I read this with a bit of a lump in my throat, Jenna...I too find myself worrying that our kids have lost some kind of innocence over the past few years. I have an almost 17 year old and a 24 year old, and the time when they should have been really carefree has been lost, I think. I also wouldn't want to be without some of the gains of technology either, but I do worry that our kids live in a constant state of being 'on'. Even watching a TV series takes a couple of nights rather than the anticipation of waiting each week for the next episode! We often joke with our kids that we were left to fend for ourselves and summer holidays were basically made up of riding our bikes (without helmets!) to the local shop for an ice-pop!
I don't know how we stayed alive haha. We didn't even use car seats or seatbelts. My younger brother was allowed to roam free everywhere in the car while my dad drove.
The thing I come back to when I think my kids are "missing" something - Covid aside, is that they haven't known anything else, in the same way that we didn't know what we were missing because it didn't exist yet. It was just life! I just bet that when our kids are our age, they might feel similar nostalgia when kids in their future are embedded with technology in the way big tech envisions. I take comfort that our kids were old enough not to grow up with a smart phone when they were babies. It seems really unavoidable nowadays.
My brothers and I had so much fun rolling in the back of the station wagon with each turn as my parents drove us home from holiday dinner parties. Can't imagine that nowadays.
I can relate to so much of this. The water bottle thing is hilarious, I'm always telling my kids that when I was a kid no one needed to carry water with them all the time, it wasn't a thing. Something I notice with my kids is that if they are going to do something new, they want information about that thing ahead of time--like if it's a park, they want to see a photo or if it's a restaurant they want to hear the menu. My son gets obsessed with the GPS in the car, checking the time and wanting to know how long things will take. I don't have the same impulse toward information-gathering, maybe because it wasn't an option when I was a kid. You would just wait and see. It feels like a big generation gap.
It's not just the water bottle - I don't think we really drank that much water at all! It was juice and soda most of the time, and then my family drank a barley tea that can be served hot or iced, but I don't remember drinking water?? Well, include me the camp of information gathering before going somewhere or buying anything 😬. I do this so much now, but you're making me wonder why?? Is it because I want to make sure that it's worthy of my time?? 🤔
Love this article so much! I actually did drink a fair amount of water (straight from the tap, or the hose if we were playing outside), but we did have plenty of juice made from those cardboard cans of frozen concentrate. Yum. I was just visiting my folks at their house, and I still drink water from the tap, even though they have plenty of bottled water now. Old habits I guess.
I also remember sitting in my high school government class watching the space shuttle on the tv that was wheeled in on the cart. And I also do not remember much after it happened, except it was the first time I had seen one of my teachers in tears. :(
Those minute maid juices had the same packaging as pillsbury dough rolls! And man, what it must have felt like, being a teacher while watching the challenger tragedy.
i'm writing this as my kids are kind of trapped inside our apartment because of wildfire smoke. Oof, I feel all of these feelings. I was just talking with my youngest about not having a phone, having to go home to find out if someone called you. We have been joking around these parts about having a Gen-X meal day: Starts with Cap'n Crunch or something similar, baloney sandwich for lunch with those colored water drinks that were kind of waxy, slurpee and skittles for a snack (that you bought yourself on the way home from school) and then a tv dinner or chef boyardee? I think the kids would vomit.
As usual, you have touched a nerve. I am grateful for all of my childhood hijinks, even as I wish now someone would have paid me some mind.
Ugh, the smoke. Not confined to the west coast either as we had our share of that this summer. I LOVE the idea of a Gen X meal day, ha! I remember being so excited about TV dinners. Years ago, we did buy some when the kids were young, just because we were so curious how it would be years later. What is it about food in little compartments that's so appealing??
Ahh so true. I am very often nostalgic for the 90s. I know it wasn’t all great but there is a lot that seems better back then than now. I fear the technology and distraction we have now. And I’m a fully grown adult! So it’s mad to think how children are going to be. Great piece though, loved reading it.
I was born in 1989, so not Gen X but I grew up always playing outdoors with my cousins and the neighbor’s kids, and whoever was there at time (so carefree! where were the parents? haha) - we’d ride our bikes as far as we liked, foraged and built slides in the sand hills. I remember farm animals being allowed to roam free as well. Scary to think of today. My kids (5 and 1) will never be able to experience that. Lovely post, thank you for the nostalgia. x
Even though I started to use a basic flip phone since middle school, I still call myself lucky to have spent most of my free time with my friends back then face to face and with the occasional thrill of texting each other when we were not together.
I still remember falling asleep while listening to kids' stories on cassette tapes that my mom set up for me and having to flip the it to the other side when I was already half asleep. Those days feel golden and pure now.
"Summers were boring because we didn't have any expectations to impress anyone with how we spent our time outside of school. Our days were largely unscheduled and we didn’t worry about being pointy or well-rounded or published authors or founders of companies at age 16. We were just kids, and that was enough to get you into college." Yes, yes, and yes.
Thank you for sharing your story, Jenna. I always learn so much from your writing and prose.
Fast forwarding and rewinding tapes to hear a song over and over again was sort of painful - but we didn't know anything else. I wonder if kids today will reminisce about the days when you had to scroll, haha!
Thank you for this trip down memory lane Jenna, I do think we benefited from not having access to so much as our fingertips. I for one am grateful that there was no social media as there are some things that I definitely wouldn't have wanted shared around! What about taping the charts off the radio???
Everything about this post is spot on. I too feel grateful for being a Gen X kid. What a time it was. Thank you for sharing! You know I love a dip in nostalgia.
I read this with a bit of a lump in my throat, Jenna...I too find myself worrying that our kids have lost some kind of innocence over the past few years. I have an almost 17 year old and a 24 year old, and the time when they should have been really carefree has been lost, I think. I also wouldn't want to be without some of the gains of technology either, but I do worry that our kids live in a constant state of being 'on'. Even watching a TV series takes a couple of nights rather than the anticipation of waiting each week for the next episode! We often joke with our kids that we were left to fend for ourselves and summer holidays were basically made up of riding our bikes (without helmets!) to the local shop for an ice-pop!
I don't know how we stayed alive haha. We didn't even use car seats or seatbelts. My younger brother was allowed to roam free everywhere in the car while my dad drove.
The thing I come back to when I think my kids are "missing" something - Covid aside, is that they haven't known anything else, in the same way that we didn't know what we were missing because it didn't exist yet. It was just life! I just bet that when our kids are our age, they might feel similar nostalgia when kids in their future are embedded with technology in the way big tech envisions. I take comfort that our kids were old enough not to grow up with a smart phone when they were babies. It seems really unavoidable nowadays.
My brothers and I had so much fun rolling in the back of the station wagon with each turn as my parents drove us home from holiday dinner parties. Can't imagine that nowadays.
We really were a lucky generation this way. The weight of collective watching is spot on.
I love knowing how important music was to you! Especially knowing you explored sound early in your career, and that it resonates still.
Music was - and still is - my main comfort and coping mechanism.
I can relate to so much of this. The water bottle thing is hilarious, I'm always telling my kids that when I was a kid no one needed to carry water with them all the time, it wasn't a thing. Something I notice with my kids is that if they are going to do something new, they want information about that thing ahead of time--like if it's a park, they want to see a photo or if it's a restaurant they want to hear the menu. My son gets obsessed with the GPS in the car, checking the time and wanting to know how long things will take. I don't have the same impulse toward information-gathering, maybe because it wasn't an option when I was a kid. You would just wait and see. It feels like a big generation gap.
It's not just the water bottle - I don't think we really drank that much water at all! It was juice and soda most of the time, and then my family drank a barley tea that can be served hot or iced, but I don't remember drinking water?? Well, include me the camp of information gathering before going somewhere or buying anything 😬. I do this so much now, but you're making me wonder why?? Is it because I want to make sure that it's worthy of my time?? 🤔
Love this article so much! I actually did drink a fair amount of water (straight from the tap, or the hose if we were playing outside), but we did have plenty of juice made from those cardboard cans of frozen concentrate. Yum. I was just visiting my folks at their house, and I still drink water from the tap, even though they have plenty of bottled water now. Old habits I guess.
I also remember sitting in my high school government class watching the space shuttle on the tv that was wheeled in on the cart. And I also do not remember much after it happened, except it was the first time I had seen one of my teachers in tears. :(
Those minute maid juices had the same packaging as pillsbury dough rolls! And man, what it must have felt like, being a teacher while watching the challenger tragedy.
i'm writing this as my kids are kind of trapped inside our apartment because of wildfire smoke. Oof, I feel all of these feelings. I was just talking with my youngest about not having a phone, having to go home to find out if someone called you. We have been joking around these parts about having a Gen-X meal day: Starts with Cap'n Crunch or something similar, baloney sandwich for lunch with those colored water drinks that were kind of waxy, slurpee and skittles for a snack (that you bought yourself on the way home from school) and then a tv dinner or chef boyardee? I think the kids would vomit.
As usual, you have touched a nerve. I am grateful for all of my childhood hijinks, even as I wish now someone would have paid me some mind.
Ugh, the smoke. Not confined to the west coast either as we had our share of that this summer. I LOVE the idea of a Gen X meal day, ha! I remember being so excited about TV dinners. Years ago, we did buy some when the kids were young, just because we were so curious how it would be years later. What is it about food in little compartments that's so appealing??
'The last generation allowed to be just kids'. And still wondering everyday: what do you want to become when you grow up? ;-)
I'm still trying to figure that one out! 😂 There are many different phases of "growing up"
Ahh so true. I am very often nostalgic for the 90s. I know it wasn’t all great but there is a lot that seems better back then than now. I fear the technology and distraction we have now. And I’m a fully grown adult! So it’s mad to think how children are going to be. Great piece though, loved reading it.
The 90s were soooo great. My college and grad school years. Such a good music decade too.
I was born in 1989, so not Gen X but I grew up always playing outdoors with my cousins and the neighbor’s kids, and whoever was there at time (so carefree! where were the parents? haha) - we’d ride our bikes as far as we liked, foraged and built slides in the sand hills. I remember farm animals being allowed to roam free as well. Scary to think of today. My kids (5 and 1) will never be able to experience that. Lovely post, thank you for the nostalgia. x
Even though I started to use a basic flip phone since middle school, I still call myself lucky to have spent most of my free time with my friends back then face to face and with the occasional thrill of texting each other when we were not together.
I still remember falling asleep while listening to kids' stories on cassette tapes that my mom set up for me and having to flip the it to the other side when I was already half asleep. Those days feel golden and pure now.
"Summers were boring because we didn't have any expectations to impress anyone with how we spent our time outside of school. Our days were largely unscheduled and we didn’t worry about being pointy or well-rounded or published authors or founders of companies at age 16. We were just kids, and that was enough to get you into college." Yes, yes, and yes.
Thank you for sharing your story, Jenna. I always learn so much from your writing and prose.
Fast forwarding and rewinding tapes to hear a song over and over again was sort of painful - but we didn't know anything else. I wonder if kids today will reminisce about the days when you had to scroll, haha!
Thank you for this trip down memory lane Jenna, I do think we benefited from not having access to so much as our fingertips. I for one am grateful that there was no social media as there are some things that I definitely wouldn't have wanted shared around! What about taping the charts off the radio???
oh wow, I forgot about taping things off the TV and the radio! I guess today's version of that is screen recording!
Everything about this post is spot on. I too feel grateful for being a Gen X kid. What a time it was. Thank you for sharing! You know I love a dip in nostalgia.
oh I know it. I often think of you when I think about 80s nostalgia 😂