Monday, June 20, 2016

Things Lost and Maybe Forgotten

I am continuing on with my 20 Questions list that I started yesterday.  The second question on the list is 'What did you have as a child that kids today don't have?'

The first thing that came to mind when I read that question was lawn darts.  I really don't know if kids don't have them today but if there is a lawn dart out there it is probably some nerfified thing.  Not like the sharp metal spears of yesteryear.  Come kids and gather round.  I want you to take this dart, throw it in the air and see if you can get it to pierce the ground inside this plastic ring.  Such a great game until kids heads started getting in the way.  I never had that problem myself but suddenly lawn darts seem to be a thing of the past.  I'm sure they were sued when some kid was paying to much attention to the ring on the ground and a dart pierced his skull.  Those were good days back then when an innocent backyard game could result in a serious flesh wound. 

There are a lot of things that are not around today.  Rare would be a telephone that is attached to a cord and has a radial dial for the numbers.  Though it is making a comeback 80's hair was something to behold.  I did a little search to help me with some thoughts and for some reason it showed Madonna and Phil Collins.  These were definitely 80's artists but they are certainly around today so I am not so sure these qualify.  Aerobics was also on the list and though there are things like Zumba today is there anything quite like 80's aerobic classes.  The outfits alone were the stuff of legends.  There was a model General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard.  That was definitely a regular Friday night occurrence for me followed by the beginning of Dallas just so I could listen to that amazing theme song.  Well, this could go on for some time and though they exact thing may not be around today there are things equal to them today.  The Sony Walkman for instance.  Effectively replaced by an Ipod or other smart phone device or mp3 player.

Something that is a little harder to recognize would be freedom.  Oh, kids today have freedom and they get away with quite a bit.  I'm not necessarily talking about that.  Surely modern conveniences provide so much more access to kids today then what we had in the 80's.  That is not the freedom of which I speak.  Simply not having a smart phone or mobile device provided a freedom kids today will rarely know or understand.  At any moment the things that they are doing today could be secretly recorded and shared for all to see on the world wide web.  That isn't great for privacy or freedom.  As a parent I don't always feel comfortable with my kids out and about.  When I was Jack's age, even Andy's age or 9, I used to ride my bike to the grocery store and the swimming pool.  These required a bit of a ride.  It was good, there was freedom to be out and about without the fear of others lurking.  That is what I mean by freedom.

I guess there are always the 80's hair bands. Fantastic.  I suppose many of them are still around but their manes have been tamed since the glory days of rock n' roll.

Surely there are a multitude of things that I have missed in this report.  Suffice to say there are many things that have changed since I grew up in the 70's, 80's and 90's.  

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