Dr. Jameca CooperForensic Psychology Consultant, Emergence Psychological Services · Board Certified Counseling Psychologist and Forensic Psychology Consultant

How old were you when you started doing this? #genx #childhoodmemories #parenting #nostalgia

4 Jun 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:35

In this brief YouTube segment, two speakers reminisce about a common Gen X experience: being sent by their parents to local stores to purchase alcohol and cigarettes, items legally restricted for minors. Speaker A recalls the “evil” task of fetching a fifth of gin and a pack of cigarettes, while Speaker B expands on the routine, describing trips to buy a specific brand of cigarettes and Canadian Mist for his father by age eight, unaware that this was unusual. The conversation then shifts to a reflective tone, with Speaker B expressing guilt and a sense of failure when comparing his own parenting choices—he now refuses to send his children, aged 12‑15, to liquor stores, highlighting a generational shift in attitudes toward under‑age procurement and parental responsibility.

Chapters

Remember the evil shit our parents used to do to us, send you to the store to buy shit that's illegal for a child to purchase? Go down to that store, give me a fifth of gin and a pack of cigarettes.
I'm 3, they ain't gonna let me have that. If you're a Gen X like me, you probably also had the same experience. By age 8, I had been walking or riding my bike to the store to get my daddy a pack of Vice World Regular and a bottle of Canadian Mist. I didn't know it was unusual. Now, when I had my own children, I felt like a failure. I'm thinking these, these kids are 12 or 15 years old and I hadn't sent them to the liquor store, not one time.