Were you ever a hippie or a flower child in the 1960's - 1970's? Would you tell your kids if you were?

Question

I took my son to a love-in at Griffith Park when he was very young. I took super-8 movies of him crawling around and playing with dogs laughing and having a great time. He hates that I did this! He hates the long hair I let him wear when he was 2-3 years old. He hates everything about hippies. I like to call myself an x-flower child.

After reading some of your answers I realized that I have a different idea of what I think I'm talking about.

I worked and so did my husband. We paid our bills on time. We had dinner with the families. I just liked dressing in earthshoes, patched jeans and funky hats. I never did peace rally's or protests. I never burnt my bra. I guess I am just an ordinary product of the times.

Answer 1

Yeah I went through the hippie/flower child phase. Bell bottom pant that really drug the ground, so bad in fact it wore holes in them, but that was cool. Long straight hair parted in the middle. Leather purses, jackets and vests with leather fringe. Boots,patches on jeans, halter tops. Fave words: Cool, Far Out, Out o Sight,and Peace. Music" Beatles, Hendrix,Joplin, I could go on and on. Did I burn my bra, go to protests, etc, No. But man, I was cool. My children know,yes, but not until they were older, but not everything. They are grown now, but remember parents don't have to tell all, my thought is just enough to let them know you have been there, done some, so maybe they will be afraid to do something you might know about. I told my sons when they were teenagers, remember I've been there done that , so don't think I won't know.

Answer 2

Oh lord Yes, I loved all the hippy clothes,I still have some of the original tops and fringed waistcoats that I wore back then. I also still have my long hair. My daughter loves that style of clothes as well so you can guess where some of my tops are, All except one black one with gold embroidery that's always been my favourite. The fringed suede waistcoats had a new lease of life when I started teaching the Linedancing, everyone wanted to get one and were most disappointed when they found out they were originals from the 60s lol.

Answer 3

I was a teenager in the 60's. Long hair, mini skirts, Vietnam War hater but never a real hippie. Didn't get into the casual sex or the drug scene. I lived in a very small town in Texas but loved the music of the Beach Boys. If I could have made it to California I would have been one of those surfer girls they sang about.

Yes, my husband and my son had fairly long hair back then. My now 33 yr. old son looks at the old pictures and says, "Mom! Why didn't you cut my hair!" I've always been truthful with my children about my youthful escapades. My worst sins were drinking and driving. Wouldn't you know I'm a member of MADD now. Live and learn I say.

Answer 4

I was born in the 70's, but I love all the music of the 70's and my parents were very old school., never got into that stuff, they are from the old country. The only pictures I have is my mom and dad wearing the disco clothes they loved the disco dancing. but what was this about this hippie stuff you people had riots and basically turned the world into a drug feast.
That I found was so weird people's acceptance of drugs and 'free' love.

Well that's cool, granny you were a cool mom, I respect you for that. I don't like hippies myself really I think there was a lot of negative things about them, they did not make the world a better place.

Answer 5

Any Bob Dylan ? We were Rebels That was for how You say in this age for Young Person still at School ? Most who say they wasn't born then I don't believe a word of it !!! edit "Innocent Times" Don;t believe that neither Did You ever visit Liverpool in the 60's [ssh]

Answer 6

No. I was on active duty in the Navy throughout the 1960s. But, it didn't get in the way of my being a folk singer at different coffee houses on the West Coast. While stationed for a year on Okinawa I even had a six-month stint doing a musical variety show on Armed Forces television. In 1962 I had a week-long engagement at the Seattle World's Fair, playing at a coffee house called "The Sleeping Buddha" on Show Street on the fair grounds.

Answer 7

I was a hippie / flower girl but I had not children then. My first child was born 1980 and he knows that I loved the 60's and 70's...all of it, the music, the philosophy, the joints (oops), the fashion. He and his friends like it if I tell them stories and I will never be hypocritical.

My daughter is much younger, she is a teenager now and she likes the fashion I was wearing and realises that it always comes back into todays fashion. She also likes most of the music from that aera.
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Answer 8

I never got into the hippie thing in San Francisco although I lived here at the time, in fact, I moved to San Francisco because I considered myself a beatnik, loved jazz, poetry, all the "cool" people who hung out at coffee houses, etc. but when I got to San Francisco they had already left for parts unknown, and soon after the hippies moved in. By that time I had two little babies, and while a lot of my friends got into the hippie thing, I didn't really care for it. I kept thinking, if I get stoned, what is going to happen to my little babies? So I opted for the straight life, but I kept my sense in independence and freedom of spirit.

Answer 9

My kids hate me for living in the 60s, but they were there too. I worked and took care of the kids through the whole thing and was pretty straight laced. Now they say I'm a born again Hippie. If you have been any kind of parent at all, your kids will hate you for it. If you ever said 'No' to them for any reason they may hate you for it. It's OK! They will always love you for the very same things they hate you for. Mine accused me of 'Mind Control' in their teens when I was suddenly diagnosed by them as 'paranoid, middle-aged and menapausal' and told I needed professional help to 'get you straightened out.' It's all part of that breaking away from the parent thing and it goes on for the rest of your life. I keep telling mine that it's OK and I forgive them just like God forgives them.

Answer 10

Yes, my wife and I were (and still are to a certain extent) hippies in the 70's. We grew up in Eugene, Oregon (a very hippy town) and loved it. Both of our kids love the hippy stuff. It was a very cool time to be a teenager-young adult.

Can you imagine what our founding fathers children thought of them?

When I was a kid I said to myself that I would let my kids play any kind of music they wanted and as loud as they wanted. Now that that time has come, I am constantly telling them to turn that punk-techno crap down ... it really is the sh*ts getting old.