WHEN OUR KIDS were much younger, we would strap them firmly into their car seats and head off for a drive. Usually on a Sunday and often to a shopping centre where, several hours later, we would inevitably find ourselves divested of a couple of hundred euro, yet have nothing to show for it.

A very far cry from the Sunday Drive of my own childhood, when my siblings and I would pile into a small car typical of the decade and “go somewhere.” Most times, there was a definite and clear destination in mind, but looking back on it now, having the experience of my own parenting trials and tribulations, this Sunday outing was most likely a health and safety issue — in other words, get them out from under their mother’s feet before she makes good on her threats to kill them.

Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Does anyone do that anymore? Just take off on a jaunt for no good reason other than there might be an ice cream at the end of it?

During my nostalgic trip down memory lane, I was also mindful of the generalisation that back in the 80’s, seat belts were purely an accessory. Today’s RSA would have had a conniption over our fair-weather approach to road safety. A car full of kids, younger ones sitting on the laps of their older sisters, with the youngest crouched in the footwell of the passenger seat and the littlest in stature folded up, pretzel-like, in the back window, resting her head on a pillow. Oh, and there may or may not have been a smoker in the front seat, too, seeing as we’re talking about “those days”. It was a wonder we survived at all. 

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Seat belts weren't really a thing in the 1980s. Alamy........

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