10 Things I Grew Up With That My Kids Will Never Know About.
The other day while Greta was playing on the iPad, I realized that there are things in my memory that were kid staples growing up, that neither she nor Gus will ever come to know. They are things long disappeared, unless you are able to mine them on Etsy or ebay, but they hold dearly in the recesses of my 1980s-child heart.
1. Roller skates. Not roller blades- roller skates. The big, clonky 4-wheeled ones with the big rubber stopper on the front. My kids are never going to know the glory of pushing off and rolling off on a perfectly balanced shoe with training wheels. Double that for indoor skating rinks with a Partners Skate.
2. The telephone booth, where you could make an in-state call for just ten cents. Or call the operator for free and ask her the time...over and over again. Besides, where does Superman change now?
3. Paste. I couldn't even find a picture when I tried to find one, because no one took pictures of school paste back in the 80s, hanging out in dried up chunks in a little white paper cup. But I did find this:
4. Winding a tape with a pencil. My digital-age children will never know the frustration of a cassette tape that has come unwound. A pencil was the obvious choice of tool for winding it back in, and you had to be careful not to wrinkle it or else the tape was pretty much done for.
5. Floppy disks. This is what actually got me started on this post because Greta was using an app on the iPad, and I was thinking about how I used to play Carmen Sandiego and Jeopardy! on the computer, and the software would come with the big 5 1/4" floppy and the 3 1/2" diskette, depending on the system. These are dinosaurs now!
6. Teenie drinks. I actually found these under "Little Hugs" but I didn't know that was their name- we always called them Teenies. I can't believe that my mom even let me drink such sugar-filled crap. The red was my favorite.
7. Chiclets. When I was little, my dad would buy these for me when we went to the hardware store together, for probably $0.25 a pack or less. I always got the fruit flavored ones and loved to crunch through the shell.
8. Bombardment: The Higher Level of Dodgeball. Basically every man for himself, unless you are the last man standing and then you must catch the ball. Schools today do not allow throwing anything in any form, much less approving of pegging each other with a red rubber gym ball. I loved that game.
9. Library cards with metal. Long before the days of barcodes and lasers were these humble cards, with a number stamped in metal attached to each card. They also stamped books with the date so you would remember when to return them, since there were no computers to keep track.
10. Cereal box prizes. Do you remember the days when you chose your cereal based on what the prize was inside? And how long it would take you to eat that cereal before you could find it? Gone are the days of a little bonus in your morning routine.
Do any of these bring back fond memories for you too? Isn't it sad that future generators will not have such wonders?? What would you add to the list?
OMG! Totally forgot about those library cards and the little yellow envelope they came in! Mine would always get so bent from being used so much hat they wouldn't be able to feed it into the machine. And do you remember the book cards that they'd run through the stamping machine? Sometimes they'd have to cut them so that they'd fit in the slot properly. Now I feel old.
ReplyDeleteWe were at a graduation party over the weekend and Nate's little cousins had roller skates!! Not roller blades, actual skates, and they looked new! But yeah, everything else on here is a relic. I mentioned a floppy disk to this same group of kids about a year ago and got blank stares in return. Ugh. They'll never know the joy of Oregon Trail with all-green graphics. Hahaha.
ReplyDeleteI've still seen the Juices occasionally. I know we've used them once during this school year. During class I had mentioned click on the 'floppy' disk to save and everyone was like..what??? What's a floppy disk?. I was still using floppy disks in college because USBs were still expensive in 2003.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine just celebrated her 30th birthday, and we went roller skating as part of her big day! It was a lot of fun. I am TERRIBLE at skates, though; I was always slightly more coordinated on roller blades, for some reason. (Not that I really learned how to STOP while wearing either, however, haha.) I remember those juices, too, though I never drank them. And floppies? Oh yeah. During free time at school, we'd play Number Munchers or whatever the heck that game was called, haha.
ReplyDeleteCute post, Kristen. Definitely reminded me of some good times from my childhood! :)
ReplyDeleteRoller skates were so fun! I loved going to the roller rink. I can't believe they still have those somewhere!
ReplyDeleteJust like bank books! You used to have to put the savings book in the machine to get it stamped.
ReplyDeleteI never played Oregon Trail! They never had it at my school!
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is, many programs still use the floppy disk as a "Save" icon and most young people probably have no idea that's what that's about lol! Great post!
ReplyDelete