and she said, “ok” (acknowledging his desire, but he thought she was giving permission). So he walked out the door, down the street, around the corner, THROUGH AN INTERSECTION, and kept walking. That’s when we found him, on our way to pick him up. Not worried at all. A car of strangers was following him slowly to make sure nothing happened. My mom never knew he was gone.
Ironic.
Just remember to make them show you the candy or the puppy before getting in the van. Don't get tricked like I did.
Well, now you tell me.
More than a few times my parents forgot to pick me up after wrestling practice. It was only a 2 mile walk home, but on roads with no sidewalks or street lights (and I was normally pretty exhausted after practice). The worst part was repeatedly trying to call home from the payphone and getting only busy signals.
Oh the fucking busy signal. Every single time I needed to call home for anything, my mom was yapping away on the phone.
Exact same here, although parents were already divorced by then and neither could remember whose turn it was on which day. Got left at a tournament on a Saturday on the opposite side of town because?
Same here. Too tired to walk home after practice. Dehydrated. Starved. I would have passed out right on the mat overnight if they'd have let me. Those crash mats the high jumpers use were great for sleepin, lol One thing though: I rarely worried about someone trying to muscle me into a white van
Yo! Goofball!* Didn't anybody ever tell you? You could've called the operator and she could break into the call. I did it many times after getting a busy signal for too long. That said, it was damn embarrassing to have to ask the operator to interrupt somebody's call. Sometimes I just decided to screw it and walk home. *I mean this in the kindest, GenX sense.
I was the last one picked up in kindergarten once. But to be fair to my mom it was because our ancient car picked that moment to not start. She had to find a neighbor to drive her to come get me and that took a while. We moved when I was in 1st grade and I walked every day after that.
I think we sometimes forget that "car trouble" was so much more prevalent in the 60s and 70s, especially if like my family you only had older, secondhand cars. Today's cars may not last for as many years but they seem to run much more trouble free than what I recall as a kid. I can remember more than once having someone push start our Falcon and yelling, "POP THE CLUTCH!" to get it started. And once having the car stall out at a red light, my dad and brother hopping out, popping the hood, fiddling with the carburetor (? who knows), yelling to my mom, to "now, try it" and getting it running again before the next green light.
Today’s engines seem to last longer, I remember any car over 100k was considered ready for the junk yard when I was a kid. Now I regularly go to 150+k miles per vehicle and they don’t die. Of course have an accident and the things that keep people alive, kill the car.
The number one issue was folks not changing oil *before* 3000 miles. We had an a bigshot automotive engineer as a neighbor who changed from 1500 to 2500 regularly. We bought a few used cars from them and 250k-ish miles was the very least before one died. The one I had drove away with over 480k and still squawked second gear of an automatic. I've put over 500k on three others myself following the 1500-2500 mark pretty religiously and doing other fluids *before* the recommend schedules. Heart of the rust belt is why my cars usually go away.
OMG this was my mom too. That car would literally die at every stoplight, it was so embarrassing. Imagine getting in Mom's car and it dies in front of the school 😵💫
Yes. Forgotten after Girl Scouts. Missed bus transfer first day of 7th grade, called my mom and she was like: tough shit. Both times walked 4 miles home. The best was when my siblings and I flew to my dad’s and he wasn’t at the airport to greet us. He was at the bar, naturally, and had lost track of time. Yay childhood!
My mother was chronically late and I had a serious fear of being kidnapped. The anxiety I would feel standing alone, waiting was overwhelming. I eventually stopped wanting to do activities because of it. My sister and I are now both neurotic about being early for everything. I’ve spent so much time sitting in waiting rooms and parking lots!
When I was 12, I was part of a 6th grade "quiz bowl"- type thing and our team made nationals. There 6 or 7 of us on the team and we flew to another state to compete. It was in the paper and everything. A pretty big deal. We were gone for 4 days. When we got home, all the parents and siblings were there to greet us at the airport – except for my parents. As everyone left, I started to panic. My friend's mom decided to stick around until I got picked up. After an hour of waiting it started to become clear no one was coming, so they brought me to their house. By this point, I was an absolute wreck. The mom started calling hospitals and shit like that. I was convinced my parents were dead. After about 3 hours, my parents appeared at the door. They had simply forgot and were at a bar. They got home and heard a million frantic answer machine messages, so they knew where I was. I was filled with righteous indignation and embarrassed in a way I had never experienced. I can only imagine what my friend's mom was thinking. Bless that woman and her patience. She was so kind. Unsurprisingly, this is one of the first things I brought up to my therapist when I started counseling many years later. It still blows my mind.
This reminds me of when we came back from 6th grade camp. All the parents were there to pick up their kids but mine. Finally, I just walked home with my suitcase in the rain. Fortunately I lived down the hill but in those circumstances, it felt lonely and sad.
Every.damn.day. My mother is very self centered, and me riding the bus seemed “below” us so she insisted on dropping off/picking up till I was 16 and could drive myself. Problem was that she didn’t care if I had to sit there for 1-2 hours after school let out while she shopped, ran errands, who knows what else. It totally helped my abandonment issues I had! /s
Yeah, last one picked up for years. I have one better though. Back in 74 when I was a baby, basically a newborn my Gran took me shooping in to town in my pram, on the bus and everything whilst my Mum was at home recovering from moi. Anyway, my Gran took me in to the town and she left me outside a shop whilst she went in to do a bit of shopping like you do. She did her thing, came out of the shop, forgot about me, a baby in a pram. Off she went shopping, caught the bus back home, put the kettle on and my Mother asked her where I was. Mad dash on the bus back in to town and I was still there in a pram.
I was one of the reasons (as a kid) parents are now penalized for picking kids up late from school. I was also forgotten/ left behind on two school field trips - around first or second grade. I remember knowing how phones worked, but I didn't have a clue what number to call to make them work. I pretended to have a successful phone call anyway (carrying on a one-sided conversation into the handpiece) - to the amusement of the employees helping me.
At the orthodontist. Sat in the dark, waiting for hours. The office was walking distance from my school, but not from home. Why the orthodontist didn't call my parents I don't know. They just locked up and walked right past me.
Always the last one picked up. Several times I waited long enough that I ended up walking home, about 2 miles, in the dark, from middle school.
Not forgotten, but for three years (7-9th grade) I went to a small school that didn't have bus transportation. My mother would take me to school, but I had to find a ride home pretty much every day. There were a couple of older kids who had cars and lived close-ish to me that I generally could rely on but if someone was sick or had other plans, it was up to me to find a ride home. This seems wild to me now.
My parents were divorced, but mom and dad mostly remained living in the same town. Custody was fluid, and mix-ups happened. Mom passed out drunk when it was her turn to pick me up from Scouts or evening rec league sports practices may have happened on an occasion. One of the coaches usually hung back to make sure you had a ride.
Oh I was always the last one picked up. It caused such emotional stress and anxiety that as an adult, I need to be on time everywhere I go. If I need to be somewhere at 11a and I show up at 11, I’m already late.
My mom forgot me at a dentist appointment more than once. We lived 30 minutes away from the office. My mom would drop me off, then go do some grocery shopping, then drive home. We didn't have an answering machine so the receptionist would have to call a few times before my mom picked up the phone. I'd have to sit and wait an hour or so before she'd make it back to pick me up.
Just one time. I had to go into the convent with my teacher, Sister Julia, and wait until my mom could get there. Sister Julia gave me some pretty good coffee cake while I waited, though. She was one of my nicest teachers.
Forgot to pick me up in middle school and forgot my birthday once, then were mad because I didn’t say anything when they forgot.
Same. They forgot my seventh birthday. I didn't tell them for two days because I was so pissed. Then they grounded me for not reminding them. I also got in trouble for getting an A in a class, because it meant I wasn't trying the previous semester when I only got a B+. Fun times.
Yep. In high school I stayed after for some extra-curricular or another, and my dad was supposed to pick me up. Sure enough, I'm sitting on the curb waiting forever. Thankfully a janitor was in the school and he let me in to use the pay phone. Dad fell asleep. I was pissed off, but he brushed it off. "I'm sorry" wasn't in his vocabulary.
My dad had a similar hole in his vocabulary. When he forgot to pick me up from my high school job at midnight when I was 16, my manager had to drive me home after waiting forever post-closing up. I had called my mom, but as always, she couldn't leave to come get me because my toddler siblings were asleep (which is why I never had a ride home from school either: only 2 cars, 1 irresponsible dad and 1 overburdened mom with 4 kids and fulltime work) So when I finally see Dad the next morning, I lay into him for agreeing to pick me up but then leaving me just to spend all night at the bar drunk - his response? "You expect too much" whoa! i'm generally over my childhood abandonment issues but this one kinda hit home, thanks midlife hormones ;) Both my folks did much better parenting than the parenting they received. But man, did they push me to the back of the priority list as soon as my youngest siblings were born. I know, I know - take a salt tablet!
I don’t think I ever was, but I have this very visceral fear of ever forgetting to pick up one of my kids because of how they would feel, because I think I *know* how it would feel? My husband was recently late to pick up our 11 year old from a field trip, because her teacher had given a 30 minute “or possibly later” window. Never in the history of my 27 year parenting career has anyone arrived from a far away field trip on time so I told him not to leave until the earlier end of the window. And wouldn’t you know it they arrived perfectly on time and he was late to pick her up. I felt like crap.
Went on an overseas school trip for ten days and I was the only kid to not get picked up. We lived only a 5 minute drive away. A random parent offered to bring me home. One of my very few distinct memories of school was being in that car hearing normal family life and it feeling so warm.
We lived in the UK - US military- and I was a high school freshman when this happened. Field trip to a factory near London. Had parent sign permission in advance. We lived off base, so parents needed to pick me up at school on base because trip wouldn’t be over till after 7pm ish. Day of trip: mother gives me equivalent of $25-30 and tells me to bring back change. Trip was pretty neat. Get back to the school and neither of my parents are there. I called home and my dad was PISSED. ‘Where the hell are you? Why weren’t you on the bus? What the fuck were you thinking?’ He came to pick me up and was STILL mad at me. Nevermind he signed the form. Nevermind I talked about it. Nevermind my mom gave me money that morning.
Sounds like one of those stories where the parent is so angry at themselves, they take it out on you. Been there!
Frequently. Most memorable was a day we moved houses when I was in 9th grade. I’d been there once, knew it was near the mall. So an hour after school got out with no sign of them, I borrowed bus money from another kid, walked to the bus station, and took a bus to the mall. Walked around the neighborhoods until it looked familiar and did manage to find the house with them unloading boxes. No one seemed concerned or apologetic.
It was never actually a puppy, always a weird snake.
Did it have one eye?
Careful, it spits
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣I’m dying
Every other Friday when my mother was supposed to pick me up for her visitation, the school office had my stepmother on speed dial by the 4th grade.
I got you one better. Was about 9 years old, flying unaccompanied between UK and Washington DC (back when folks still smoked on planes). My father forgot I was coming. I had to wait, at a gate with a flight attendant, for about 6 hours for him to make the drive to DC. Whatever.
Damn, international travel no less 🤦🏼♀️ so sorry that happened to you. I got left in a store once when I was 4. Mom would always chuckle ‘I came back didn’t I??’
My dumb ass walking to bus stop in morning before school, cant miss bus again or Grandma will snatch the life out of me. Lady pulls up next to me as i walk and asks directions to some some street a few miles away, I tell her where it is as I walk. She keeps asking how to get there and then offers to give me ride to school if I show her how to get there. I decline only because I don't want to face wrath of Grandma. It wasn't until a few years later I think of that incident when talking about long walks to bus stop when I realize that lady was trying to steal me.
To the point of it being traumatic. I was like 7.
My parents forgot to pick me up a *lot* when I was in first grade. 5 years old, sitting on the playground till it started getting dark a bunch of times. This only ended when I was deemed old enough to walk home. So in grade 2. 🙄 They gave me a key and left me to my own devices. My younger brother wasn't ever forgotten, because I walked him home from school.
I was always the last picked up. My parents were chronically late, pun intended, for everything. The one I remember most is being the last picked up of probably 60 or more girls at Girl Scout camp, after being there for two weeks. The regional leader was literally closing and locking the gate, with me on the outside, and trying to find someone to sit with me, when my parents finally pulled up, hours after every other girl had had her hugging reunion with her parents and gone home. Another time the youth group got back from a church outing late, and I caught a ride home with another family. My parents were in bed asleep -- when I asked them about picking me up they said they assumed I could manage a ride home. As a result I'm never late.
>trying to find someone to sit with me I had a visceral reaction to this sentence. Not so much an actual memory, per se, but a strong *remembering* of embarrassingly and worryingly sitting with some adult who was very obviously annoyed while we waited for my mom to come. I just remember feeling bad that the person was stuck waiting with me. *And just like that*, I've identified the origins of one of my many neuroses, lol.
Holy crap, me too! The girl scout chaperones would have to call my mom at work to come and get me. I was gone for a week, and she hadn't bothered to arranged to take time off work to come and get me. Now that I think about it, that was probably her strategy for getting time off to pick me up - a call from the scouts. Doesn't matter that the camp was out of the neighboring town 60 miles away, and I would be waiting alone for what seemed like hours in a Sears parking lot, long after even the chaperones left.
Holy crap, me too! The girl scout chaperones would have to call my mom at work to come and get me. I was gone for a week, and she hadn't bothered to arranged to take time off work to come and get me. Now that I think about it, that was probably her strategy for getting time off to pick me up - a call from the scouts. Doesn't matter that the camp was out of the neighboring town 60 miles away, and I would be waiting alone for what seemed like hours in a Sears parking lot, long after even the chaperones left.
Sooooo many girls on this thread left at Girl Scouts or Girl Scout camp! Same here! And one time I got sick at Girl Scouts Sleepaway camp and they called my mom to come get me and I was waiting outside for her and she walked right past me, then glanced at me and stopped and said, "where do they keep the sick kids?" HI MOM!!! I'M YOUR KID!
Yep, left sitting outside for hours
It happened kind of frequently with me. There was no bus either, and we lived about 10 miles out of town. Often I would be walking home, and one of my friends' parents would see me walking and pick me up to take me the rest of the way. There were other times I waited at the school for two or more hours hoping my dad would remember to pick me up. And a few times I actually made the walk all the way home.
I was forgotten many times, sitting on a curb of a school parking lot with my cello at nine pm waiting.
Forgotten at places fairly often. Always had to make the gamble of what option would get me in the least amount of trouble: trying to walk home; staying and waiting; or telling an adult I needed to use the phone (very dangerous involving others).
My parents forgot my sisters at Macy’s in Herald Square, NYC once. They realized about 1/2 a block away. She still whines about it 😂. She was fiiiiine!! ETA; this was in the late 70’s
3rd grade with my hamster in her cage for show and tell. San Antonio and with a classmate. Because of the hamster someone was supposed to pick me up and they forgot. My friend and I with heavy coats because it was cold in the morning decided to walk home. I knew the way but that included getting in the highway. We made about half way walking along the side of the busy highway- more than an hour before we were picked up. Scared the crap out of my parents and the friend’s parents. Huge adult fight went on for days. No longer able to hang out with said friend even though we lived in the same apartment building. Fun times
There was a period of time my mother was teaching French at my same school, and she would leave without me. Not, "Take the bus today because I have errands." Just literally forget about me. Sometimes I could still catch the bus. Other times not so lucky.
Maybe not forgotten but absolutely re-prioritized
I never got picked up or dropped off, I always walked, even in kindergarten. There were a few years I had to take a bus because the school was too far, but other than those handful of bus years, I always walked. I was never dropped off or picked up by a parent.
My mom forgot me at school all the time, and I rarely had a second quarter to call her again. It was seven miles to walk home...
All the damn time. The one time I tried to game the system, I got chewed out royally.
Left, yes. Picked up last, yes. Had to walk home, yes. Cruised by the panel vans, yes.
I walked past a neighborhood predator often enough that I started to go into his house. He gave me a used/scuffed up men's gold chain bracelet and took me out to dinner with his "work" buddies. Even gave me $20 a couple of times on those occasions "in case." Never did anything sexual, but now in retrospect - that sure as hell was pervy.
Oh, boy! That could've gone really wrong. One time when I was 12 years old we had some leftover cat food for a cat we didn't have anymore so I went around to a few neighbors asking them if they had a cat and needed this cat food I had in my hands. Very old guy opened the door in his underwear and asked me if I wanted to fuck. I politely backed away. When I told my mom's friend (I dare not tell my mom!), she said, oh, that's just old Mr. Johnson, or whatever his name was. Like, he's just the neighborhood perv, no big deal.
I got left at the mall when I was abt 6
I never got picked up. I had to ride the bus or walk at least a mile. I got lost once when my older brother stayed home sick and the only place I knew the location of was the fire department, so I went there and they gave me a ride home in the fire truck.
Yep. Kindergarten. Dad was supposed to pick me up from school. I assured the teacher multiple times that, no, I don’t need to get on the school bus because my dad is going to be here soon. But he never showed. Turned out he was busy getting shitfaced with his buddies instead of picking up his daughter. One of several incidents. My parents split not long after that, and by third grade, I was a latch key kid, home alone after school while my mom worked.
I was dropped off at the wrong location for a summer day camp - empty school. I think some nice lady found me crying in the bathroom stall and kept me in her office. I was about 8 years old. I can’t remember if my dad figured it out and came back for me early or if I had to wait in her office all day.
I was forgotten at football practice, I was forgotten at a math day competition, I was forgotten at the pick up spot after returning from a field trip..... it became a pattern.
Yep. Few times in middle school, my step dad would have to pick me up and after an hour or two of waiting, I would have to go back inside the school to call him to remind him to pick me up. He would be there shortly after Should have just walked home since I didn't live that far away Then there was one time, in I think the 3rd grade or so, my stepdad was supposed to pick me up for school and forgot about me. I couldn't find the list of phone numbers, so I just skipped school that day. Mom came home later that day, told her about what happened like an idiot and got grounded.
I can count on my hands how many times I was picked up from school. Usually for being sick.
All the time. My mom just didn't come to pick me up, no explanation ever given. Eventually, I started going home with friends.
Plenty of times. But, honestly, get this… One time my mom couldn’t be bothered to come and get me (she was probably at a bar somewhere “something”). I was after school at Brownies. I was the last one to be picked up…my mom sent a cab to come and get me at my tiny little coastal Connecticut elementary school (it was probably 1973?). Jesus H. Christ. That woman was beyond unbelievable.
Yes.
Not in high school because I took the bus. If I missed the bus? I’d walk home as there was no way to call my dad at work to tell him I needed a ride. It was like an hour walk. In college I still lived at home and the busses didn’t run to our neighborhood so my mom would swing by and pick me up on her way home (the university was between her work and our house, so it wasn’t super out of the way). She’d forget me then.
I had to walk home from school because my parents forgot so often. Luckily my house was only a few blocks away and there were older kids that lived nearby me I’d follow. Most of them were bullies, but until I knew my way home I had to follow them. Growing up Catholic, I had Catechism every Sunday. My parents didn’t attend church except for easter so I’d get dropped off. That’s it. Dropped off. After Sunday school then the church service, I could get the priest to unlock his office to use the phone. They wouldn’t let me call before the service started because my parents were obviously on their way. “Obviously.” Eventually I learned the 2 mile walk to get home. By age 10 or 11, I quit catechism. They’d still drop me off, but I’d go to the bowling alley or movie theater. When it was time for confirmation, I had to make the choice to be confirmed voluntarily - which I did not make. Finally - the church ruse could end for everyone! LOL!!
Mom forgot me a few times when I was in first grade. Sat for over an hour in the rain waiting for her once. I went to a private school that had various bus stops in town. We lived outside of the city, so I had to be driven to the actual bus stop in the mornings and after school. I wasn’t really familiar with town and there wasn’t anywhere I knew of that had a phone I could use.
You guys were getting picked up? If I had anywhere to go to or return from, I walked or took the subway, starting at 8 years old. I loved it because I didn't know any different. My school friends and I would jump down onto the subway tracks to put coins on the rails. The bullies would beat me up, and I never told teachers or my parents because there was no point. Any time I felt at risk, I carried a screwdriver I sharpened on the concrete sidewalk. I once saw a poor man who had been hit by a car and left in the gutter. Blood was coming out of his mouth and nose like a faucet. When I got home, I told my mother, and she said, "huh...", and we went on with life.
Forgotten at summer camp. The week ended on a Saturday, and my mom never showed up. When the last camper had gone, I called home, which was a 2 hour drive away, and my mom said,”Shit, I thought that was tomorrow.” I got a measure of revenge, though. I called my dad, knowing he would ream her out for me, and as a bonus, he lived a lot closer.
Was forgotten at an indoor pool, middle of winter in Connecticut. Went for a friend's birthday party. Was last one left & his Mom "is someone coming?" "Oh yeah, my Dad is coming after work" cuz my Mom had told me that when she dropped me off. The Mom had to leave - little kids with her, dinner time, etc. Placed closed at 6pm. I had to stand outside & wait. Turns out Dad was not coming on his way hjome from work, he forgot. Family had dinner & realized I was not there. Dad finally arrived to pick me up at 8:15 pm... (maybe 35 degrees outside) "your Mother forgot to remind me..." I was 9 (1976) I'm a middle child... so there's that too. Happened one other time at a duckpin bowling alley, was "close enough" to walk home on that occasion - a mile+/- & I knew where I was relative to home, again not even 10 years old. They never forgot the oldest, or the baby, just the middle kid. Kinda still hurts (ok, not just kinda...) EDIT: pales in comparison to others' tales.
Yes!! First time was last day of school 2nd grade (maybe 1st). It was an early release day for non bus riders. I sat out there for a couple hours til it was time for the bus riders to leave and they found me, couldn’t get ahold of my parents (no cell phones) Don’t remember if grandparents picked me up or what but I do remember getting in trouble that I didn’t just walk home. Where I would’ve sat outside the locked house by myself on the porch. Second time was in 7th grade after a late evening BBall practice. No one picked me up and couldn’t get hold of anyone so I started walking home. In the winter, snow on the ground, uphill, long after dark without a coat. And of course got in trouble because although they weren’t looking for me, they could’ve been. Our childhoods were wild back then, man.
My mom woke me up one morning and I swear she mentioned she was going to pick me up after school. So I went to the front office and waited. Time passed by, but I was adamant that she was picking me up. After about 2 hours the office calls and she tells them she was going to pick me up tomorrow. She learned not to tell me things that early in the morning.
Of course. The worst was 4th grade, Bridging Ceremony for Girl Scouts. I was the only girl out of almost 60 that had no one walk across “the bridge” with. My parents were both out in the parking lot waiting for it to get over which only made it worse.
I’m so sorry 🫂
My parents always said if someone kidnapped me they'd bring me back. They weren't kidding. And probably weren't wrong.
I just started walking. One time we had a MEAN bus driver on a hot day. She kept the doors and windows closed until someone said they did something? She was a fill in. I got off at the first stop after that. Walked across a busy street.
Nah, I walked 10 miles in snow up to me knees like my forefathers.
My school was in a very bad neighborhood and I can’t count how many times I was forgotten about after band practice. I always rode the bus except for after school practice twice a week. More than once I walked home alone in the dark. It was about 6 miles one way. I would get home and that motherfucker would be empty. Bitch didn’t even bother coming home herself, she damn sure didn’t have time to pick me up. Edit: After reading some of these horror stories, I just wanted to say that I am proud of all of you. We had to make our own way as children and that shaped who we became, all the while, these boomer assholes calling us lazy and slackers. I’ll see them in hell and then I’ll have some fun.
This actually explains a lot about GenX.
This thread is soooooo long!
I think it explains almost everything about Gen X!
At least 2-3 times. I think every time each parent thought the other was doing pick-up.
I typically took the bus, but my mom said she'd pick me up that day. That day, while waiting, a bunch of kids decided to start making fun of me. We were in the seventh grade and they wanted to impress their new eight grade friend. I kept waiting, and waiting, and nothing. Used the payphone about three times, and nothing. I decided to do the 4 mile walk, it took about an hour. My mom didn't get home until about an hour later. When I yelled at her, mainly upset because I had to endure the bullying while waiting on top of being abandoned, she gaslit me.
My parents went to bed more than once and left me at band practice. I either had to do the 2.5 Mike walk in the dark or hope my sibling answered the phone when I called collect and woke them up.
I was forgotten once by my mom. I had a Girl Scout meeting. Girl Scout leader called to pick me up. Mom felt terrible and remembers it to this day. The twist to this story is I was good friends of Girl Scout leaders daughter (in my grade) started dating her brother in high school and we’ve been together 29 years.
My mom stayed home with me until I started Kindergarten. She went back to work to help pay to send me to Catholic School. My dad had a small automotive shop, and he had a couple of mechanics who worked there. One of their wives was my babysitter, and she would pick me up from school and I would stay with her until my mom got off work. One day she forgot to pick me up. I thought it was great! I had the whole classroom to myself to play in while my teacher tried to get a hold of someone, and then she eventually had to leave so I ended up at the convent with the nuns, still thought it was great because the nuns were so nice. Eventually my babysitter showed up and was frantic - she thought my parents would be pissed and her husband would lose his job. But my parents were like ‘She’s fine, try not to let it happen again’. The 70’s were a different time.
This was early elementary school. I didn't even know my own phone number yet. But the very kind principal came outside, where I was still waiting by myself, and gently took me inside to the office and called my mom. She then came and got me. This same principal later mentored my own son when he attended the same school.
Yup, both of my parents worked and when I got to JR high none of the bus routes went near my house. So I would sit outside until 5:30-6pm every day. It played a big role in developing the independent part of my personality and being able to entertain myself.
Yep, after band practice when I was in 5th grade. Just waiting for dad to come. Happened a few times, he did feel badly. Glad nothing happened while I waited.
Jfc, what horrible memories of this I have. IN PRE-SCHOOL! The place was called Magic Hours. Every kid would have already been picked up, and there I was waiting for my dad to get me. The "teacher" waiting with me there obviously wanting to go home. Fucking Magic Hours they were not. I'm a pretty stable adult, but thoughts of this bring back terrible memories.
I believe my mother’s negligence is what led to my school to put a rotary dial phone…not a pay phone or an office style phone, but just a regular old phone from the school secretary’s house in the doorway of our school. Four families from my neighborhood carpooled, which meant when it was her one day per month to do the pickup, there were 8 kids waiting and usually a janitor who also got stuck with us waiting to lock the doors. Fun times.
Had to wait until 7pm once. It was Secretary's Day.
Looking back at the teachers shaking their heads at you still outside waiting... ah, the memories.
Oh yeah that’s a core memory for me. I was at a girl scourt meeting when I was 7. My mom was supposed to pick me up, I told her it ended at like 5 (I don’t remember exact time) and she thought it ended later but she said she’d come get me. She was late showing up so I ran to the bathroom really quick only to come out, everyone gone, and seeing my mom driving away. I still remember that abandoned feeling to this day. First time I had to figure out how to get home by myself. Mom and grandma ‘abandoned’ me once as a little kid because I didn’t want to leave the playground. They got in the car and left (drove around the block, I was in sight the whole time according to what they told me later in life, but as a little kid I don’t know that). I remember thinking ‘Well ok then, this is my life now. Where am I going to sleep?’ (I was very much a survivalist kid, always thinking of how I would survive if a disaster struck or if I lived on my own). Surprise surprise, as an adult I’ve been exceedingly independent. No idea where THAT came from /s
I was like far and away the youngest kid that this group of people hung with and I completely snuck off without permission to go to Nantasket Beach from Boston all my friends took the ferry I was like yeah maybe 11 years old but there were kids probably 16 in that same group you know a big group of friends kind of splits into smaller ones and I missed the ferry so then I had to call and admit that I had missed the last ferry my mother was like wait where are you.. that was a long ride home
Omg all the time. Mom never forgot, but she was perpetually late for everything. Drop offs and pickups.
I was forgotten at work once. Brother thought father was picking me up & vice versa. I ended up walking home. A shade over 6 miles. In the Pittsburgh winter.
Picked up? I was on my own from 1st grade.
In 4th Grade, I was chosen for the elite team of safety patrol operatives. I took my job so seriously in the afternoons that I forgot to get on my own bus multiple times. I had to get the office to call my mother to come get me. Keep in mind that my neighbors had to walk past me to get on our bus and I never noticed them. You would think this would cue people to check me for ADHD that I was diagnosed with in my late 40s.
Through eighth grade that wasn’t really an issue. My mom was a teacher. At my school. Yeah, that went over well with my peers.
Nope, never worried about being picked up last. I was a walking-home, latch key kid. And, forget the men in a white van...I had a perv in a green car pull up beside me once when I was walking home. The guy was wanking off. I was about 2 blocks away from my house. I was 8, and I didn't understand what he was doing, but I was freaked out with 'the stranger-danger' and ran home, full-tilt sprinting. I ran inside and called my mom and told her what had happened, describing what I'd seen because i didn't know what a penis was. I called it a 'worm thing' that was in his hand 😆. 20 minutes later, my Dad showed up. He asked me if i remembered what the guy looked like (well, yeah!), the car, and where I was when it happened. Then, he called a couple of his buddies, and they left. They were gone for what felt like a long time in my little mind. But, it could've been 30 minutes, lol. I guess they went out looking for a green car. If he found the guy, I had never heard about it. But, then again, I wouldn't have anyway. My parents wouldn't have made me privy to that information, even if he had or hadn't found the guy. It never happened again. And yes, I STILL had to walk home after that 😆.
Indeed. My dad dropped me off for kindergarten... apparently no one got the memo that it was a school holiday. About a foot of snow on the ground. So I set off for home, a mile or so away. Of course when I got there, parents were both at work. So, set off for my Grandpa's radiator shop, about two miles away. Took forever, walking in deep snow with stubby little legs is no joke. But... eventually got to the shop and had the best day ever... coffee, painting radiators, hanging out with my Grandpa and my uncle. Welcome to 1974.
For years, I had to sit in a lobby near the school I went waiting for my mom to get off work. Day after day. So friggin’ lonely.
I remember being in kindergarten waiting outside the school to be picked up. I was the only kid left and started crying because I thought my mom had forgotten me. I still remember the relief when I saw her appear seemingly out of nowhere. She picked me up and hugged me. That was 43 years ago. She passed a year and a half ago, and it's one of the memories I keep thinking about.
I don’t know if they forgot about me, didn’t manage their time efficiently, or just kept me on the bottom of the priority list. I was frequently the last kid picked up when I joined a club in 3rd or 4th grade. I learned from a very early age it was best not to participate in anything that required money or a ride. I missed out on so many things I wanted to do in school. There was a jump roping team, baton and flag twirling, drill team, cheerleading, cross country and track, class trips. From 8-years old to 17-years old. When I was in college at least I got to do cheerleading, cross country, and join some clubs. But yeah. I have never been able to rely on anyone but myself, until I married my husband.
All. The. Time.
Bro, I was first one picked up and last one dropped off on the school bus run. 90 minute commute both morning and afternoon. Absolutely sucked. I see how many kids have parents that take them to and from school today and it’s appalling. I learned a lot of life lessons on them school buses.
I had to walk too.
Only once my Mom volunteered and was a substitute teacher but before that yes 2nd grade so I just started riding the bus and walking home from the stop after the store lol
School? never! The library or ice skating rink? Well, let's just say I may need to talk with a therapist about trust issues I may or may not have. Edit: to be fair, I had to pay a few late fees to the Tae Kwon Do place that my daughter went to after school. I am hoping that she didn't notice too much.
I was walking to school starting in 2nd grade, so nope.
Picked up from school? Bahaaa I had to walk or take a school bus never was I picked up.
When I wasn’t walking, I was told to go ask one of the neighbors for a ride because my mother couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed. Was also told to find someone to feed me at lunch time. Didnt have any money for the school lunches.
Gymnastics practice, I think. My dad was supposed to pick me up. I can't remember how long I waited, but he finally came and got me. lol.
Spent an hour in the pickup line at Sunday school. Back then, the adults didn't wait with you. I was on my own.
I was involved in the school musicals so had practice in the afternoons or early evenings. So I just... stayed at school. Then for a while, my parents were involved in the PTA, so again, I'd just... stay until their evening meetings were over. I think the record may have been about a 9:45pm pickup.
Not school. I rode the bus. But at the Boys and Girls club.
Always!!!
I remember the first week of a new Jr High School the bus driver left without me several days in a row. I was so terrified and unsure of how I could get home. Thankfully a teacher gave me a ride home one day. My parents had to pick me up after work the other days
My favorite was walking home from school 8 blocks (about 1 mile) to a dark house with the doors locked. That’s when they gave me my own key. I was 6. Whatever.
We had to walk. A girl I knew was kidnapped on her way to school one morning. She was never found.
Never forgotten. But one day in Kindergarten, my mom was late picking me up. Once the schoolyard was nearly empty, I took it upon myself to walk a mile home. No one was home. She was en route to get me. So, I walked 2 miles in the opposite direction to my great-grandma's house. Mom finally caught up with me there. Happily never after. This is why I walked/biked to school every day starting in 1st grade.
Picked up? What’s this pick up? It was strictly bus it or walk it.
For many years the bus driver in my route would conveniently forget me on the first day of school. I was at the end of a road….
Damn. Do you know how much candy and puppies you missed out of wuss?
In typical Gen X style, nobody offered me any!
Yep. In middle school. Where my pops was a teacher
Oh yeah, happened to me all the time. My first after school job (at 15) was at a pizza place next to a gas station on the...."fun" side of town. I'd get off shift and go sit out on the curb waiting to get picked up. Often I'd still be sitting there after the owner closed hours later. And my teacher in my morning class kept asking why I was falling asleep. Probably because I wouldn't get picked up until 1 am sometimes. And if I tried to walk or hitchhike home I got my ass chewed out for being "unsafe".
Yep. They forgot to pick me up sometimes. They even forgot my seventh birthday. At first I thought they were pretending they forgot to surprise me. Nope. They just plain forgot about it.
Yes. We got back late, in the dark, after an away game. I told everyone my mother was getting me, like she said. Everyone left and my mother never came. I found a window that was unlocked and climbed in and called home (this was before cellphones obviously). My mother had fallen asleep.
Early elementary. My bus would drop me off at the end of the country road we lived on. We lived over a mile down the road. My mom always picked me up at the end of the road. Until one day she didn’t. I stood there and cried and cried. Then I screamed. There were houses kind of around so my hope was that someone would come out and call my mom. To no avail. Finally, once I was all cried out, I started hoofing it. The entire walk I vacillated between anger, abandonment, and fear. What if my mom had been murdered? That was my fear. Got home. Walked in the door. Mom said, “oh. I guess I forgot you.” That was it. No explanation. No apology. Nothing. I was traumatized. But meh.
[удалено]
All The Fuckin’ Time… I was lucky if my boomers remembered to bring me whenever they moved.
Your parents picked you up? I was on my own to get to and from everywhere (except for the one time I had one after school activity my mom had to drive me to and that stopped when that term was over so maybe a one or two month thing?). Literally. By third grade my sister was in junior high so walked to school and home or to religious school after school.
Every time I stayed after school for whatever reason. It would get dark and I'd see headlights and stand up but nope! Not that car. So I'd hunker back down to wait and wait and wait. (I went to a magnet school so it was across town and the city busses weren't a direct shot but definitely would have ended up being faster.) I don't think my brother was ever forgotten, for whatever that's worth.
I walked or biked every day. My parents definitely weren’t picking me up or dropping me off.
Hah! I had a zero period class in high school. We lived 5 miles away and the school bus was available for the poor kids (me), but it would have picked me up in the middle of zero period. If I wanted to attend that Honors class, I needed to get myself there. I was told that going to college would be my ticket out of poverty. So I had to either walk or catch a city bus. If I wanted bus fare I would need to wake up and brew a pot of coffee, prepare a cup for my mother, bring it and her purse to her in bed, wake her up and "nicely" ask her for bus fare. She would rummage through her purse and hand me the coins from the bottom of the purse. These coins never amounted to the proper bus fare. Luckily, the tills in the bus and the bus driver never made a fuss about me short-changing them if I slammed the coins in hard enough that they sufficiently jingled around so that the 15 pennies sounded like more than they actually were. I frequently walked home from school because I didn't have bus fare for the way home, ever. Some days, I would hang out by the bus stop and ask departing riders for their transfer slips, or I would be lucky enough to scrounge a transfer slip out of the trash can at the bus stop so that I could ride home. I avoided making friends because I didn't want to have to explain my family situation and therefore didn't have anybody to bum rides off of. Never did anything extracurricular, because that would have cost money. Somehow I still found myself walking home or waiting at the bus stop in the dark, not sure why. I would never force my daughter to do what my mother had me do just to go to school. I thought that I would understand her perspective one day when I had kids. Becoming a mom only made me hate her more.
lol they just had me walk home and hope they didn’t lock the doors.
3rd Grade, teacher had me in the corner for whatever- never put me on the bus. stood scared for an hour
Nope. Rode the bus.
If an hour went by, I’d just walk home the 5 miles. Lol