Thankful growing up in the 80's

[mas]

This weekend I went to chuck e cheese and it was terrible. I live in Worcester ma and the chuck e cheese is really the only that is close to arcades around here. I later went to the mall and there was no foot traffic on a sat. And I also noticed that a lot of the stores are closed and nothing but empty spaces.
I was thinking about when i was a kid in the 80's and I went to alot of the places I used to hang out and there is nothing left for a kid these days. I cant take my kids to the arcades since there is none left. Since i live in ma, this summer i cant take them to whalom park or rocky point only six flags and to me six flags is not as fun as rocky point or whalom. My kids dont have cool cartoons like transformers, gi joe, thundercats, voltron, and the only game systems were nintendo and sega nothing else.
I stayed outside all day till the lights on the post went on just hanging out in the rain going to the mall, arcades, movies, going over my friends house playing the nes. I just wish my kids can experience what I had as a kid and I'm sure that people who are on this site who has kids are experiencing the same thoughts as I do.
I just want to say one more thing I was asking my kids about what they do in recess and they not allowed to play football or baseball and tag is out of the question. WTF? NO FOOTBALL OR BASEBALL

[AppleQueso]

I bet your parents thought the same thing about your childhood. Just some food for thought there.

[saturnfan]

I bet your parents thought the same thing about your childhood. Just some food for thought there.

And why would you think that?

[J T]

My wife and I were talking about something similar lately. It seems like people are more fearful for and protective of their children than ever before. There is this kind of perception of parents that if you ever let your child out of your sight, then you are a bad parent. But when I was a kid, I walked to and from school, I came home when my parents were still at work, I ran all around the neighborhood, rode my bike with my friends to wherever I wanted to go, climbed trees, ran BMX tracks without supervision, climbed hills, rolled down those hills, did break dancing in the garage, improvised karate with friends, and all kinds of other stuff.

All of this was done without the supervision of adults, and I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm beginning to think about having children of my own and I feel like I would want my kids to have that same kind of freedom and experience. At the same time, I feel like we would be judged negatively as parents for ever letting our children out of our sight. Like there is some belief that pedophiles are everywhere and at the ready to kidnap any kid that is every unaccompanied, or there is some belief that children are utterly incapable of caution. While there is some possibility of that, I don't think it is as likely as others make it out to be. But times ARE different. I'm not exactly sure how I want to raise my kids. I want to keep them safe, but not to the detriment of them being free thinking, explorative individuals that value their freedom and have the sense to not get in too much trouble with it.

[AppleQueso]

I bet your parents thought the same thing about your childhood. Just some food for thought there.

And why would you think that?

Because nostalgia colors our perception of the era we grew up in. We tend not to remember the bad things honestly. The era we grew up in always seems better than where we are right now.

Like I said, I bet his parents felt that their childhood was better than his, and so-on.

[mas]

I bet your parents thought the same thing about your childhood. Just some food for thought there.

And why would you think that?

Because nostalgia colors our perception of the era we grew up in. We tend not to remember the bad things honestly. The era we grew up in always seems better than where we are right now.

Like I said, I bet his parents felt that their childhood was better than his, and so-on.

Not really my parents both agree that they wish that they grew up in my era also. I also had bad stuff happen to me growing up but i wouldn't change it for nothing at all.

[mas]

My wife and I were talking about something similar lately. It seems like people are more fearful for and protective of their children than ever before. There is this kind of perception of parents that if you ever let your child out of your sight, then you are a bad parent. But when I was a kid, I walked to and from school, I came home when my parents were still at work, I ran all around the neighborhood, rode my back with my friends to wherever I wanted to go, climbed trees, ran BMX tracks without supervision, climbed hills, rolled down those hills, did break dancing in the garage, improvised karate with friends, and all kinds of other stuff.

All of this was done without the supervision of adults, and I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm beginning to think about having children of my own and I feel like I would want my kids to have that same kind of freedom and experience. At the same time, I feel like we would be judged negatively as parents for ever letting our children out of our sight. Like there is some belief that pedophiles are everywhere and at the ready to kidnap any kid that is every unaccompanied, or there is some belief that children are utterly incapable of caution. While there is some possibility of that, I don't think it is as likely as others make it out to be. But times ARE different. I'm not exactly sure how I want to raise my kids. I want to keep them safe, but not to the detriment of them being free thinking, explorative individuals that value their freedom and have the sense to not get in too much trouble with it.

I did everything that you did growing up. Your right on the money on most things. I t just seems like when I took the kids sleding this winter for example they had to go on the soft side in which it sucked and I felt bad because it was a play date and I wanted to tell my sons friend to go on the tall hill and suck it up and go down the hill but I would upset his feelings and I would be a bad parent. I also want to state one thing Kids today would never be able to live a day in my era. I dont know how they would survive. Not to bash anyone or hurt anyone's feelings but just one thing comes to mind on this.... Did you ever wear a helmet and pads growing up riding your bike? If I did i would have gotten beatin up by my own friends lol

[Hobie-wan]

There used to be these things called playgrounds. There were exciting rides that you could do really stupid stuff on and you'd hurt yourself. You go crying to mommy who would kiss it and make it better, then there would be a conversation like this:

"You feeling a little bit better."

"Uh-huh." *sob*

"That was a pretty stupid thing you did, you should be more careful"

*sob* *choke*

"You won't do that again, will you?"/"You'll be more careful next time won't you?" (depending on how stupid the thing you did was)

"Uh-uh" *vigorous head shaking"

*hug*

Then you'd have a big bandage and a cool story to tell at school the next day. You also learned that sometimes the world sucks and you have to deal with consequences of your actions.

Now there's hardly anything left at the playground, but if you are a kid and manage to hurt yourself there's a pretty good chance your parent is going to be upset with someone and raise a stink or maybe even sue.

[Evildeadmanwalking77]

Some excellent points here! The problem is the world is so damn overly sensitive. You can't say or do this or that without there being some kind of uproar over it. I feel sorry for the kids today and I hope to raise my own children the same way I was brought up, maybe even a little better. I know my wife and I will not be perfect parents but I think we know enough to do the right thing without putting this ridicufuckinglous bubble around our kids.

[Croooow!]

The 80s: the best two years of my life.