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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
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
My Dad At Marching Band Practice, 1985
My Cool Mom And Dad Back In ‘90
In Honor Of Father's Day, My Dad Circa 1988
My Dad Working On The Set Of The Movie Critters In The 1980s
My Mom Was One Of The First Female Graduates Of The Culinary Institute Of America. Here She Is Working As The First Female Pastry Chef At A Hotel In Pittsburgh In 1980
My Mom Graduating From The Air Force Academy In 1986
Chatting With My Dad While He Was On Break Back In The 80s
My Mom Was A Nurse In The Army For Over 20 Years. Here She Is Shaking Hands With Some Guy In The Mid/Late 1980's
My Dad Playing Guitar On Top Of A Giant Stack With Heart - Japan Jam '79
My Dad About To Get Dragged Across The Floor By Chazz Palminteri While Filming "A Bronx Tale" - 1992
My Dad’s Landscaping Crew In The 1980s
Talking With My Mom About Ozark And She Told Me She Went Skiing With Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) Back On New Year’s Day 1987
My Mom In 1970s Vietnam, On A Motorcycle
My Mom Helping Bill Before A Conference Mid 80’s
It's ctrl alt delete Bill, like how many times do I need to say this?
Mom, Ran Away From Parent Home To Live Her Own Life; Brazil, 1968
My Mom In An Annual Report Pamphlet From Company Where She Was Employed Back In 1984
My Moms Selfie Before It Was Cool (1989)
My Parents In The 80s, In Their Traditional Japanese Marriage Portait
My Mom During Her First Year Of Architecture School. 1986, China
My Dad, The FBI Agent, At A Bahamas Airport, Late 1960s
My Dad And His Friends After Sleeping On The Schools' Roof During Summer, 1993
Guts of steel and balls of brass your father and his friends have both lmao
My Dad, Late 70s/Early 80s, Holding The First Neon Sign He Ever Bent
My Dad In Northern Montana 1989
My Dad And Michelle Pfeiffer In 1979
I See All Of Your Cool Dads, And Raise You My Cool Mom With Her Firebird. Sometime Around Early 80's
My Dad And The Notorious B.i.g. Circa 1996 When He Visited My Dad’s Clothing Store In Detroit, Michigan
My Dad In The Mid 80’s After Finally Saving Enough Money For His First Car. He Worked In The Fields Of California Picking Fruit
My Dad And Those Amazing Pants Posing In His First Gas Station, Early 90s
My Dad Breaking Usaf Facial Hair Regs In Greenland Circa 1969
My Mom And Her Friends Looking Like The Cast Of An 80s Movie In Grad School, Uva, Late 1980's
My Dad And My Mom Shortly After He Got Hired As A Pilot At United (1978)
My Dear Mom In The 70s With Her German Shepard And Manta
My Dad Fishing.... On A Nuclear Submarine, 1966
My Dad In 1978
My Dad, Kicking Back With A Cup Of Coffee, 1988
My Dad And His Pet Monkey In Vietnam, 1966
My Mom With Ice Cube Circa 1992
My Mom Sometime In The 80s Messing With My Dads Guitar (Birmingham UK)
50 Years Ago My Mom Made Some Clothes And Had My Dad Model Them
My Parents Accidentally Inventing A Selfie Stick 1990
My Dad In The Late 80s
My Dad And His Fox Patricia (1987)
My Dad’s Self-Portrait, Circa 1980
My Then 23 Year Old Mom In 1970 In A Polish Film Called "Hydrozagadka”. She Worked For Lot Polish Airlines, They Used Some Of The Real Airline Employees In The Film
This is her (5m 20 seconds into the movie): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ahx_Vib_8
My Dads First Day On The Job, 1987
My Dad Stationed In Germany Standing Next To The Border Of Czechoslovakia - 1982
My Mom Rocking Her Adidas In ‘87
1964, My Dad Working At The Original Tower Records In Sacramento, California
My Dad Around 1986 When He First Started Working At GE
My Dad worked for GE from 1963 to 1970 "up on the hill" in Valley Forge, PA.
My Dad On The Set Of A Movie He Was Filming In Cuba, 1960's-1970's
My Dad In The 70's With His Mustang
My Dad Squaring Off With A Cheetah, 1979
My Family Was Looking Through Pictures And We Found This Gem Of My Dad In The 80's
Quite easy to guess this picture was taken in Munich / Germany :-)
My Mom Posing With Eazy-E Outside Of A London Hotel In The Late 80s
My Dad And His Roadster. 1950s?
Definitely between 1951 and 1955, judging by that particular configuration of California license plate.
My Step-Dad Is Convinced He Was The Coolest Guy In The 80's
My Mother. 1968
My Mom Grew Up On A Dairy Farm. Her Older Brothers Were Oil Truckers, They Brought Coors Home By The Case (1975)
My Dad Rocking Out At Monsters Of Rock Festival 1991
My Dad Sitting Happily On The 1929 Indian Police Special He Restored, Circa 1982
My Dad With His M60, In The 1990-1991 Gulf War
My Dad Pictured With Rapper Ice Cube At A Record Store Signing, 1990
My Father Circa 1972. He Worked On A 600 Cow Ranch At The Time And Drove A Chopper That He Built Himself
looks like Javier Bardem- the Bond and No Country for Old Men villain 5ba077e389...f8a83e.jpg
My Mom And Dad In The 1960's
My Artsy Mom In The 70s
My Dad In Vietnam
My Mom At 20, Drinking A Cup Of Coffee In 1985; Making Big Plans For The Future
My Dad In 1971
My Dad, 80’s Fighter Pilot
My Dad Super Excited About His New Keyboard Christmas Of 1988
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.
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.