The top ten things British adults miss most from their childhoods

A survey from AO.com has found the things people who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s miss most about their childhood, and it will have a lot of people feeling nostalgic.

The survey asked 1,500 parents what they missed the most from their childhood, and whether it was daisy chains or cassettes, plenty of pure nostalgia made the list. 

Topping the poll with 56% of the votes was long hot summers, quickly followed by playing out on the street! In third, 46% of people said they missed trips to the corner shop to buy penny sweets. 

Also making the top ten was buying a 99 from the ice cream van, Woolworths pic’n’mix, money in birthday cards, rolling down grass banks, using a buttercup to see if someone liked butter, Enid Blyton books and water fights.

Ahhh – simpler times. 

There were plenty of other food-related nostalgia items on the full list besides the famous Woolworths pic’n’mix, including Opal Fruits, Shake and Salt crisps, Slush Puppies and Lemon Sherberts. 

For the more active kids, 22% of adults missed doing handstands, 17% missed both Chopper Bikes and Space Hoppers. 

27% of people missed Enid Blyton books, 18% missed Tetris and 16% missed Super Mario. 

The study also found that 1979 was the best summer to be a child, with the release of Blondie’s smash hit Heart of Glass, and Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall album, while The Muppet Movie and Star Trek: The Motion Picture were all on at the cinemas! 

You can see the full list here:

AO.com’s brand director, Andrew Kirkcaldy, said: “We all have fond memories from our childhoods, particularly from those seemingly never-ending summer holidays.”

He added: “Ironically, many of the things in the list are actually still around or obtainable so it seems a shame we don’t use our summers to their full potential anymore.”

87% of parents surveyed felt that their children were missing out on the things they enjoyed in their youth – do you think they are? 

While kids may certainly be missing out on a lot of things due to the pandemic, let’s hope visits from the tooth fairy, searching for four leaf clovers and being swung by the arms by parents never stops! 

What do you miss the most from your childhood?