Whether we like it or not, most of us will become our parents one way or another - from something as small as the way they laugh or maybe something as profound as the same career path. Some of us crumble at the notion that we could share similarities with our less hip parents - but for the kids of the parents in these vintage photos, the levels of cool exuding from their older generation are something they can only hope to aspire to.
Bored Panda presents a new photo list of times kids came across old photos of their parents only to realize their parents were cooler than them. So scroll down below to check out some old-school photo treasures and upvote your favs. Maybe it will inspire you to ask your own cool parents to show you what they were like when they were young!
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My Favorite Picture Of My Mom. She Was The Only Girl In Her Welding Class In 1984. Byrd High School, Shreveport, Louisiana
Awesome, good for her! My mom was the only girl in her woodworking class in high school in the 80's. I was the only girl in my college welding class in 2012.
Get 6G pipe-certified, you'll be unique and elite!
Load More Replies...This is pretty much like my daughter. She's the only girl in her automotive class. She wants to be a mechanic, and so far she's proving to be one of the best in class.
My older sister went to school to learn to fix biomedical machines around the same time. Mostly a man's field. It was a go-at-your-own-pace cirriculum. She finished faster than anyone ever had, with higher scores than anyone ever had. She was also a single Mom. (Her husband beat and when he started on the kids, she divorced him. He never paid a penny in child support, but did try to punch her through her car window one time with the kids in the car.) Every interview she went to, they always managed to sneak in a question that would make her reveal if she had kids. She was never hired. She ended up working part-time at Chucky Cheese's fixing video game machines. When there was nothing to fix, she bussed and cleaned. She was so good and fast at fixing them, they reduced her hours to about 8 a week. She ended up on welfare. But some guys will criticize "welfare moms", as if they want to be in that situation.
She sounds amazing; I hope her children are proud of her. She needs a job where she can use her skills and brains.
Load More Replies...She was fortunate to have been given the chance. When I went to school we had to wear dresses or skirts and were not allowed to take woodworking or welding...boys classes.
Generational differences - sometimes it's hard to get an explanation of what the older generations were thinking other than "It was a different time." Progress is great but what are some things older people may miss about their youth? First we have the style. There is a reason we love shopping at vintage stores - because compared with the some of the looks of today our parents had some pretty cool looks. But when did Americans decide to trade in their tailored slacks for leggings? Casual fashion went through many milestones to reach where it is today but in 1966 James Laver, a renowned historian of dress, told a group of fashion industry executives, “Clothes of the sexes are beginning to overlap and coincide.”
My Mom Flew Helicopters For The Army In The 80s
Looks tough, dedicated, focused. I would certainly be glad to see her and her bird.
I want to submit a pic but don't know how. I found a pic of my Dad producing a show with Joe DiMaggio and Sandy Davis Jr. He is instructing them in the pic and I freaked out when I saw it. Way cooler than me.
Save it on your computer (may have to take a snapshot) then look for the camera icon when you go to make a comment.
Load More Replies...My Mother Doing A Handstand On Two Skateboards (Circa 1980's)
I´d say a handstand on one skateboard is quite impressive, but on two... just W O W.
For me a simple handstand on the ground is impressive :'D
Load More Replies...Millennials may think they are the most connected generation with all of the various media platforms but this has caused less trust and isolation among these young people. According a survey 56 per cent of those aged 22 to 37 would trust an ordinary person in the street to tell the truth, compared to 77 per cent of baby boomers."Levels of social trust have been argued to be a strong predictor of national economic growth, levels of life satisfaction and suicide rates," it says.
My Dad (Front) In Vietnam In 1971. He Didn’t Know This Photo Existed Until I Came Across It Randomly On The Internet. He Cried When He Saw It
His father broke down and cried. Understandable. The rich and powerful did all they could to not be drafted into the army back then and one of them is now play-acting at being president ... *slowly shaking my head*
Load More Replies...Very cool, my daughter found one of me in Grenada (not this cool, though) that I didn't know existed. It was captioned and really brought back some nice feelings. PS don't let these comments from those that never served change your feelings on your Dad. They will never understand.
This sends chills down my spin. I can’t even imagine how he feels. All war is terrible but Vietnam was a hell hole and tragic.
It was a sad war. They were not treated well, at all coming home and that is not the worst of it. Thank you, for serving, all of you. If I were president, I’d redo the veterans care and medical and housing and all their services and make it free.
I'd cry too. That was a horrible time for our young men, women and our nation.
It was even traumatic for those of us at home, watching the war on the news every night for my entire adolescence. The Vietnam War ended on my 19th birthday.
Load More Replies...Wow. One can feel the misery of the situation. God Bless our veterans. 🇺🇸
okay you all think that's cool and so on, but have you ever watched any documentary about the war and the impact it left in Vietnam? Do you know that there are still generations of children being born with a disability because of the Agent orange chemical passed on from previous generations that suffered through the war? No personal hate to your dad really, he did what he was told to do and possibly was brainwashed that it was a right thing. But as a Vietnamese, I am f*****g upset to see soldiers on tanks on my homeland is considered a cool thing. That's not cool. You people need to learn a little bit more about the other side of the story.
I would say with near 100% certainty that -no one- in this photo thought it was a “cool thing” to be where they were, and to be doing what they were doing.
Load More Replies...My Dad At His First Job At Nasa!
Your Dad obviously brought a brain with him — and that era used slide rules and good old-fashioned brain power to create the space program. (And it was the women who programmed NASA’s first computers! Watch the movie “Hidden Figures”!)
For everyone talking about the lack of computers, there were definitely computers then—there just weren’t PCs. I worked as a word processor in the 1970s and 80s, and I was often the only one with a computer.
We all have our vices - but maybe the younger generation has healthier ones. With anti-smoking campaigns like 'truth' smoking isn't as widely accepted and definitely not depicted in the 50's Mad Men style way. Our parents grew up in a different time though, for example ot wasn't until the 1990s that smoking on airplanes was banned completely.
Chuck Norris Pinned By My Dad
Whoa, we had all of those Chuck Norris mems about how awesome he is but, we may need to replace them with your dads name now o_O
I lived down the street from Mr. Norris, when he had a house in Rolling Hills Estates. He was really nice every time we met and was pretty humble when we ran into each other. One time, I saw him at the grocery store- he was smelling a cantaloupe to see if it was ripe. 10/10 awesome dude
That's the definition of BAD A*S!! I would totally have that s**t framed!💪
My Dad And His Veterinarian Mother, With Their Pet Lion Which They Raised For Two Years, 1959
It amazes me how awesome people looked back then with zero filters...such class and chill.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate that the cub that's friggen adorable?
I loved to see women in non traditional roles. It was much harder for them to become veterinarians, pilots, welders etc. than it was for a man! Not that it was easy for men, but for women it was harder. I took Business Administration and was told the first day that women didn’t belong in the course as we didn’t have the temperament for it. There were 5 females in a class of over 200 and we all did well.
Daktari !!! It was a great series a long time ago. About a veterinarian in Africa who took permanent care of a crosseyed lion named Clarence (I am getting old. :-D).
I used to watch Clarence the Crosseyed Lion, reruns of course
Load More Replies...Hipsters may think that they are a step ahead of the rest with their beards and man buns - but just as it is with their vintage fashion sense they must pay their respects to the pioneers of long hair fashion. Long locks on both men and women became a trendy look in the 1960s and 1970s, Before that you would have been side-eyed for your unruly mane.
My Dad Diving Off The Starboard Fin Of A Submarine And Into The Pacific Ocean In The Summer Of 1983
Isn't that the portside fin? I'm assuming those fins are at the back of the sub??
No. The diving planes are attached to the "sail" which is located well forward of midship.
Load More Replies...Swim call. We would do that while I was on my first ship which was a gator. They would lower the stern gate, the gunners mates would be stationed along the ship to shoot sharks if they were spotted. Had all kinds of different fun and adventure while serving 20 years in the Navy.
We still do this today, only now there are a sprinkling of 93 women on these crews.
My Mom Holding Myself Whilst Writing Her Master Thesis On The Macintosh Classic II (1991)
Yeah, I admire women who can do things like that!
Load More Replies...Grammar seems to have fallen by the wayside in the last 30-40 years.
Load More Replies...Women always had to work twice as hard to get anywhere....still have to!!
Moms could Rock the baby & Rule the World! It was all a part of the package from the beginning ...
Want to know why your parents are cooler than you? Because the things we think are trendy now began back in their day. Walk into any Urban Outfitters and you will see walls with vinyl records and record players. Well vinyl records were created in the 1950's and your parents definitely weren't using these discs for decoration - anyone feel like listening to the Beatles?
My Friends Parents Are Celebrating Their 47th Anniversary This Week. Here's Them Being Badasses In The 70's
Having a bi-racial relationship in the 70's and managing to hold onto it is super badass.
What a wonderful photo...my partner is black and even now some people give us looks on the street. Mostly actually it's old black ladies smiling but we do still get the odd filthy look
My Mom Was A Homicide Detective In The 80s
I really like this one because so-called gender roles were still expected in the 1980s. Your mom is so confident in a career that is quite exciting. Kudos to her!
OMG! Can you even imagine the 'glass ceiling' she had to deal with?! Wow!
My Mom, Age 15, Smoking At An Allman Brothers Concert With A Broken Arm. Watkins Glen '73
This is me! I was actually 16 and yes...smoking. I quit by the time I was 18 and never started again. Kids those days! Guess what? I didn’t wear a seat belt either. 45 plus years later and I’m still goods friends with the same people I went to that show with. Peace and love.
Well, I took that picture. Not going to identify subject for privacy purposes but she's a fine lady, Mom herself with grown kids and no, she doesn't smoke. And Watkins Glen was not just the Allman Brothers. Grateful Dead and The Band was there, too, along with the other 600,000 of us.
If the comment above is true, she just self identified.
Load More Replies...I wish I’d been her ... The whole outfit is topped off with — drum roll — pearls! OMG! Sooo freakin’ cool❗️
My Parents In 1972 In Front Of Their Store In Paris
Platforms, for one. I could never wear them myself back in the day.
Load More Replies...1969 Vietnam: My Father’s Version Of A Selfie Before Selfies Were A Thing
Pilot of an AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter. The Pilot In Charge say in the back seat and the pilot/gunner sat up front. The mirror was so that they could see each other and communicate.
Load More Replies...The world’s first selfie was snapped in 1839 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-is-the-first-selfie-ever-180948114/
While True, it is ireelevant, as selfies were NOT a thing until 2002, when the word was first used.
Load More Replies...Nice, he probably was a good little grunt in a chopper, serving the great America, dropping bombs on helpless villagers and spreading democracy. Great picture though. To bad it had to be taken by someone who believes and encourages violence (just by taking part in it, like all soldiers)
The front seat pilot/gunner took the picture, so it really isn't a selfie. Your Dad was Pilot of an AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter. The Pilot In Charge sat in the back seat and the pilot/gunner sat up front. The mirror was so that they could see each other and communicate.
My Dad A Zoo Keeper In 1992
He was the only one at the time who could call the rhinos by name and they would come running like dogs. They enjoy a scratch behind the ear like dogs too.
Dude...now that is cool. It's amazing when humans and animals can reach a level of trust like that! If only the whole world was as kind as he was toward these poor creatures.
My friend: Does your parents have any pet? Me: Yes, we have a dog, but he doesn´t pay attention when I call him. And your parents? My friend: Well, my father has some puppies that we call rhinos...
My Father Who Shipped His Bike Over To England And Rode All Over Europe On It - 1973
My Mom In The Police Academy, 1984
My Mom As A Red Cross Volunteer In WWII. She Had Her Own Radio Show In The Pacific Theater To Counteract Tokyo Rose. 1944
The generations that fought WWI and WWII are badass. The c**p they went through is just stuff the rest of us can't comprehend.
Beautiful in appearance and beautiful and courageous at heart!
Load More Replies...My Dad's Graduation Photo. Circa 1970's
Well, it definitively wouldn't be his dad if it was in 1870 :D
Load More Replies...My Pregnant Mom At Gunpoint Trying To Get Home - May 1969 Berkeley
WOW! For the ones, who don't know the story behind, like me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Park_(Berkeley)
As a current Berkeley student it is incredibly interesting to see this picture. Its basically about the fight to keep a "public" park free and open for the people and open for public discourse/ protest. I never knew there was so much history surrounding a small sliver of land. Even now the fight continues and I never really understood why there was a fight to keep it open as Berkeley could really use the space for housing. But now I do see the importance of keeping it open not only for its historical purpose but for what it continues to represent.
I had a mysterious phone call that warned me not to go down to the Berkeley University because they were tear gassing the demonstrators. Saved my bacon & to this day I never found out who it was.
Mom Spinning Records At Kwkh, Shreveport - 1977
Hot Donna? Oh wait, that was a hot redhead in Wisconsin or something. The hot part still stands though!!
Movie star looks - your mom could have been in a James Bond film.
Pretty Rad Picture Of My Dad When He Was 22, In Texas, Taken In 1987. That Ghettoblaster Is Epic
You never realize the history of a word like "ghettoblaster" until you see a pic like this! When I grew up I never would have associated my "ghettoblaster" with an image like this.
Now people listen to music on their smart phones using earbuds. Pay phones and boom boxes are going the way of the dodo.
So glad someone still uses the term ghetto blaster, wtf is a boombox?
My Mom Fled Saigon In 1975. By The 90s, She Had Joined The US Air Force
Now she's a badass! I am awestruck by people with the bravery to immigrate then join the military.
What ship did she evacuate to if she remembers? I was there on the USS Hancock (CVA-19) when Vietnam fell to the communists. We had approximately 2500 + refugees on my ship and there were a lot of ships waiting to take on those trying to escape. What a chaotic day it was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One Of My Favorite Photos Of My Parents In The Late 70s
My Hilarious Father (With The Magazine) And My Grandfather, Grandmother, And Uncle At His Bar Mitzvah In 1972
His uncle face cracks up, could you imagine seeing this hung on someone's wall
You have no idea how wonderful it was to have polyester.
Load More Replies...My Father Halfway Through Motorcycling Across Africa - 1980s
I know him!!! He was my married to my sister and they rode halfway around the world. He actually contracted malaria in Africa as well. Pretty sure my sister took this picture.
My Dad Taking A Smoking Break While Fighting Saddam Husseins Army In The 80s
This was posted in the last 12 months on Reddit... Dude, this guy was a badass!
The picture shows a Kurdish peshmerga fighter. Kurds are still fighting for their freedom in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria against oppression. Often brutal oppression.
My Mom Said She Gave This Up When She Had Me. I'm Pretty Sure She Stopped When I Was Old Enough To Want Some (1970's)
Probably a Kush pre auto flowering. I don't think think that was bred into the strains in the 70s
Load More Replies...Weed does not make you an airhead, usually you're one before you start smoking.
She looks so much like my mother in law. My in laws were pot dealers back in the 70's so they would have gotten along great!
My Dad Fishing... On A Nuclear Submarine 1966
I wonder how long this was "classified top secret" before being released for public viewing?
We all live in a nuclear submarine, nuclear submarine, nuclear submarine..
My Mom In The Hospital After Giving Birth To My Sister. Canada 1978. Smokes And Roasted Chicken
Y'all worried about the cigarette, I'm sitting here looking at how great she looks after having a whole baby.
Makes you wonder what ridiculous things we're doing now that will look absurd in the future.
Load More Replies...Yeah thay is Canada is the 70s, I was born in 81...thankfully in a brand new hospital that wasn't set up for babies yet...I was the 2nd born there lol. Back to smoking though, as you could even smoke on busses...I.could buy smokes with a letter from my parents. we loved our smoking.
My mom requested a non-smoking room when I was born, but they messed up and put her in a room with two other women who had also just given birth who smoked non-stop. She was so grossed out. She had a c-section too so she had to be there for several days. Maybe that's why I have lung problems?
More likely due to the C-section... I remember reading some time ago, they theorized C-section babies had more lung problems, possibly due due to not having things, "Squeezed" out during a vaginal birth...
Load More Replies...I remember being in the hospital with chronic bronchitis when I was 8 years old. When my Mom came to visit after work each evening, she immediately lit-up a Kent.
Won't find EITHER in the hospital these days! No smoking, of course, but certainly NO GOOD FOOD LIKE THIS CHICKEN!!
I remember when my mom was in the Cancer Clinic in 1973, she actually had her cigarettes confiscated by the nurse when she kept falling asleep with one burning.and the other patients were very nervous and complained.
I envy those times. People knew how to live, and live each moment. They weren't stuck to their phones and gadgets, they weren't constantly TRYING to look like they are "cool", made up to look like dolls, and with made up fake smile somewhere "cool" like Idontknow, Hawai or Maldives? People just lived, without trying to prove anything to anyone, let alone complete strangers. We should just learn from this.
People tried to prove themselves back there the some as today. They just had different opportunities. There were more mobbing cases at school, more violence at home, the cold war going on ... Old times get often looked at with "pink glasses" (thats a german phrase to express, the way you see the world fluffy and beautiful when you are in love"
Load More Replies...Yeah because everyone was outside back then. I grew up in the 80's 90's and loved it. Now I see kids staying in the house with a phone and tablet. So sad.
Load More Replies...I’ve learned teenagers looked older than their age and had a lot more freedom
Teenagers still look older than their age.
Load More Replies...In 1933 my mom got arrested for wearing one of the first two-piece bathings suits on Miami Beach. She's the one under the sign banning them. mommiami-5...75-png.jpg
I wish I had a pic of the time my Grandmother met face to face with a black bear. It wandered into our campsite at Mt Rainier when I was 5 or 6 years old. She hit it in the head with a camp chair and threw cans at it making as much racket as she could until the bear ran..... At her funeral..the preacher says "I understand there was an incident with a bear." Our whole family started giggling....
My mom never had a "heroine" moment/snapshot. She was just working like crazy, caring for her younger siblings through wartime, then later working for us, her children, supporting us. Her only luxury item was a lipstick. Never complaint, not even after getting cancer. I dropped out of school to care for her her the last years. Never was able to gave her the life she deserved. I made it in life because of her example, her strength, but she died before I could treat her like I always wanted to since I was a little child .(I always told her I would buy her a house, a car, she would never have to work again...) And you know the astounding part? She was full of love, laughs and everything good. You would imagine her being stressed out, pulling 2 jobs and everything. But I remember us singing and dancing in the kitchen and laughing like crazy. She is my hero forever, though I can not show you one "cool" picture of her.
It's really interesting to see those. As a child I see my parents as parents. Those show them being my age, or younger, having a totally different life than what I know them of. It's really eye-opening to see how they all had awesome interests, were young and beautiful. Don't get me wrong, all I mean is that they also were our age and blossoming and we just know pretty much a fraction of them which devoted lives for children. Just like we will one day and we'll have photos left of our past and passions.
Wow. My only pet peeve, is smoking after giving birth, in a hospital! Times were different, but the anti smoking campaign was already saying then, do not smoke when pregnant or after , to protect your baby.
I envy those times. People knew how to live, and live each moment. They weren't stuck to their phones and gadgets, they weren't constantly TRYING to look like they are "cool", made up to look like dolls, and with made up fake smile somewhere "cool" like Idontknow, Hawai or Maldives? People just lived, without trying to prove anything to anyone, let alone complete strangers. We should just learn from this.
People tried to prove themselves back there the some as today. They just had different opportunities. There were more mobbing cases at school, more violence at home, the cold war going on ... Old times get often looked at with "pink glasses" (thats a german phrase to express, the way you see the world fluffy and beautiful when you are in love"
Load More Replies...Yeah because everyone was outside back then. I grew up in the 80's 90's and loved it. Now I see kids staying in the house with a phone and tablet. So sad.
Load More Replies...I’ve learned teenagers looked older than their age and had a lot more freedom
Teenagers still look older than their age.
Load More Replies...In 1933 my mom got arrested for wearing one of the first two-piece bathings suits on Miami Beach. She's the one under the sign banning them. mommiami-5...75-png.jpg
I wish I had a pic of the time my Grandmother met face to face with a black bear. It wandered into our campsite at Mt Rainier when I was 5 or 6 years old. She hit it in the head with a camp chair and threw cans at it making as much racket as she could until the bear ran..... At her funeral..the preacher says "I understand there was an incident with a bear." Our whole family started giggling....
My mom never had a "heroine" moment/snapshot. She was just working like crazy, caring for her younger siblings through wartime, then later working for us, her children, supporting us. Her only luxury item was a lipstick. Never complaint, not even after getting cancer. I dropped out of school to care for her her the last years. Never was able to gave her the life she deserved. I made it in life because of her example, her strength, but she died before I could treat her like I always wanted to since I was a little child .(I always told her I would buy her a house, a car, she would never have to work again...) And you know the astounding part? She was full of love, laughs and everything good. You would imagine her being stressed out, pulling 2 jobs and everything. But I remember us singing and dancing in the kitchen and laughing like crazy. She is my hero forever, though I can not show you one "cool" picture of her.
It's really interesting to see those. As a child I see my parents as parents. Those show them being my age, or younger, having a totally different life than what I know them of. It's really eye-opening to see how they all had awesome interests, were young and beautiful. Don't get me wrong, all I mean is that they also were our age and blossoming and we just know pretty much a fraction of them which devoted lives for children. Just like we will one day and we'll have photos left of our past and passions.
Wow. My only pet peeve, is smoking after giving birth, in a hospital! Times were different, but the anti smoking campaign was already saying then, do not smoke when pregnant or after , to protect your baby.
