Salim Virji

Having a hippie parent in the 80s meant one or more things: 

• You grew up with a massive love of music.
• Adults drank and smoked around you a lot.
• You had loads of fun with other kids while your parents were partying.
• You were fed on whole wheat bread and natural peanut butter.
• You had no shortage of peasant blouses and patched Levis at your disposal.
• When you needed a pipe as a teen, there one was for the taking in your parent(s)’ bedside table drawer.

In a nutshell, your parents were open to you doing and wearing weird shit.

Here are 3 weird things you might have rocked if your parents were hippies and open to weird shit.

1. An Inner Circle album. In first grade, you took an Inner Circle album to school for show and tell. You loved one song in particular, without knowing what it was about. You just thought it was catchy and fun to dance to.

Your teacher’s ears might have started to raise a flag at the words “Colombian red.”

But once the chorus came…

“Smokin, smokin, smokin is good for the brain . . . I don’t want no more of that there cocaine”

… she probably turned the record off and sent you home with a note of concern.

2. A Wham! Choose Life shirt. Someone gave you a Choose Life shirt cuz it was a big thing cuz it featured prominently in the Wake Me Up Before You Go Go video.

You didn’t know that your grandma would interpret this as an 8-year-old making an anti-abortion statement.

So your grandma said to your mom, “How can you let that child run around in a big weird pro-life T-shirt?”

And your mom said to your grandma, “Oh, it’s just a big baggy T-shirt. It’s the 80s. Everyone’s wearing big baggy T-shirts.”

See, your grandma was a wise woman, and your mom was wise too. She knew this was just a thing in the 80s, and she was relaxed. Someone gave you this shirt, and she let you go with the flow.

Plus, its meaning was probably more akin to Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

Only it was less goofy.

And the next weekend, your mom took you to a pro-choice rally.

3. A smiley face T-shirt with a bullet hole on the forehead. The same hippie who gave you the Choose Life shirt gave you this wearable mockery of the smiley face. This was a big thing cuz Slash rocked one.

Kirk

You wore it to gym class in 7th grade, not realizing it was offensive, and they sent you home for the day.

You were 12 now, but it was a lot like when you were six and singing “smokin smokin smokin is good for the brain…”

There were pros and cons to growing up with this kind of parental leniency, but mostly you’re grateful because you like who you are as a result of being raised by weirdos.