15 Memories from Childhood Our Children Won’t Have
Recently, my four-year-old became quite confused and irate with me when I refused to fast forward through the commercials of his favorite show. I tried to explain to him that not all television shows are recorded and that, unfortunately, in this instance he would be forced to suffer through a commercial break or two.
That’s when I realized the concept of live television was completely lost on my son. He is a child who has only known a world with DVR and instant streaming. I resisted the urge to tell him about the television of my youth: the dial you got up to turn, only a handful of channels to choose from, and a size that took up a good portion of our living room instead of hanging nicely on the wall.
This got me thinking about the differences in our childhoods, the advances in technology, and the things I learned that have since been rendered obsolete. I’ve put together a list of the top 15 things we experienced as children that our children will not.
What would you add to the list? Tell me in the comments!
-
Cursive Writing
When we were in elementary school, we were given workbooks to help us practice our cursive writing over and over and over again. Writing in script used to be how we communicated hand-written notes or formal letters. Now it's a font called Lucinda Handwriting and the computer does it for you. Kids will never know what it's like to wash pencil smear off their tired hands.
Photo Credit: Flickr -
Pluto as a Planet
My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas. As a child did you learn an acronym like this to help you remember the names of the planets in our solar system? You might want to think twice before passing on this trick to your kids. Pluto was officially demoted to a dwarf planet in 2006 which means our children will never remember a world with nine planets instead of eight.
Photo credit: Flickr -
Reading a Map
If you ever took a road trip as a child, you may have fond memories of sitting in the backseat with a map spread across your knees, tracing the highways, and measuring the distance by the smallest digit of your little finger, which was a perfect match in size for the scale provided on the corner of each page. These days children watch a car-shaped icon navigate a digital road on our GPS system. These fancy gadgets have even put an end to the classic childhood question "Are we there yet?"
Photo credit: Flickr -
Using a Card Catalog
As a child when you wanted to find a book you were interested in checking out of the library, you would first have to consult the card catalog and learn the Dewey Decimal System for its location. Today's kids will never know the "joy" of scanning a row of drawers for the correct letter and then opening it up to reveal hundreds of neatly arranged cards to flip through. Our children need only perform a simple computer search and, in some cases, they may not even have to leave home to acquire their favorite book. They can simply check out a digital copy for instantaneous delivery to their e-reader. No "I couldn't find it" excuses for them!
Photo credit: Flickr -
Triceratops as a Dinosaur
What child of the '80s doesn't remember the gang of dinosaurs from the classic cartoon The Land Before Time? If you recall the movie as being centered around the adventures of a brontosaurus and a triceratops your children are likely to correct you. Scientists now believe that the dinosaur formerly identified as a Triceratops is actually a juvenile version of the Torosaurus.
Photo credit: Flickr -
Prayer in School
No matter which side of the issue you're on, the fact is that our children are no longer taught to bow their heads and pray during the school day. Today's children are growing up in a world that is continually redefining the line between church and state. In a few more years they may be shocked to learn their parents once participated in group prayer before class! Photo credit: Flickr
-
Driving a Stickshift
While in the 1950's half of all automobiles in the U.S. were manual transmission, nowadays more than 90% of the cars on the road are automatic. While the older generation may cling to their "vintage" style, the younger generation is (not) shifting gears. Our children are much more likely to hit the road in an automatic for their first driver's education course, leaving the art of the stickshift in the dust.
Photo credit: Flickr -
Encyclopedias
For our generation, writing a research paper meant spending a lot of time copying, by hand, the necessary information from heavy, leatherbound volumes of an encyclopedia. The information was limited, static, and they required regular (and costly) replacement to stay current. These days kids need only power up the computer to instantly access a wealth of up-to-the-minute information on an endless variety of subjects. It certainly renders us less sympathetic when they complain about having to do 'research' for their school projects.
Photo credit: Flickr -
Corporal Punishment
Even learning a lesson is easier on today's youth than that of generations past. Remember when talking in class or passing notes earned you more than a letter to your parents or a trip to the principal's office? Today's children will never know the fear of facing the teacher's paddle or the nun's ruler.
Photo credit: Flickr -
Balancing the Checkbook
Before the days of quickly swiping your debit card and checking in on your funds with online banking, there were checks to be written and accounts to be balanced. The age of the internet has almost rendered the balancing of the checkbook completely obsolete. Our children are much more likely to run the numbers in a spreadsheet after checking their accounts online than to pour over a wad of saved receipts with pencil, paper, and a calculator.
Photo credit: Flickr -
Taking Photos with Film
Remember taking photos on non-digital cameras? You framed each shot with painstaking care, hoisted your bulky camera and waited for the perfect moment to click knowing there was a finite end to your roll of film (usually 24 shots). And let's not forget calling "doubles" on your friend's pics. Only one lucky person would get a copy of a pic they liked. These days kids can snap pictures with reckless abandon using a camera that fits easily into their pocket and have the instant gratification of seeing their photo and sharing it with all 300+ of their friends. Our children will never know the disappointment of realizing, weeks later, when their pictures are finally developed, that their subject's eyes were closed in half their shots.
Photo credit: Flickr -
Mending and Sewing
While many of us, like our parents before us, can alter a hemline or sew on a button, this is a dying skill set for the up and coming generation. Mending and sewing are becoming obsolete as fewer and fewer schools offer home economics courses. Furthermore, retailers providing cheap clothing, disposable after a season, make repairing rips and tears in clothing less appealing to today's youth. Why bother replacing a button when that top is so last year?
Photo credit: Flickr -
Baking from Scratch
Another victim of the decline of home economics is the ability to prepare food from scratch. It's a task many are choosing to forego in a world filled with frozen dinners, fast food on every corner, and cake mix. I mourn for future generations as the makers of homemade Thanksgiving dinners grow fewer and fewer. Stouffer's ready made stuffing just cannot compare.
Photo credit: Flickr -
Torturous Gym Class Activities
Who doesn’t recall joining in a game of dodgeball or a "state mandated" survivor-style course? It's very likely that our children will never know the awkwardness of three-legged races or timed push ups. Legislation with emphasis on test scores and a lower budget have caused many schools to reduce the length of time dedicated to gym class and recess and consequently the activities our children participate in during them.
Photo credit: Flickr -
The Great Outdoors
The final thing we enjoyed regularly as children that our kids may not is the simple act of playing outside. As the world we live in becomes increasingly tech-crazed, kids are more likely to play a video game, surf the web, or check out what’s on one the hundreds of channels that cable television now has to offer than to step outside. Still, running through the sprinklers, tree climbing, bike riding, and firefly catching — there is no App for that.
Photo credit: Flickr
The nostalgia doesn’t stop here — check out these 10 tech relics we’ll have to explain to our kids!
Photo credit: Flickr
MORE ON BABBLE:
35 vintage toys we wish were still in our closet
The 26 most disturbing kids movies…EVER
10 places I don’t want to see your kids (or mine!)
14 little ways our kids drive us majorly crazy
10 movies I can’t watch now that I’m a mom
![Miracle Cat Born With 2 Legs & No Pelvis Wins Our Hearts With His Cuteness [Video]](http://cdn4.www.babble.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/anakin-two-legged-miracle-cat-100x100.jpg "Miracle Cat Born With 2 Legs & No Pelvis Wins Our Hearts With His Cuteness [Video]")
Schools don’t teach cursive handwriting anymore?! I had no idea.
Very true, technology has changed everything. However, in our household (with 4 kids) sewing by hand is being taught, as well as baking from scratch and playing outside. I will do everything I can to keep my kids from being part of “obese” America. Our elementary school still teaches cursive starting in 3rd grade, although I don’t know how often they use it. And as for driving a stick shift, we have one and any luxury-type fast car should be a stick shift in my opinion. My first car was stick and I wish they made a stick shift minivan, seriously!
I did not know about the Triceratops!!
We don’t have a Gps or DVR (yet) so hopefully we’ll hang on to those “old” traditions for awhile in our family.
Something I will miss: Planning a trip while looking at my dad’s giant road atlas.
Something I do not miss: (So not going there, lest we start a prayer in school debate in your comment thread)
why i dont miss corporal punishment the rest of your list made me kinda sad
Weoll you taught me something today- that Triceratops i snot really Triceratops, LOL!
As for scratch, my daughter and I are learning to bake and cook more and more from scratch- and it’s deeply satisfying and so much tastier. Perhaps her skills will make her a commodity one day~ Even my sons get in on the action.
As an interesting aside, the page with the encyclopedias has a nifty optical illusion in it: while you read the text below it, the books in your peripheral appear to be scrolling by as a video.
My son is in 4th grade and every assignment has to be in cursive! We bake from scratch at home and we play outside.
*You forgot the dial phone, that actually dials the numbers… where they have to wait for it to go all the way around before they can dial the next number.
*And what about the corded phone, with the long coil cord that can reach from one of the kitchen to the other.
*Or an answering machine? Almost all phone companies offer voicemail so the answering machine is no longer needed.
*Who needs a dictionary, when you’ve got dictionary.com? My son had to do an assignment where he had to find three words within his reading material that he didn’t know the meaning. He had to guess what he thought it meant, then look it up in the dictionary. Well, his student dictionary (we were at the dentist while he did this so we didn’t have our standard dictionary with us) didn’t have any of the three words so we were forced to look them up on dictionary.com!
*Mowing the lawn (summer) or raking the leaves (fall) for profit at neighbors houses…. everyone has lawn services nowadays that kids can’t try to earn an honest living while helping out the neighbors!
*a TV without a remote control! Heaven forbid they get off the couch to change the channel! Lest we forget having only a handful of channels to choose from– cartoons were on when the were scheduled, there wasn’t a set of channels strictly devoted to cartoons or kids shows!
I think it’s super sad people don’t sew and bake anymore……. do people really buy all new clothes every season?? I was totally not raised like that at all! But my mom and grandma, and eventually me, all sew. Everything…..if we need it we make it. Between my mom, myself, and some friends, I think we made everything for our baby, including food. I really feel like it’s better! It’s pretty weird eating a ready-made meal, and then to top it off, all you want to do is take a nap afterwords. Whats in that stuff?? We make all our bread products from scratch and make most everything we can from scratch. It’s time consuming but it’s fun if you like to do it, and when you are good at it it doesn’t take soooo long. I read a “recipe” the other day for turkey pot pie that involved thawing out frozen crust, and opening several cans of soup! That’s not a recipe.. lol. Yeah it’s “faster” but it’s not great, barely good. and making pie crust is like 4 ingredients. you can do it!
I had no idea about the triceratops! that is crazy. The cursive thing is totally weird. I can’t imagine a business professional in the future not being able to have a decent signature…not sure if that’s how it will be but that’s what I picture.
As long as they still MAKE film cameras it shouldn’t be a big sad thing, I guess. I do miss getting film developed. Don’t miss finding out how every photo was too dark or someone’s finger was in the way! I’ve easily taken 24 photos of kids and pets in a row and had to delete every one because of being blurry or moving their face at the last second.
My family has a game that we call the Encyclopediagame. All that we need is paper for everybody, a pencil and one volume of an encyclopedia per person. And then we search the books for things we do not know or words that sound funny. Once the first person found a word he/she announces it and everybody writes a encyclopediastyle definition. Then all definitons are gathered by the founder of the word and then he/she reads all definitions aloud. Then every player decides what he/she thinks is the right answer. (The founder wrote the right answer on his paper.) The founder of the word gets a point for all false identification and the invernter gets a point for his definition if it is chosen too.
This is really fun and you can play it with grandmas and schoolchildren too! And it not only shows kids what na encyclopedia is, but you also need your cursive writing too!
This list is ridiculous. Encyclopedias, balancing the check book, maps, and card catalogs all still exist, they’re just on the computer. The basic skills required to read a map or look up a fact will still be needed. Kids are still going to need to learn MLA format at know where countries and cities are located. People do still cook and clean and sew for themselves — if they didn’t, things like this website, which gets most of it’s traffic from the food section and it’s recipes, wouldn’t exist! It’s a shame PE is not doing so well in schools, but it will come back when the economy bounces back, because we are a country that prides itself on having great sports teams and winning the Olympics. The .001% of people who learned cursive in school and ACTUALLY USE IT will teach it to their equally artsy kids, or go into their classrooms and parent-teach for a day to make sure kids learn it because they are just that artsy. At the very least, kids will learn it to sign their names. Or do you think signatures will be replaced by retina scans in the next five years? And kids won’t play outside?? I mean, come on.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy it, Suzie!
Sounds like someone didn’t have their coffee this morning. *cough cough SUZIE cough cough*
RELAX.
So, are dogs eating our wireless routers now instead of our homework?
Also a mom to a 4 year old, I agree w/most of Amber’s list.
Here are a few I would add:
banana bike seats: dorky or awesome??
shoelaces (for those of us born pre-velcro era)
roller rinks: a dying venue of social exercise-tainment
sandboxes: as a mom, I wouldn’t want my kid playing in a pit of filth, but as a kid, they were kinda cool
LOL scionkirk- good one!
@Liza– at some point, velcro becomes “baby” and the kids find their laced shoes more appealing, but they don’t know how to tie the laces. Do your child a favor and at some point get him/her laced shoes and teach the art of tying laces! Your child’s teacher will thank you! It’s not a lost art, it just happens a lot later in life!
don’t usually take the time to comment, but just feel like a few of these need to be addressed regarding my daughter –
**cursive? I’m one of those teachers that thinks it builds important fine motor and hand-eye coordination stuff – she’ll learn it, even if it’s just to make cards pretty, yes that would be hand-written thank yous that she’ll learn as well.
**maps? they are still way cool (to me!) my daughter already has one up in her bathroom as a shower curtain (6 months old is not to young to wonder at the pretty shapes and colors)
**driving a stick? I do it everyday, it’s important to know in my book, I can borrow or rent any car, and I get better gas mileage – though they are getting harder to find new.
**meding/sewing? Those are fun and necessary skills! Why should I throw away favorites when I can fix them – course all of her clothes are 2nd hand anyway, so it’s also necessary.
**baking from scratch? Cake mixes have been around for over half a century and they haven’t killed nestle chocolate chip cookies yet, or my mom’s devil’s food cake, you can’t beat ‘em.
Just because stuff is dated doesn’t mean the alternatives are better – and yes, mint balances my checkbook for me, but I still have to figure out where all the money has to go myself.
Yeah, my list is better……..
What?! They downgraded Triceratops? I just heard they renamed Brontosaurus (or was it Brachiosaurus?) and apparently there’s no pterodactyl anymore either. This makes me feel like my elementary education is worthless.
Also, movie rental stores with aisles and aisles of movies and VHS tapes!
Interesting. Hopefully my kids will see about half of these. I actually drive a stick shift (and I’ve only been driving for 8 years) and all three of my brothers know how to drive one too. The car I went to college with was the stick shift my parents taught my older two brothers to drive with. My oldest taught me when I got into town. My youngest brother and I both decided we wanted our first cars to be a stick shift
I love it and am hoping it makes it to my daughter’s first driving lesson!
I think I will also teach my kids cursive. My mom taught me otherwise I wouldn’t know it. My teachers in grade school actually required us to write in print which was tortuous for me because I never learned print as well as cursive.
I <3 maps too. Something else they will learn. My parents had me navigate on cross country trips.
As for cooking and sewing… even my husband knows how to do that. You bet the kids will too.
Pen pals. People sent and received letters.
Telephones were attached to walls. Once you left the house, you were pretty much out of reach and range.
Games were played with dice and a board or a deck of cards at a table.
And on and on and on… : )
Some of these make sense…but some don’t. Cursive handwriting? Baking from scratch? If people care, then those things will always be around. I personally hate getting a note from a full grown woman that looks like a 7 year old chicken scratch and if something is made from scratch it means more time and effort went into it. It’s okay to use technology to cut corners sometimes, but the basics (like playing outside and reading a map when your GPS battery runs down) shouldn’t be pushed aside.
I think many of these things will certainly be a part of my (not yet born) children’s lives – maps? Not everyone has a GPS and even if you do, map reading is an important life skill!
Sewing/mending – also an important life skill that will probably become even more important after the globalised economy finally collapses sometime in the not-too-distant future.
Cooking/baking from scratch – Another important life skill that will most likely come in handy at some point in the future. Some of us Gen Ys are great cooks and enjoy baking from scratch, making our own sourdough, brewing beer, etc.. My mom refused to own a microwave and while it annoyed me growing up, I have now been microwave-free for more than a year and am thoroughly enjoying having to cook things from scratch!
The Great Outdoors? This is up to the parents – if they don’t take the time or make the effort to take their kids outside and give them a sense of appreciation for playing outside, it’s their own fault. I don’t think you can blame ‘modern society’ or technology for that one.
I think this list is great. It makes me nostalgic for things like the library card catalog and gym class. Although many things change over the years (my childhood was much different from my mother’s, and so on) I think the basic skills remain important. Cooking and baking, playing outdoors, and learning to repair things that break (clothing, household, toys) is just something that has become more a parent’s responsibility to teach. Readers of this site know this, but unfortunately there will be masses of people who won’t learn these skills because of this, and that is too bad. I cook from scratch, sew, get my 3 year old son outdoors every day, and repair things that break around my house; but I know these days this is my responsibility to teach. No four years of home ec for him like I had the luxury of (for which I am so grateful today).
I’m sorry, how far back is this author going? Corporal punishment in school? That was something my dad used to talk about and I’m in my 30s now. Thank goodness they don’t do that and they weren’t doing it when I was a kid! Never had prayer in school either. Other than the cursive and a few other things on this list, these items seem a couple of generations removed.
Mommyof4, I am 27 years old and I was paddled in school as a kindergartener and a first grader and we prayed every day before walking to the lunchroom to eat.
Great list! I showed the picture of the television to my three-and-a-half year old son. He thought it was part of a chair!
I was NEVER told to pray in school, ever. And there’s NO reason why a kid can’t follow a map. They still sell them (and we still buy them, what if you’re in the middle of a trip and the GPS goes kaput?). In fact, we have a poster sized US map hanging in the playroom.
Enjoyed the list. I am 27 and there was corporal punishment at my school up til I graduated though I think they have banished it now (I hope!). I am pretty sure cursive is still being taught, at least here in Arkansas- unless it has been replaced by “Advanced Texting”.
I have one more to add to the list- riding shotgun- now kids recommended to ride in back til they are what, 16? No, j/k, but really I think it’s like til they are 8 or 9. We used to climb in the passenger window to take shotgun.
I remember we had three television channels. If we visited our relatives in Oklahoma, they had two. And sometimes both stations showed the same programs. I was a five year old with a lit stick and a coffee can of fire crackers. We went outdoors and only came in when it was time to eat or it got too dark to see. Some stuff I did, I would not let my kids do ever, like shooting arrows in the air, straight up, and stand there waiting to see where they would land. I had an arrow land right next to my foot. Right next to it. It didn’t occur to me to be afraid. The only place my mother told me never to play was the railroad tracks. Guess where I played?
I work at a school, all the kids have to write in cursive; maybe the author is talking about rich schools where everyone has a computer. I love baking from scratch, because sometimes it’s less expensive. I do not miss balancing a checkbook, my grandmother does and it is irritating when she makes a mistake. I think we should work smarter, not harder. And buying all new clothes, what a waste of money! Sewing buttons is not that hard, even hems are not that hard! I did love playing outside when I was a kid, but I lived in a safer neighborhood than we do now, it’s an event when we trek to the park. I was never spanked in school, but I went to DoDDs schools growing up. I would never let a teacher touch my child. and I despise stickshifts, so no love lost there!
I homeschool, and my children have or are learning every single one of these “lost arts”. I see a big gap in public schooled children – although maybe they are more advanced in their use and understanding of technology. While my eight year old is learning cursive, she is a slow hunt-and-peck typist and will need remediation later on in middle school to catch up on computers, typing and touch screens.
In my youth there was no sex splattered all over the media and no celebrity culture apart from some film stars. Marriage meant something and families stuck together. There was absolutely no mention made of homosexuals.
Too much information today brings about a loss of innocence and a loss of a lovely period of life that should be full of wonder and trust: the lovingly guided discovery of the world.
Wow, this was a very, very bad article. 99% of these are things that my kids are going to learn and do and I have no idea how they couldn’t. Writing in cursive? Of course they will, how else are they going to know how to sign their names? The great outdoors, wtf I don’t see how that counts at all! Reading a map? They still sell atlases you know and map reading is very enjoyable. Sewing? Really? I mean REALLY!??!? How can you possibly be remotely serious about that? Sewing is a MAJOR hobby and lifestyle and means to a living and the sewing community is growing. I sew and crochet. Baking from scratch? W.T.F. Ok, maybe YOU eat fast food all the time but some of us don’t. Triceratops as not a dinosaur? You are aware that scientists change their minds about dinosaurs every other week right? Stick shift? Maybe you’re rich enough to afford a brand new 50,000 dollar car but for the rest of the world we’re still driving cars from the 80s. Also I see no reason why encyclopedias would be gone.
Thanks so much for reading, Miba! Have a great day!
One thing I must add to the balancing the checkbook is actually writing the check and a deposit slip. Right now, I am furthering my education with going to school to become a Medical Assistant. We have an Office Procedures class and our instructor REALLY had to take 3 hours to teach a class of 15 students to write ONE check and ONE deposit slip. There is no reason that kids graduating today cannot do these things. I’m not that much older (I just turned 30), but in High School, we learned that in sophomore year. Ugh.
This list is amatuerish. They DO still teach cursive in school, not everyone uses a GPS, and my Cub Scout son can read a map better than his father ever could! I drive a stick-shift, and unless you have so much money that you always have more than enough money, you still have to balance your checkbook. I also sew and so do my kids – maybe not every day, but all of my kids have made their own Halloween costumes since they were teenagers. What kind of computer, gadget, servant-driven life does this author lead!?!
What about 8 track?
Roller Skates with keys, and four metal wheels?
Rabbit Ears for your TV?
My grandmother’s generation would have said the outhouse, progress can be a good thing.
I find most of this ridiculous. Baking, playing outisde, film, sewing, whatever. Even if my kids can’t learn it in school, I’ll teach it to them as a parent. Going outside and catching fireflies, going for walks in the woods and climbing the cliffs, swimming in the creek – my kids will know that and technology will be limited, just like it was for me when I was growing up. I’ve been around computers my entire life, but nothing compared to going out and rolling around in the dirt. Coming home muddy and your parents hadto hose you off before they’d let you come in the house.
Baking? My family never eats fast food or frozen dinners. We cook and bake, which is what I’ll pass on to my kids. People tend to raise their kids the way they were brought up; if people would stop complaining about everything and just take the time to teach their kids and spend time with them, these problems won’t occur. But, no. Everyone wants the electronic babysitters.
I too have to wonder what lifestyle you have and where you get this info. My daughter is in the third grade and since Christmas break has had to write everything in cursive. They play dodge ball, do push-ups, chin-ups, curls, etc. in gym class. There are still teachers that pray before snack or lunch, or may have ie.”a moment of silence”. Their school has a ” See you at the Pole” where they meet early at the flagpole in front of school to pray together. And there is still corporal punishment in many school districts, (which is used very rarely}. but there is also a paper a parent can sign so your child is not punished this way. Oh, and they do still have card catalogs in the school and public library. As for sewing and baking we still do that too! We also use a dictionary, have a stick-shift, read maps(they also teach that in school),play outside, build forts, swim in creeks make mud pies and salad out of berries and grass, catch fireflies, go camping, (sometimes even in the backyard). We only have TV from the antenna, we go to church, my girls play sports, belong to 4H (yes, they are still around with wonderful programs, classes and clubs), ride bikes, etc. Yes, they do like the computer, but it’s monitored. As for Pluto..it’s sad, a dinosaur is a dinosaur, I despised encyclopedias and Please teach them to balance a checkbook. THE POINT IS: Your Children Will Know What YOU Take The Time To Teach Them, along with Values, Morals and Faith.. These are life’s riches and treasures, they make your kids who they are and who they’ll become. They merely exist without them. You get what you give. Think about it!
I too have to wonder what lifestyle you have and where you get this info. My daughter is in the third grade and since Christmas break has had to write everything in cursive. They play dodge ball, do push-ups, chin-ups, curls, etc. in gym class. There are still teachers that pray before snack or lunch, or may have ie.”a moment of silence”. Their school has a ” See you at the Pole” where they meet early at the flagpole in front of school to pray together. And there is still corporal punishment in many school districts, (which is used very rarely}. but there is also a paper a parent can sign so your child is not punished this way. Oh, and they do still have card catalogs in the school and public library. As for sewing and baking we still do that too! We also use a dictionary, have a stick-shift, read maps(they also teach that in school),play outside, build forts, swim in creeks make mud pies and salad out of berries and grass, catch fireflies, go camping, (sometimes even in the backyard). We only have TV from the antenna, we go to church, my girls play sports, belong to 4H (yes, they are still around with wonderful programs, classes and clubs), ride bikes, etc. Yes, they do like the computer, but it’s monitored. As for Pluto..it’s sad, a dinosaur is a dinosaur, I despised encyclopedias and Please teach them to balance a checkbook. THE POINT IS: Your Children Will Know What YOU Take The Time To Teach Them, along with Values, Morals and Faith.. These are life’s riches and treasures, they make your kids who they are and who they’ll become. They merely exist without them. You get what you give. Think about it!
I remember when I was a kid, taking walks in the woods with my friends, going miles and miles,just walking and discovering things, as long as we were home before dark. My mom would look at us like we were crazy if it was nice out and we were in the house, she would promptly tell us to get out! Nowadays with kids being snatched straight from our front yard, the days of those long walks unsupervised are over!!
We still do a lot of these things in my house.. we play outside (no matter the weather.. dance in the rain, splash in the puddles, enjoy the sun, etc), we cook from scratch – I dont like all the chemicals in todays foods, we don’t watch much tv, we play with maps, even create maps.. If you aren’t doing these things, that is your own decision.. not the worlds.
One of my fond childhood memories is riding in the rumble seat. Growing up in the ’40s, all we could afford was a ’32 Ford. It was equipped with a rumble seat, and my brother and I loved riding in it in good weather. It’s a wonder we survived riding around unprotected like that — and without seat belts, no less!
)
My grandkids will never know safety in school. I went to the”toughest” high school in Denver CO, which is now in “the ghetto,” – if that term itself isn’t obsolete. We had a rifle range in the basement (ROTC) with live ammo, locked up, of course, but still there. There was NEVER an inkling of any trouble because of that. Liberals have totally ruined the educational system and most of the rest of the country with it.
I appreciated Diane’s comments. You go, girl!
Brontosaurus is also not a dinosaur, jsyk.
Prayer in school? You’re how old? Because at 33, I can say unequivocally, never did that. Nor was corporal punishment around.
Also, losing the great outdoors? That’s on you as a parent, dear. It’s still there. But if you don’t take your kid(s) out to play, and instead YOU sit in front of the tv/computer, naturally they’ll pick up that habit.
Overall, an unimpressive, poor, list.
PJ, I am 27 and in Kindergarten through grade four I went to school in school systems in Alabama. We prayed in school every day before lunch and I was paddled several times. Not everyone had the same experience as you. I know that may be hard for you to understand. Also, many schools are doing away with recess. So, that is my motive for including outdoors.
Have a nice day.
I can see how some of these things do seem like things of the past, but it seems to me that if a parent wants the child to learn something- teach it!! Don’t leave it up to the public scools- they are so lacking these days (and I have spent 18 years getting an education in the public system!) The other thing I’d like to say is that those of you getting all bent out of shape because YOU never had to pray or get swats and YOU still drive standard tranny cars and not of these items pertain to YOU… well, that’s nice. Good for YOU. It’s funny how you have such a wholesome life but still find time to gripe and complain anonomously over such trivial things on the internet. Go play outside- it will make you smile.
stick shift; at 16 I had to learn to drive my Dad’s stick truck before I could even touch Mom’s automatic car
sewing, baking, cooking, encyclopedias, maps; my children learned all those things from me. So did my grand-children and now my great grandchildren are learning, both from me AND their parents
as for outside playing; TURN OFF THE TV AND COMPUTER
Actually, the Torosaurus/Triceratops thing isn’t true. They thought it was for a while, but recently two scientists named Nicholas R. Longrich and Daniel J. Field came to the conclusion that it simply wasn’t true after a careful analysis of the skulls and a young adult specimen of the Torosaurus. There were far too many significant differences in the skulls.
I can see the author’s point on many of these, whether or not I agree… 1st corporal punishment/prayer in schools; as someone from the west coast (California) I honestly had no idea ANY schools did that after the 50′s… my parents never had it, and as a 32 yr old, I’ve never witnessed it, so it is understandable why there is confusion -by many about this subject. Certain skills, like map-reading, cursive, and checkbook balancing are necessary and probably won’t disappear soon and many people have made valid points why. As far as sewing/baking/yardwork, etc, I measure my time in money, basically. If it’s much cheaper/less time consuming to just buy something so that I have more time to spend with family and friends (walking down a path in nature), I’ll do that. If it’s just a button I need, or a customized costume for Halloween or parties, I’ll bust out the sewing box. Much of the changes in life are a balance between what’s necessary and what’s not…
I had roller skates that went over my shoes and you had to tighten them with the key.
Out of this whole list the one that makes me the saddest is the film cameras. I kept mine from when I took photography in college. I have another that I still use. I’m a graphic designer and just switched to a SLR at Christmas. I will keep them to pass on, they might be worth money some day.
My children walked to and from school, as I did. My grandkids and every other child I know is driven so they will not be kidnapped. It is no more likely to happen now than it was 50 years ago, but, due to extensive media, we are all far more fearful. I loved the time to adjust from home to school, to wander slowly, daydreaming, or chasing and running with the other kids on those daily walks. The same is true about playing outside. An adult needs to be on watch so the children are safe. They can’t go to the park alone or ride their bikes out of sight. We drive stick shifts, make many of our own clothes, cook all our food from scratch, and the kids have their chores they are not paid to do, but do as a contribution to the good of our family.
I’m 29 and encountered prayer and paddling in school. I do believe that parents can be to blame for lack of activity outdoors,
My daughter, and any children i may have in the future WILL know what it is to play outside, because, we as her parents will make sure her little butt GETS out there to play, just like we did! We had video games in our homes, and all the movies you could want to watch, but we still made it outside every single day!! She just turned one in August, and she LOVES to be outside! If you allow them to sit inside and do whatever they choose to do, that’s what they are going to do. People need to learn how to be parents again, and not worry so much about being their children’s friends. They’ll still love you and will RESPECT you more that way! If people took time to do things like teach them how to use a map, or let them help make dinner, they’ll know how to do those things. We’re not born knowing how to do these things, someone had to teach us, and it is or job to continue to teach the next generation. People want to work all the time to pay for those 300+ channels and GPS’s, and e-readers, and video games, not realising it is more important to spend TIME with your children. Get them the e- reader, but still buy them books to read. I have a kindle and i love it, but continue to buy and read tangible read books by my favorite author, and my daughter already has a shelf full, some of which were mine as a child. As long as people continue to buy and use these things, they will always be around.
My memories from childhood that my child/grandkids won’t ever have are numerous, cause I’m 2 days older than dirt.
Here’s one:
I not only saw a herd of buffalo up close, but I was chased by several of them when I was only six years old after they broke through the fence. I guess they got annoyed at me taunting them. Scared the hell out of me. Most people don’t know it but Buffalos are mean and aggressive.
I remember when I was in elementary school, we were in that transition period. In my early years of elementary school our library still had the card system, but by the time I got to 5th grade we had converted to computers.
actually i have to disagree, while some of those may be true, such as taking photos with film, i plan on making sure my boys are able to enjoy most if not all of these things listed. while at religious schools they still pray in the mornings, there certainly isnt cursive writing anymore, but lucky for me i saved my cursive writing books, and they can still be acessed online, i feel cursive writing to be usefull still as it is such a beautiful way of expressing yourself. as for the outdoors we spend most of our summer out in the middle of no where camping, while its in a camper, its still our camping, we still go hunting and fishing, we are also teaching them to live off the land, gardening and such.
the mending and sewing, and baking/cooking from scratch we practice on a daily basis….so some families may loose some of these classic memories for there children, but not all….
My oldest daughter asked for a polaroid camera for christmas and has taken some amazing photos…she designs ,makes patterns and sews her own clothes…My youngest daughter is not happy unless she is outside playing..They both go to schools that have prayer and say their own at times..
We have encyclopaedias that we look at for fun..
They both play sport at school and love it..(gym class)
The oldest one writes in cursive and the youngest one copies her..
We have always baked from scatch…it tastes better..and takes about 3 minutes longer ..
I would like to own that card catalogue …it looks very cool..
oh and Pluto will always be a planet in out house…its ok to know the truth but have your own opinion isn’t it?
One childhood memory our children won’t have is going to the video stores. Why walk halfway across town to rent a game when you can just download it directly onto your gaming system? Or have physical copies mailed directly to your door? They’ll never know the joy of going to the video store to rent the latest releases and buying a bunch of junk food while playing said game all weekend. Ah, good times.