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A lot of us are obsessed with vintage stuff nowadays, from clothes to music to generally wishing we had grown up in the 60s. We often forget, however, that our dear old parents were the ones who started all those trends we now admire.
Internet users are now sharing photos of their parents when they were young and hip, and it's pretty much safe to say that they were about a hundred times cooler than us. Maybe it was all the psychedelic rock, Mustangs, and mullets. Maybe it was the fact that, as one user commented, they "played outside and didn't have memes." Either way, the days of peace and love certainly look a lot more blissful than where we're at now.
Of course, how parents treated their children mattered just as much as how cool they looked. In many families, one child was quietly placed on a pedestal, a pattern now recognized as the golden child dynamic.
Scroll down to take a walk back in time, and if you've got photos of your parents looking too cool for school, add them to our list.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
My Mother Skateboarding Barefoot In California In 1974
RELATED:
#2
I Found A Photo Of My Dad Cooking A Barbecue On Top Of A Moving Submarine
#3
My Dad Sculpting A Bust Of My Mom 1980s
#4
A Friend Of My Father's, Telling Off A Klan Member. Auburn AL, 1985
#5
My Dad Being Infinitely Cooler Than I'll Ever Be (1980)
#6
My Dad, Taken For Surfer Magazine. Peru, 1977
#7
Late 1960's, My Dad
#8
My Mom In Moscow 1975. From All The Stories She's Told Me About Her Travels, I Wouldn't Be Surprised If She Was A Spy
#9
My Dad's First Car, A 1939 Ford. He Bought It With His Own Money That He Earned Farming (And Drove It Daily). He Was 11 When He Bought It, So This Photo Was Taken In 1948
#10
My Dad Wasn't Famous, But His Moves Were Pretty Cool (1977)
#11
My Dad In Saudi Arabia In The 70's Working As A US Military Contractor Diving In The Red Sea
#12
My Dad In The 70's Doing What He Loves. Father To 4 Boys. More Man Than Myth Or Legend
#13
My Dad Teaching Math In Southern California (Late 70's/Early 80's)
#14
My Moms Selfie Before It Was Cool (1989)
#15
My Mom And Dad On Their Wedding Day - 1980
#16
My Mom When She Lived In Alaska With Her Husky Puppy, Okie
#17
Mom's 'Garden' 1980's
#18
Me Looking Up To My Fighter Pilot Dad In The Late 1980's
#19
So I Was Going Through Some Old Photos And I Found This. My Dad Holding Magic Johnson And Looking Incredibly Bad-Ass While Doing It
#20
My Mom Working At Nasa, 1974
#21
My Mom Skating With A Broken Wrist In The Late 70's
#22
My Dad In Alaska, Circa 1980. I Hope To Be Half The Man He Is One Day
#23
Mom Wasn't The Pilot, But She Was A Tech On The F-4 Phantom Back In The 80's
#24
My Mom Winning The Pie Eating Contest By Beating All The Boys, 1950
sunnyrei82 8 years ago
yeah! show 'em who's the boss! Girls are not only dresses and cooking ware! XD
#25
My Dad In France Is The '70s (Ryan Gosling Might Need A Paternity Test)
#26
My Father In 1982. When I Asked Him What He Was Doing In This Photo, He Said, "Shooting An Album Cover. Duh"
#27
My Mother And Father Being Young And Awesome On Santorini Island, Greece, 1985. I Was Conceived There
#28
My Dad And His Cousins, Back In The Day. I Don't Think The Cool Gene Was Passed Down To Me
#29
When My Dad Was 16, He Entered His Name In A Drawing, For What He Thought Was A Sports Jacket, At A Local Shoe Store. The Drawing Was Actually For A 1967 Shelby GT500. He Won
#30
My Friend's Dad Trained Seals In The Navy. This Was What His Everyday Job Looked Like
Vlad Horobet 8 years ago
So he was working for the NAVY SEALS training real seals? That's amazing !
#31
My Cool AF Dad At 19 (1973)
#32
My Dad And His Pet Monkey In Vietnam, 1966
Vlad Horobet 8 years ago
If that'd been my dad, he wold show this pic to everyone and he'd be like: "look, a photo with me and my newborn son " xD
#33
My Mom Circa 1986
#34
My Mom Thinks She Is So Hardcore In Her Fleetwood Mac Tank Top At Age 18, 1982
#35
My Dad And Uncle At Their Joint Wedding, 1970's
#36
Dad In 1969. I'd Love To Know How This Happened
#37
My Mom Being Infinitely Cooler Than I'll Ever Be... Without A Saddle (Late 70s)
#38
My Dear Mom In The 70s With Her German Shepard And Manta
#39
My Mom Bought A New '63 Corvette On Her Own At Age 20. She Owned Her Own Hair Salon In Midland, Tx
Final score:
192points
#40
My Father Got Drunk With Some Friends And Caught A Record Breaking Tuna In Newfoundland, 1972
#41
Found This In An Old Shoe Box At My Dad's. It's My Parents, 1990
#42
My Dad At Marching Band Practice, 1985
#43
My Dad Was A Legit Ski Instructor In The 1970's
#44
Apparently My Dad Used To Ride 3 Wheeled Unicycles In Parades
Trisha Dragon 8 years ago
I hurt myself just looking at this picture. How the hell does this even come to exist...
#45
My Mom Looking For Her Prom Date 1969
#46
My Girlfriend's Dad After Flipping His '73 Mustang On The Highway
#47
My Dad Giving A Thirsty Bear Some Soda Sometime In The 50's
Vlad Horobet 8 years ago
Back then, people were walking around bears and cheetas like it was nothing. Nowadays some people are afraid of chocolate eggs with toys inside.
#48
My Bad-Ass Mom In 1979
#49
My Dad In Northern Montana, 1989
#50
Here Is A Bad Ass Picture Of My Dad From The 80's. Gatorade In The Can Doing A Control Burn. He's The Shit And My Hero. My Grandfather Was A Firefighter Too Rip. The Real Heroes Are Firefighters, Cops And All Military!
#51
My Dad When He Was 17 In A Small Village In The Netherlands, 1981. He'd Meet My Mom A Year Later
#52
My Dad, The Fbi Agent, At A Bahamas Airport, Late 1960s
#53
My Dad Claims That's "Oregano" Above My Mom. 1978'ish
#54
My Dad In Hawaii, Late 1970's
#55
My Dad And His Fox Patricia (1987)
#56
My Dad And His Firebird In The 80s
#57
My Dad In 1971
#58
My Mom Lounging On A Car (1980's)
#59
My Dad The Undercover Cop In The 1970's
#60
Came Across This Photo Of My Dad In The 70's With His Mustang And I Had To Share It
#61
My Dad When He Was A Surfer Dude Sleeping On The Beach For 3 Weeks With Only A Sleeping Bag, Somewhere In The Southern Europe, 1989
#62
My Dad Squaring Off With A Cheetah, 1979
#63
My Dad In His 20s
#64
Mom In The 80s
#65
My Dad, Kicking Back With A Cup Of Coffee, 1988
#66
My Mother, 1968
#67
My Mom When Se Was 20 At The End Of 60's
Final score:
91points
Matilde Rondon Ferrari 8 years ago
"These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you." - Nancy Sinatra, 1966
#69
My Cool Mom With Her Firebird. Sometime Around Early 80's
#70
My Mother At The Weiser, Idaho Fiddle Festival, 1973
#71
My Dad Back In The 1980's Definitely Not In The Us Military
#72
My Dad Shortly After Arriving To Australia From Vietnam In The 80s
Marilyn Roberts 8 years ago
I remember boom box's bigger that suitcases, being carried on shoulders!
#73
My Step-Dad Is Convinced He Was The Coolest Guy In The 80's
#74
I Just Found This Photo Of My Dad In The 80's. Apparently He Was Quite The Ladies Man
#75
My Dad Refused To Take Off His Shades During Wedding Ceremony (1978)
Final score:
56points
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Beks Czar 8 years ago
No pictures but let's name everything. The very first is she's a single mother who became pregnant after being raped. The strength to take on a child by herself at 23, that's a strength I do not possess. She went to Europe twice because of her singing voice, 1st she represented Wisconsin (only a couple from each state won the seats), 2nd was through some program Jimmy Carter started. She rode a motorcycle that she won on the radio. She took a spiritual journey from WI to California by herself with her dog. She appeared on the cover of Time because her factory made the magazines. She hurt her back lifting those magazines, had 2 spinal surgeries and went back to school for computers. And lastly, I have a bad immune system and have been sick for 22 years and she's been my caretaker, doing everything I ever need while working to put s roof over my head and food in my belly. THAT is why my mom is so unbelievably cooler than me.
James Harding 8 years ago
"#75 My Parents in 1977" is Roger Moore and Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me. They were nobody's parents together.
Phil Boswell 8 years ago
Looks like they removed the contentious picture because my #75 is indeed "some dude in a marijuana mangrove"…but I don't have a #80…
Load More Replies...
Giedrė Svaldenytė 8 years ago
My Grandma with her colleague's bricklayers back in the Siberia in 1950's. mason-59d6...0e532a.jpg 
Beks Czar 8 years ago
No pictures but let's name everything. The very first is she's a single mother who became pregnant after being raped. The strength to take on a child by herself at 23, that's a strength I do not possess. She went to Europe twice because of her singing voice, 1st she represented Wisconsin (only a couple from each state won the seats), 2nd was through some program Jimmy Carter started. She rode a motorcycle that she won on the radio. She took a spiritual journey from WI to California by herself with her dog. She appeared on the cover of Time because her factory made the magazines. She hurt her back lifting those magazines, had 2 spinal surgeries and went back to school for computers. And lastly, I have a bad immune system and have been sick for 22 years and she's been my caretaker, doing everything I ever need while working to put s roof over my head and food in my belly. THAT is why my mom is so unbelievably cooler than me.
James Harding 8 years ago
"#75 My Parents in 1977" is Roger Moore and Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me. They were nobody's parents together.
Phil Boswell 8 years ago
Looks like they removed the contentious picture because my #75 is indeed "some dude in a marijuana mangrove"…but I don't have a #80…
Load More Replies... Giedrė Svaldenytė 8 years ago
My Grandma with her colleague's bricklayers back in the Siberia in 1950's. mason-59d6...0e532a.jpg
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