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Some small thing you longed for as a child, but never got. 🙁

(301 Posts)
Witzend Tue 02-Jul-24 11:56:47

Inspired by the donkey rides thread.

Until I was about 9, the whole family (6 of us) made a Saturday shopping trip to a town with an arcade where there were always a couple of Shetland ponies with bells on their harness. You could have a ride for sixpence.

I longed painfully for ride, but never even asked, since I was aware from a very young age that spare sixpences weren’t exactly plentiful.
What did you long for that never happened? (If anything.)

FindingNemo15 Tue 02-Jul-24 11:59:45

To have horse riding and ballet lessons. Financially it was not possible. I did go to Brownies and Guides.

Beechnut Tue 02-Jul-24 11:59:48

The old lady who lived next door when I was a child said she had pixies living in her cellar. I really wanted one and imagined the little clothes I could make for it.

Germanshepherdsmum Tue 02-Jul-24 12:02:34

I would have loved to have a pony.

Rekarie Tue 02-Jul-24 12:04:00

Not such a small thing in my case. I wanted a monkey. A real monkey. I was very fortunate as a child to come from a wealthy family. So one year I decided I wanted a monkey. And I didn't get one. I was quite flabbergasted about this. And stayed flabbergasted for a few years.

I now understand why I didn't receive a monkey.

yogitree Tue 02-Jul-24 12:05:09

A pogo stick.
They were too dangerous apparently. I was however allowed to go out riding on a horse in traffic!

Damdee Tue 02-Jul-24 12:06:55

We used to go to a fair and I saw other children carrying balloons like faces with coloured feathers on top of their heads. I always wanted one but didn't ask as I knew they were expensive and my parents had already paid for several rides.

Clawdy Tue 02-Jul-24 12:15:04

Ballet lessons, as I was an avid reader of the Lorna Hill novels about Sadlers Wells! No way my mum could have afforded them, and not sure there were any available in our area anyway. I did make sure my daughter had ballet lessons, and she loved them!

MissInterpreted Tue 02-Jul-24 12:16:39

Germanshepherdsmum

I would have loved to have a pony.

Same. It's the one thing I always wanted. I loved horses from an early age and I did get riding lessons, but never got one of my own. Years later, I learned that my dad had arranged to buy my favourite pony from our local riding school, but my mum went behind his back and cancelled the arrangement because she said I didn't deserve it. I never forgave her for that.

Grandma70s Tue 02-Jul-24 12:17:08

Christmas crackers. My father thought them a ridiculous waste of money, so we never had them. When I was organising Christmas for my own children, we had lots of crackers!

biglouis Tue 02-Jul-24 12:21:32

I would have loved to go on the school trip to France when I was 14. All my friends were going and I was top of the class in French. My parents said there was not the money. The headmaster even offered my parents a bursury which would have paid my expenses. My father refused because he saw it as "charity".

He also felt it would give me "unrealistic ideas above her class." When I reminded him it was educational he said "Whats the good of educating a girl> Your only going to get married and have babies." This was the late 1950s when social class was still important.

I told him I was never going to have children and added. "One day Ill see the world and Ill do it with my own money."

Its true to say that I never forgave him and often reminded him of it in adult life when I was planning a trip.

bluebird243 Tue 02-Jul-24 12:21:49

An only child until I was 11 I wanted either a monkey or a dog or a parrot [who I imagined sat on my shoulder] as a friend/companion.

I got none of the above, just a budgie who sank it's beak into my neck when I was playing the piano once.

I desperately wanted a scooter or a tricycle but was told riding scooters made one leg grow longer than the other. I got a bicycle when I was 12 though.

crazyH Tue 02-Jul-24 12:28:43

Yes, I too wanted a monkey 😂, but didn’t get it …..

aggie Tue 02-Jul-24 12:30:34

I desperately didn’t want a bicycle! But I got one for passing the 11+ ,
I was terrified of it ! My younger and more athletic brother was so patient and held the back of the saddle till I mastered it !

GrannySomerset Tue 02-Jul-24 12:31:10

Horse riding - the Lorna Hill books had ponies as well as ballet, and there were numerous Pulleyn Thompson (spelling?) pony books too. We had a small riding school near by and I did much mucking out and grooming to get half an hour on pony back. Never got to take part in a gymkhana, sadly.

Grandma70s Tue 02-Jul-24 12:33:53

I didn’t want a bicycle either. I tried riding one with my father holding the back of the saddle, but when I realised he had let go I promptly fell off! Never again.

Grandyma Tue 02-Jul-24 12:38:32

A Wendy house. We had a fairly large garden and I asked my dad to build me one for my 7th birthday. He promised he would but he became ill and never managed it.

silverlining48 Tue 02-Jul-24 12:43:52

I would have liked a scooter or roller skates and to have the school uniform at 11. It also would have been nice to go on a day trip, even once, to the theatre or better, short residential stays but didn’t even think to ask because I knew I wouldn't get. Left home at 17 to live in the big city and never went back.

granfromafar Tue 02-Jul-24 12:46:01

An older sister! Had to make do with a brother sad

loopyloo Tue 02-Jul-24 12:46:02

A chemistry set. I saw one in the window of the toy shop asked for it for Christmas but parents didn't think it suitable.
Had riding and ballets lessons though.

Witzend Tue 02-Jul-24 12:48:49

Both riding and ballet lessons, me too, never had either.

And a dog - I remember being so painfully envious of a friend of my elder sister, who we bumped into on a cold night in town.
She had her new little puppy snuggled inside her jacket! I don’t think I’ve ever coveted anything quite the same since!

LucyLocket55 Tue 02-Jul-24 12:52:32

A dog, I really desperately wanted a dog. Parents travelled for a living so wasn’t appropriate, but I remember getting a pup when we lived in Djakarta in the late 1960s to act as a guard dog and I was ecstatic, but when I came back the following holidays he was gone. I was told he had run off but apparently he was risen and eaten by the neighbours as dog was a delicacy in Indonesia in those days!

I have had several dogs in my adult life though.

LucyLocket55 Tue 02-Jul-24 12:53:12

‘taken’ not ‘risen’

Sarnia Tue 02-Jul-24 12:54:56

I yearned for a comb case, of all things. My friend had one and I thought it so lovely. It was made of black watered silk with bright flowers embroidered along the front. When I went to play at her house I always made a bee-line for her dressing table to hold this case. You can imagine my sheer delight when she gave me one just like hers at my next birthday party. Simple pleasures.

Calendargirl Tue 02-Jul-24 12:56:01

I, too, wanted a pony, but had to make do with an annual donkey ride at the seaside. (Apologies to all those who think they should be banned, maybe so, but 65 years ago, I didn’t care.)

Also wanted some plastic high heeled shoes at Christmas, kiddies ones, never got those either.