Things People Bought As An Adult Because They Weren't Allowed To Have Them As A Kid

Not all childhoods are created equal. No matter how much love might have been experienced in the home, children realize when there are things in life that they're missing out on because of money or circumstance. There are also children in tougher homes where they could have had some of the niceties if their parents only had said yes.

So it only stands to reason that some of these children turned into adults would indulge a little bit and gift themselves some of the things they always wanted.

The Redditor, who has since deleted their account, asked:

"What's something you bought as an adult because you weren't allowed to have it as a child?"

Sharing With The Furbabies

"When I was very little, we would go through the Sears Catalog to make our Christmas Lists. For five years, I asked for a Crawl Thru Tunnel. I never got one."

"I bought my cats two."

- Glum-Establishment31

An Admirable Collection!

"Any time I'm traveling and there's a penny press, I use it. Seven-year-old me is absolutely delighted every time."

- wildhardsrosaur

"I was always allowed to do it, I just still love doing it. I love to just look at souvenirs."

"I actually don’t buy souvenirs unless I really love it or believe I can use it frequently. Photos are much better anyway."

- Soft-Temporary-7932

Dancing Through Life

"I took dance as an adult. When one of my older brothers was younger, he took piano and quit after a very short period of time."

"My dad was p**sed and after that, seldom allowed any of us to take paid lessons for anything. We'd beg, promise to stick with it, and he'd insist no. Because my brother quit piano at six, we'd all quit whatever activity."

"So, I joined an amateur dance team in college, then saved up to take some dance lessons, and I've continued doing so ever since."

- Kindly_Disk_56

Always Magazine-Ready

"I buy my kids a lot of play-dough, and other messy things that my parents wouldn't buy me because the house always had to be presentable in case the Queen was coming over."

- 85MonteCarloSS

"Our house also had to be ready for the Queen at all times. She never did show up, which I think is rude. She clearly told my mom she was coming, because otherwise, why was my mom so insane about me setting my coat on the recliner by the door?"

- IDontMeanToInterrupt

The Pirates On The Horizon

"A LEGO pirate ship. Not that I wasn't allowed, but we couldn't afford it."

- monochromeorc

"When I was two or three, my Mom promised she'd buy me a Lego Pirate ship when she found one on sale. When I was 21, I found one in a Black Friday ad, sent it to her, and demanded my Pirate ship."

"17 years later, it is still assembled and lives on top of my Snake Tank. I periodically rearrange the ongoing battle for the ship, and as a reward for finishing a large project (like turning a tree into an entire library full of bookshelves), I added the Lego Dreamz Shark Pirate Ship to the mix."

- Aminar14

Transforming Studies Into Hobbies

" Video games. At some point in late high school, I was told by my parents I was too old for video games and needed to grow out of them and focus on my studies. Joke's on them, I ended up becoming a game developer."

- CrunchyCat

"I love this! I wasn't allowed to play video games growing up, so I started playing Skyrim last year at 27 years old, and now it fuels all my creative fires and whatnot. I love it so much!"

- juniperjellyrain

Free Will For Dinner

"My first week of college, I realized that I could eat an entire loaf of garlic bread for dinner and not get in trouble."

"I later learned why my mom didn’t allow me to eat an entire loaf of garlic bread for dinner."

- E2Bonky

"Dude, this was my answer, but with pie. I bought a whole pie and was in a Teamspeak chat with a friend and said, 'Ya know what's really cool about being an adult with their own paycheck? I can just buy a whole pie and then eat a whole pie for dinner if I want to.. And ya know what? I want to.'"

"And I did. I ate most of that pie. Pie is a lot to eat."

- TONKAHANAH

A Beloved Boardgame

"Mouse Trap."

"The old board game where you build the wacky Rube-Goldberg style machine. I only ever got to play it like once when I was a kid and was at someone's house whose kid had it."

"I loved it and asked for that as my birthday and or Christmas present pretty much every year, but never got it."

- unittwentyfive

Fun Bedding

"Dinosaur bed sheets and pillow cases."

- Sys32768

"I definitely get all my sheets from the children's section. Adult sheets are boring."

"I have sharks on my bed right now!"

- DashDifficult

Reading Time

"Books. So many books. My mother always told me books were a waste of time and money. Now I have so many bookshelves FILLED with fantastic literature."

"My mother is a raging narcissist. She cannot read very well, and because of this, I believe that is why she does not value reading. If she does not see a need for it, then I should not either."

"I often helped her understand some paperwork or mail she had. Money is no issue for her because of my father; she values getting her nails done, Botox, hair extensions, etc, lol. She is a vain, rude, and rather uneducated woman."

- Leslie_Ackerman

The Best Size

"The 64-count pack of Crayola crayons."

- Cthulhu_Knits

"Mom: 'You'll be happy with two 24-counts, right? They're on sale!'"

"Tiny Me: 'NO, I NEED COPPER.'"

- One-Annual8058

A Feline Friend

"Technically, I didn’t buy him, he just appeared, but a cat. However, he is now the most expensive freeloader ever, so I can say I bought him."

"He chose me, I wanted him, and no one can say that I can't have a cat. Not anymore."

- DisneyAddict2021

"Yep, for me, it was a puppy. And then one and a half years later, another puppy."

- Mysterious-Ad4253

A Scrolling Menu

" Food! My mom always had us on crash diets, and we weren’t fat. She just controlled our food, but my stepmom and dad did it also."

"When I got pregnant, all they could say was, 'You are gonna get fat.'"

"No more fat-free, carb-free, crash diets. No more food so processed you can taste the chemicals."

- sowdirect

A Musical Happy Ending

"A guitar. It wasn’t that I wasn’t forbidden from having one. We just couldn’t afford one. Music was never a priority when we were just trying to survive. So I bought my first guitar at 31."

- captaintrips_1980

"It's never too late to have a happy and musical childhood!"

- Acta-Non-Verba-

Spreading The Love

"When I was in my early 30s (25ish years ago), a buddy of mine and I were sitting around reminiscing about when we were kids and we would save all our money to buy model rockets, and how we never had enough for the really cool big ones."

"After a few minutes, we looked at each other and said, 'We have money now,' and the next weekend, we went to the hobby store and dropped $2K between the two of us and spent the next month building every rocket we couldn't have as kids."

"Once they were all built and painted, we went out the the local park that was frequently used for model rocket launches and spent the whole day sending them up. We drew a huge crowd."

"It was really fun, the kids at the park would run after the rockets and bring them back for us. At the end of the day, we gave everything away to a bunch of the kids. It was one of the best days of my life."

- could_use_a_snack

Each of these entries was reason enough to smile and be in a suddenly better mood.

Even if these families did their best and showed a lot of love, it's still fun to treat ourselves to some of the things we always wanted; and for those in tougher situations, buying those things is like a signpost for freedom and independence. Good for them!