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50 Times People Found Out Their Parents Were Definitely Cooler Than Them And Shared These Pics As Proof
Our parents weren't always parents. Yes, I know, that sounds self-explanatory, but let that sink in. Before these people were changing our diapers, they were young, wild, and free to do whatever they desired. In many cases, their old lives were even more impressive than our current ones. Building motorcycles, stopping bank robberies... It's one thing to hear those stories, but it's another to see photographic proof.
Surprised by and proud of their parents' past, people are sharing photos of their moms and dads on the subreddit r/OldSchoolCool. So continue scrolling to take a trip back in time to when they were rocking leather jackets and high-waisted jeans and when you're done, check out similar Bored Panda articles here and here.
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My Mama Circa '83. This Explains Why I'm The Uncoolest Person Ever, Cos She Took It All! Oh And That Bike? She Built It
Interestingly. what is considered to be cool changes all the time. Research led by a University of Rochester Medical Center psychologist and published by the Journal of Individual Differences has discovered the characteristics associated with coolness today are quite different than those that gave birth to the concept of cool.
"When I set out to find what people mean by coolness, I wanted to find corroboration of what I thought coolness was," said Ilan Dar-Nimrod, Ph.D., lead author of Coolness: An Empirical Investigation. "I was not prepared to find that coolness has lost so much of its historical origins and meaning—the very heavy countercultural, somewhat individualistic pose I associated with [it]."
My Mom At 18 Years Old Protesting The Kkk In 1976 Atlanta, Ga
Dar-Nimrod and his colleagues recruited almost 1,000 people in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area, who completed an extensive questionnaire on the attributes, behaviors and individuals they associated with the word cool.
They did that by conducting three separate studies. In Study 1, participants generated characteristics that they perceived to be cool. In Study 2, two samples of participants rated dozens of these characteristics on two dimensions: coolness and social desirability. In Study 3, participants rated friends both on their coolness and on a variety of personality descriptors that were identified as relevant in the other studies.
A significant number of participants chose adjectives that focused on positive, socially desirable traits, such as friendly, competent, trendy and attractive.
My Mother When She Was A Tank Instructor In 1984
"Today, ... sociability is considered to be cool, being nice is considered to be cool. And in an oxymoron, being passionate is considered to be cool—at least, it is part of the dominant perception of what coolness is. How can you combine the idea of cool—emotionally controlled and distant—with passionate?" Dar-Nimrod said surprised by the results.
Participants in the study still appreciated the traditional elements of cool, such as rebelliousness and detachment, but nowhere near as strongly as friendliness and warmth.
"We have a kind of a schizophrenic coolness concept in our mind," Dar-Nimrod said. "Almost any one of us will be cool in some people’s eyes, which suggests the idiosyncratic way coolness is evaluated. But some will be judged as cool in many people’s eyes, which suggests there is a core valuation to coolness, and today that does not seem to be the historical nature of cool. We suggest there is some transition from the countercultural cool to a generic version of it’s good and I like it. But this transition is by no way completed."
So I guess, in a way, you could say that these parents were ahead of their time.
My Mom Would Always Talk About How She Was An Editor For Tiger Beat Magazine When She Was A Teenager In The 1960’s. She Would Brag About Spending Time With The Stones And The Beatles. We Always Thought She Was Telling Tall Tales. Uncovered This Pic Cleaning Out Her House Last Week
I think she's entitled to an 'I told you so.' and you're going to have to accept that.
Late 1960s, My Dad
My Dad Made Anything Look Cool (1981)
My Dad Skateboarding At Hyde School 1982. I Think He Was Cooler Than Me
My Dad Sculpting A Bust Of My Mom, 1980s
My Dad And Friends Look Like The Cast Of Stranger Things (1982)
My Mom, 1954. She Came To America In 1948 At Age 18. She Hardly Spoke English And Was Looked Down On Because She Was German And A War Bride. She Later Did Some Modeling - This Is Just One Of Many Beautiful Photos We Have Of Her
My Mom In ‘78, Glendale, Ca. Newly Immigrated From Japan And Working Her Butt Off -But Still Managed To Save Up And Buy This Chevy Impala For $500
My Mom Looking Like A Queen On Her Wedding Day 1979
France, 1985. My Mom Feeding Me Backstage During A Ballet Dancing Show
My Pregnant Mom At Gunpoint Trying To Get Home. May 1969, Berkeley
Mom, Circa 1970, After Completing Her Master's, The First Woman In Her Family To Do So
My Mother Skateboarding Barefoot In California, 1974
My Mom Was A Boston Park Ranger In The 80s
My Mom And Dad Building Their House In 1953. My Mom (91 Now) Still Lives There
My Mom's All Girl Rock Band In The 60's
My Dad In The Late 80s / Early 90s. One Of The First Rockers In China
My Dad Was A Popstar In Argentina. Here He Is With Ella Fitzgerald, Mid 1960s
My Mom Working As A Dj, Late 1970s
Me Looking Up To My Fighter Pilot Dad In The Late 1980's
My Dad At The 1966 International Science Fair. He Was A Finalist In 65, 66, And 67. In This Picture He Created A Perfusion System To Keep A Rat Kidney Alive When Removed From The Body, Like A Heart-Lung Machine
My Mom And Bob Ross During An Event In Central Park, NYC In 1989
48 Beers And A Unicycle. My Dad In The Early 80s
i would be lucky to carry 2 cartons of beer riding a normal bike !!!!
My Parents When They Were 16 And 17 (1987). They’ve Been Together For 34 Years Now
My Mom In The Early 90s. She Painted Her Own Shield
My Mom And Arnold On A Date In The 70s
My Cool Mom Partying With Robin Williams And Billy Crystal In LA, 1982
My Dad Taking A Selfie, Using A Piece Of Wood To Activate The Shutter, Circa 1957
After Their First Fight, My Dad Apologized To My Mom Through Polaroids. The True Og Of Apologies, My Man (1987)
My Dad Wasn't Famous, But His Moves Were Pretty Cool (1977)
My Dad And His Partner While They Were Undercover. This Picture Was Taken After They Stopped A Bank Robbery In The Late 70s
Found This Old Picture Of My Dad From Back In 1976. I Feel Like The Picture Captures An Awful Lot And Tells A Story
My Dad In Saudi Arabia In The 70's Working As A Us Military Contractor Diving In The Red Sea
My Dad's First Car, A 1939 Ford. He Bought It With His Own Money That He Earned While Farming. He Was 11 When He Bought It, So This Photo Was Taken In 1948
Welcome to farm life. I have a distant cousin who was driving a pickup to distribute cattle feed at 8 years old. He would put the truck in low-low, and crawl out the back window to toss hay off the back.
Load More Replies...The fact that an 11 year old could buy a car with his farming savings should tell the "greatest" generation and boomers that kids today do NOT have the same opportunities to succeed.
I agree, Liz. For reference, classified ads from a Sunday issue of the Minneapolis Tribune from 1948 lists a variety of 1939 model year cars for between $600 and $800. $700 in 1948 is $7,558 in 2020. Even a particularly industrious 11yo child would be unlikely to make that much money on their own.
Load More Replies...When they first got driverslincenes you didn't have to do a test. You just got them. My grandfather who could drive got one and my grandmother who didn't know who to drive also got one. Because you never know... she never could drive but had one for her whole life.
It's still legal for people under 16 to drive certain vehicles on farms in most states
WOW the year I was born..He saved for that car at 11. I wonder what his future became
Obviously he grew up, got married, and had at least one kid.
Load More Replies...A lot of "farm kids" were allowed to drive at ridiculously young ages, because they'd been driving tractors since they were "maybe" 8, and in rural areas the cops just looked the other way. My Grandma took me up onto the logging roads outside of Buckley, WA and taught me to drive when I was about 10. I was on the freeway by age 12. My Mother was not pleased. But then - I was a much better driver than she was, so there's that.
Yes. My grandmother is in her very late 90s, and she could get a driver's license in her state at age 14. She drove long before then for farming purposes.
Your math is off a bit. Also, did he buy a NEW car or was it a used one?
Speaking of math, if the photo was taken in 1948 and the car is a 1939 Ford, can you not figure out it was used?
Load More Replies...My Dad Showing Mr. Rogers The Process Of Designing Toys On Mr. Rogers Neighborhood (1986)
My Mom Immigrated To The US From Iran In November, 1978. Here She Is Dressed As Wonder Woman A Year Later
My Dad Taking A Smoking Break While Fighting Saddam Husseins Army In The 80s
Mom Wasn't The Pilot, But She Was A Tech On The F-4 Phantom Back In The 80's
Mom’s Senior Portrait That My Grandma Refused To Let Her Publish In The Year Book (1976)
My Dad 1969 Bronx, NY. Speaking Against The Vietnam War
My Dad (Left) Looking Like A Young Luke Skywalker, Chile, 1977
Mid To Late 1970s, My Dad Graduating A Class Taught By Chuck Norris
My Dad's Graduation Photo. Circa 1970's
He looks like a stage magician - "For my next trick I will pull a fully-grown dog out of my hat"
My Dad And A Tiny Kitten Looking Like A Modern Hipster In The Early 1980s
My Mom At 16 Yrs Old With Her Camaro In 1975
My Mom Voting For The First Time In A Presidential Election In 1972 In Indiana, Pa
I Always Knew My Mom Was A Tough Lady. Photo Taken Circa 1985
Note: this post originally had 120 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
I was just going to mention that. So many bare feet!
Load More Replies...When I hear people criticize "boomers" for not doing anything with regards to "social justice" I just shake my head and roll my eyes. We did a lot. Our time was rocked by upheaval and we were right in the center of it.
1967, my Mum and Dad looking like movie stars by the pool at the Fortuna Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. In reality, the airplanes lost their luggage. Those robes are the only other clothes they had to wear while their real clothes were being washed. They were in a band (Mum sang lead, Dad played bass guitar) and had a gig that night. They were frantic with worry, but still managed to look darn cool! 1967-Dad-a...473e57.jpg
Here’s my dad (on the left) mid 80’s. He is one of only 12 people to have piloted both the SR71 and the U2. I’m so proud of him :) https://ibb.co/xqznbZc
my dad was a 27 y.o. major in the US Army Air Force in 1946... I can't find the darn picture.of him standing next to a bomber in his uniform.. got every medal except congressional medal of honor... super cool in trim fit uniform with cool mustache... mom made him cut it off after the marriage... grrr...
My Mom and Dad circa 1968. My Dad looks like he just struck gold with how pretty my Mom looks. MOMNDAD68-...dd056d.jpg
My son just came across this pic of me last week. It's from 1979. I caught, killed, plucked and butchered those chickens. He insisted I post it here cuz he thought it was pretty badass for a city girl. 20200210_2...7637f4.jpg
I've seen these photos somewhere before... Nice seeing them again though.
Our parents didn't spend their lives glued to computers -- unless that was their occupation.
The ones who did are probably worth a grip of money now though.
Load More Replies...I was just going to mention that. So many bare feet!
Load More Replies...When I hear people criticize "boomers" for not doing anything with regards to "social justice" I just shake my head and roll my eyes. We did a lot. Our time was rocked by upheaval and we were right in the center of it.
1967, my Mum and Dad looking like movie stars by the pool at the Fortuna Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. In reality, the airplanes lost their luggage. Those robes are the only other clothes they had to wear while their real clothes were being washed. They were in a band (Mum sang lead, Dad played bass guitar) and had a gig that night. They were frantic with worry, but still managed to look darn cool! 1967-Dad-a...473e57.jpg
Here’s my dad (on the left) mid 80’s. He is one of only 12 people to have piloted both the SR71 and the U2. I’m so proud of him :) https://ibb.co/xqznbZc
my dad was a 27 y.o. major in the US Army Air Force in 1946... I can't find the darn picture.of him standing next to a bomber in his uniform.. got every medal except congressional medal of honor... super cool in trim fit uniform with cool mustache... mom made him cut it off after the marriage... grrr...
My Mom and Dad circa 1968. My Dad looks like he just struck gold with how pretty my Mom looks. MOMNDAD68-...dd056d.jpg
My son just came across this pic of me last week. It's from 1979. I caught, killed, plucked and butchered those chickens. He insisted I post it here cuz he thought it was pretty badass for a city girl. 20200210_2...7637f4.jpg
I've seen these photos somewhere before... Nice seeing them again though.
Our parents didn't spend their lives glued to computers -- unless that was their occupation.
The ones who did are probably worth a grip of money now though.
Load More Replies...