In the early 1970s, a visible slice of America’s counterculture embraced an alternative way of living that often involved raising children in converted buses and makeshift homes on wheels. These were the so-called “hippie parents,” part of a broader cultural movement that began in the mid-1960s with the rejection of mainstream values, consumerism, and the Vietnam War.

By the 1970s, many had transitioned from youthful protest to experimenting with intentional communities, back-to-the-land homesteads, and nomadic lifestyles.

Photo Credit: Baruch, Ruth-Marion, University of California, Berkeley. This image is used in accordance with copyright guidelines. It is used on a non-monetized website for educational purposes. The image features a hippie mom in a peasant top, smoking a cigarette and holding her baby. It was taken in Haight-Asbury, San Francisco, 1967.

Hippie Buses

The idea of converting school buses, vans, and other vehicles into rolling homes emerged as a practical extension of their values. Buses were inexpensive, readily available, and large enough to accommodate families. Painted with psychedelic colors and slogans, they became moving symbols of freedom and creativity. Also, a distinct rebellion against suburbia.

Living in a bus also allowed parents to avoid mortgages and rent. They traveled cheaply, and remained mobile in pursuit of seasonal work, music festivals, or simply adventure.

The Children of Hippie Parents: Gen X

This lifestyle was not without its challenges. Children of these families, members of what would later be called Generation X, often grew up without the stability of conventional schooling. In addition, their upbringing was marked by a lack of steady housing as well as traditional career models.

Nevertheless, they inherited a sense of resilience, exposure to alternative values, and firsthand lessons in independence. For some, it was an idyllic childhood filled with creativity and freedom; for others, it carried instability and hardship.

As the 1960s counterculture waned, a wave of children, soon dubbed Baby Busters, grew up amid communes, handmade crafts, and radical parental ideals. But how did that unconventional upbringing influence who they became? Research offers some illuminating insights.

Landmark Study

A landmark UCLA study tracking children of countercultural parents (communal dwellers, feminists, anti-materialists) found they often outperformed their peers academically. By age 12, 86 percent of these hippie-raised kids scored above average in school performance, with IQs slightly above the norm, though they also faced higher rates of emotional and social issues.

The Children of Hippie Parents: Gen X

Complementing these findings, personal narratives reveal a tension between creative enrichment and structural laxity. One grown hippie child recalls being immersed in vibrant arts, crafts, and literature, yet also feeling the effects of “benign neglect”, treated more like peers than children, expected to be self-sufficient from a young age.