# Did you ever run away from home when you were a kid?



## fuzzybuddy (Apr 27, 2021)

Yeah, I ran away a bunch of times- always came back home, before dinner. I was 3 or4, and I ran away to my grandmother's. She lived a few doors down the street. I put up a fuss, and refused to go back home. I remember sleeping on my grandmother's couch. I have no idea why I got itchy feet. But my parents said I could get a cat, so I came home. I got Mickey, a tom cat. But "he" had kittens, and  then "he" went on vacation.


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## Pepper (Apr 27, 2021)

Yes.  I used to take the typewriter out of it's valise carrier, pack it with clothes and walk to the elevator.  My parents would stand outside our door and wave goodbye and then I would go back home.


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## debodun (Apr 27, 2021)

A couple of times. I took a pillow and blanket out to the garage. At that time my dad owned a big Olds station wagon. I'd get in and make myself comfy in the back of the wagon for a few hours. When I went back in the house, my mom hadn't even known (or let on) I had been gone.


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## hollydolly (Apr 27, 2021)

Yes....several times..and I only returned after being blackmailed by my father that if I didn't, my mother would be made to suffer...


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## Murrmurr (Apr 27, 2021)

debodun said:


> A couple of times. I took a pillow and blanket out to the garage. At that time my dad owned a big Olds station wagon. I'd get in and make myself comfy in the back of the wagon for a few hours. When I went back in the house, my mom hadn't even known (or let on) I had been gone.


And THAT is how it's done.


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## JonDouglas (Apr 27, 2021)

Never even thought about it.  No reason to.  I was fortunately able to figure out that the only bad times were those I brought on myself and were, thus, correctable.


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## Murrmurr (Apr 27, 2021)

My older brother and I were pretty wild. We didn't have to run away, we freakin walked. Most times we walked a good mile or so to the rock quarries and hung out there for a while, and then we'd do another two miles or so into town, which was about a half mile from our house. It worked out great because we could always get back by suppertime. 

I was 3 the first time we "left home". Grant (my brother) was 5. He was mad at mom because she wouldn't let him keep a snake he found. The second time, it was over a lizard....and so on until we moved to the farm when I was 5. ...No where to run, then.


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## Glowworm (Apr 27, 2021)

I "ran" away once to my grandmother - she lived downstairs


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## jujube (Apr 27, 2021)

I ran away at maybe 6,  but the mission was aborted when I came to the street I wasn't allowed to cross.

So I came home and hid in the wellhouse which was icky and damp  and spidery for what seemed like hours but was probably only minutes.

Mom called everyone in for lunch and didn't seem to notice I was missing. It didn't occur to me that she could see where I was from the kitchen window. 

At that point, I figured everyone had been "punished" enough by my absence and went in to eat lunch.


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## Gaer (Apr 27, 2021)

Yes, i wrote of this before

Age four, packed up my doll, my sweater and my lunch sandwich.  Put them in my toy baby buggy and took off across town.  I wasn't even supposed to cross streets!  I walked for hours and hours.  My Dad got off work at five o clock and he went up and down streets until he found me.  I was defiant anf told him I was NOT going home.
But it was getting dark,so I went home.


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## Lewkat (Apr 27, 2021)

Yes.


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## timoc (Apr 27, 2021)

"I'm going, I'm going, and I'm not coming back, I mean it," said this 7 year old in short pants.

"OK son", said mammy, "I'll just fill this bottle of water for you, and you won't be wanting this lovely bowl of your favourite stew, or any of the roasted chestnuts I'm about to do, will you?"

"Well I'm definitely going tomorrow," I replied.


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## Lewkat (Apr 27, 2021)

When I started, I never stopped doing it.  Happy wanderer, I.


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## SetWave (Apr 27, 2021)

I often think that enlisting and volunteering for Vietnam at 18 was my running away from home.


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## Ladybj (Apr 27, 2021)

No.. I waited until I was an adult when I once ran away from home when I was married


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## old medic (Apr 27, 2021)

This would be one of my biggest regrets/lessons of my life... 
As some boys are... I was very independent and stubborn and the harsh rule of my Stepfather didn't help.
Mid school year at 15 the superintendent told me she couldn't wait till I was 16 and throw me out of school...
I went home and told my parents I wasn't going back... they said fine.. get a job...
The next afternoon I walked away carrying everything I owned on my back and hitched 300 miles away...
To find my grandparents had already left for FL for the winter... I camped under a back storage shed on their garage,
working little jobs here and there... and got some great leftovers from a few restaurants around town...
They put them out back in these big metal containers.... but fuss if they catch you...
I remember my Big 16... splurged and bought an ice cream sandwich in celebration.
My mother and Stepfather spent over 6 months worrying and wondering what happened to me...
I learned alot in that time....became tougher than I ever thought... gained humility...
I sat Hungary, and still shared with what little I had with less fortunate. 
I also learned how big of a heart this asshole of a man that married my mother....
I did finally return home..... I left in Sept of 78. 
Moved into their front yard in Aug 85 with my future wife for 2 months, and have lived within 10 miles ever since.
We lost the man that WAS my Dad in 94 at only 56 years old...


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## Ruthanne (May 1, 2021)

Yes, many times starting when I was 13.  I hitch hiked all over the state with my best friend at that time.  We had a really good time too.


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## Devi (May 1, 2021)

Yes, when I was two or four years old. Don't recall what I was upset about, but I informed my mother that I was leaving. She filled a rolling basket(?) with my socks, and off I went through the open garage door.  She didn't follow.

When I got to the end of the driveway, I wondered where I was going to go. I didn't know anyplace else. So I turned around and came back.

Only to find that my mother was hovering around in the garage, watching the whole thing.


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## Keesha (May 1, 2021)

I ran away once when I was younger but nobody noticed.


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## officerripley (May 2, 2021)

No, but I thought about doing so constantly.


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## Judycat (May 2, 2021)

No I just wanted my own place so I cleaned out a shed for myself. Then I was too scared to sleep in it at night and that was the end of it.  I think I was 8.


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## maybenot (May 6, 2021)

Not exactly running away but ... one time my friend and I went out to a nightclub in Newcastle and missed the last bus home which was 11 20pm ...we were late anyway as we were s'posed to be home by 11pm ( both 16yrs old and working) so she was afraid of the wrath of her mam ...
  we ended up sleeping (?) in a waiting room at the railway station and in the morning we started the long walk home ...her mam had called the local police and were out looking for us... they picked us up and we went to mine ( she still wouldn't go home)
 I explained to my Dad what happened and all he said was, "alright then, no harm done"
   The police brought her mum to ours where she ranted and raved and insisted her daughter be taken for a 'medical test' to prove that we hadn't been with boys ... it was so humiliating for her ( we didn't even have boyfriends )
 We used to meet in secret then, and get different busses home etc as her mam hated me from then on

Funny thing is, she married my older brother 2 years later!


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## Mr. Ed (May 11, 2021)

I think I was in 5th grade. mom, said I had to do something. I threatened to run away (lived in a small town, simply walked around a while, dad found me as I heading home. No big deal to me, angry parents


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## Capt Lightning (May 14, 2021)

No, but I wish I had.  It would have really pi$$ed off my mother.  It was always about HER and if I ever did anything she disapproved of, it was always "What would people think about her".  Oh I loved playing mind games with her, but she messed me up and I enjoyed a bit of revenge.


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