All dads were the same

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CROBBY2@reddit

Now that im older I can confirm we will and this was an appropriate response.

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no1jam@reddit

Yup, as a dad and 40+, getting tougher for eyes to adjust even mildly fast

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Totally_Bradical@reddit

Seriously, the night vision is pretty shit these days

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BlackieDad@reddit

My kids will ask me before they turn the light on, and the moment they do I’ll start hollering that I’m blinded. I think it’s funnier than they do

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SeaSkimmer2@reddit

That was mom.

She also let us unbuckle our seatbelts on long road trips once we were on the highway.

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My mom would drive us (3 kids) from Florida to Chicago to visit family at least once every year in the back of our Chrysler minivan... with both back seats removed and some old quilts laid over the floor for us to sit/sleep/play on.

That's a 20+ hour drive on the interstates both ways. It's fun to tease her nowadays about how stupid it was in retrospect.

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UnderH20giraffe@reddit

But also a lot more kind. Fuck does car seats suck.

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_SmashLampjaw_@reddit

No disagreement from me... it was fun to be in a 70 mph mobile playroom for a weekend. At one point we even got one of those 12V TV/VCR combos so we could watch as many movies as we wanted.

It's just something that was a keystone childhood memory that I could never imagine doing with my kids.

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Rogue_Gona@reddit

Oh man, we thought we were kings/queens when we got the upgrade to the 12V TV/VCR combo. So many movies, but my dad always vetoed the ones he didn't want to listen to lol.

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Rogue_Gona@reddit

I distinctly remember my brother sprawled out on the floor of our van during road trips from Ohio to South Carolina...not one of us kids was ever buckled in. The backseat area (we had 2 captain's chairs and a bench in the way way back) was our domain and we did as we pleased. Wild to think about now. We could have easily died and as an adult I now know my dad is a terrible driver 😂

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Exotic-Steak-4662@reddit

I loved doing that. It felt like freedom for some reason.

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RamenRoy@reddit

It was freedom. From life.

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flyinthesoup@reddit

I don't remember ever buckling the seatbelts in the backseat when we were kids. This was in Latin America though, so that might be relevant. We were three kids in the backseat of a sedan, so we didn't have enough for the three of us lol.

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crazycatlady331@reddit

Anyone else's dad tell them it was illegal to turn the light on?

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illini02@reddit

For sure. It was my mom, but still.

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Exotic-Steak-4662@reddit

Logically I know it’s not illegal but it still just feels so wrong. Because of that wrongness, it’s still illegal in my brain. Is that brainwashing?

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RamenRoy@reddit

We're all sheep

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anongirl55@reddit

Yes, my dad told me that he'd get arrested.

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IndicationNo7551@reddit

wait. its not illegal? lol i told my kid it was (i was told it was growing up lmao)

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Ramen_Addict_@reddit

My dad just had what I called his “angry eyebrows”. He just had to turn around with those eyebrows and we knew we’d better behave.

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McCQ@reddit

You can be pulled over for careless driving in the UK if it's on for a length of time at night. It can be used briefly, but no more that that.

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Astrohumper@reddit

Is it not?

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scuac@reddit

Yes, but we were living under a dictatorship so… maybe true?

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EZE333@reddit

My mom said we would get pulled over for having it on. I believed that well into adulthood

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dka2012@reddit

We were told that because in the 70s they used to turn it on to roll a joint while they cruised around and the cops started keying on that and if they saw you with one on then you were getting pulled over.

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DireKnife@reddit

TIL

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Pard22@reddit

If you didn’t react quick enough it was a whack.

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furious_Dee@reddit

we got pinches. broke the skin.

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_SmashLampjaw_@reddit

It's true though.

I do the same thing with my kids, I don't need to try to be seeing oncoming traffic through a Pepper's Ghost of them sitting on the hood of my truck.

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goodnewzevery1@reddit

I needed a good laugh, TY

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fannyalgerpack@reddit

I thought we were told it was a gang signal, or was that flashing the headlights?

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VelourSin@reddit

Right? It’s like there’s a universal dad handbook we don’t know about.

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Obsidianrunner@reddit

I can’t lie. I’m 45 and when my wife turns on the light while I’m driving, I have to fight the urge to turn it off. It is distracting.

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No_Deal_8632@reddit

I was told it’s illegal by my dad and we would get pulled over and arrested. Now I tell my kids to turn off the light as well and that it’s illegal. Straight to jail Haha

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Shadrach77@reddit

Cheers to unprocessed trauma!

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maggie320@reddit

My dad had a different perspective. He didn’t a lot on in the car at once because it was a drain on the battery and the overheard lights were a pain to replace. My mom didn’t want them on because she had terrible vision and that would mess her up.

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nopester24@reddit

But did you die???

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capthazelwoodsflask@reddit

Now that I have a kid I see how annoying/distracting it can be. I don't think my folks ever yelled at us is we needed to have it on. But one time I forgot to turn the light off and my dad was late to work because he had to get the car jumped and I got yelled at enough I never left it on again.

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sailorangel59@reddit

Not die, but both parents did tell me to keep them off because it made things harder to see. As a parent when driving at night, can confirm the accuracy to this statement. I now tell my kids that turning the light on creates a glare that makes it difficult to see.

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