I’m a 60s baby which means I grew up in the best time in history. Before electronics, before the digital era, before chaos, drama, Botox, fake everything, etc.
Remember rotary phones with those gloriously tangled cords? I use to love to sit and untangle those cords. It was like zen for me. Today I want to share 15 things I miss from my childhood and see if you miss any of these too.
Remember the thrill of Saturday morning cartoons, hello Flintstones and Jetsons, fueled by sugary cereal? I think Fruit Loops were my favourite cereal next to Sugar Frosted Flakes. I loved listening to Tony the Tiger saying “They’re greeeeat!” Remember that?
If only Tony knew how great they weren’t for you!!! Ha!
Growing up in the 60s, 70s, and 80s wasn’t just a life, it was a vibe. A glorious, technicolour, totally groovy vibe (oh that word – groovy). Life was easy and fun.
I was feeling super nostalgic the other day and thought I’d whip up a fun article of all the things I miss and fondly remember from my youth and take you with me on this journey back to leg warmers and cassette tapes.
Let’s go!
15 things i miss from my childhood
These are the things I miss the most off the top of my head. The things that used to bring me joy. I’d love to know what things you miss the most from your childhood. Drop them down below in the comments!
1. Vinyl Records and Record Players
The ritual of carefully placing a vinyl record on the turntable, dropping the needle, and hearing that warm, crackling sound. There’s was always one part in the song that was your favourite and you’d pick up the needle and drop it to that place and sing at the top of your lungs.
If your fave album got a scratch in it you desperately tried to buff it out. Or cried. A lot.
2. Drive-in Movie Theaters
If you were lucky, your boyfriend had a car, or a driver’s license and was able to borrow dad’s car. You’d go to the drive-in, buy snacks, hook up the speaker and curl up in the back seat and make out.
Who ever watched those movies anyway?
3. Leg Warmers
They were the best! You were hot and sexy in those babies. I remember the 20 minute workout girls on TV (do you remember them?) and that was when I fell in love with leg warmers and had to have them.
You had every colour imaginable.
4. Rotary Dial Telephones
I think what I miss the most is being able to slam down the phone with such vengeance and not worry about breaking it. And then there were party lines (remember those) and you could call the operator and she’d find any number for you.
And then of course that 10 foot long curly cord that was always tangled.
5. Rabbit Ear Televisions
Adjusting the “rabbit ears” antenna to get a clear picture, and the limited number of channels available. Omg those were great and frustrating at the same time. I can still hear my parents arguing over that one, “Move it to the left, slow down, no no no don’t touch it anymore”
Such fun. And our TV was on wheels so mom used to wheel it into the kitchen so we could watch the Price is Right while we ate dinner.
6. The Sound of a Busy Signal
Beep beep beep beep beep beep…oooph. That sound made me mental! The most satisfying part was when you called back and finally got a ring. Phew.
And if you didn’t want to talk to someone, you took the phone off the hook so they got a busy signal. It was also a way to show that we were mad at you.
7. Saturday Morning Cartoons
Waking up early on Saturdays to watch hours of cartoons. Ah my favourite part of my childhood. The Flintstones, the Jetsons and good ole Bugs Bunny.
Do they even have fun cartoons like that anymore?
8. The Milkman
My sisters and I were just talking about this the other day. Our neighbour had a little hole in their outside wall with a door that was where they put their empty milk bottles for the milk man to exhange for full ones.
As our house was slightly newer, we never had that little hole. Mom put our milk bottles on the steps outside the door. Ah fresh milk delivered right to your door.
9. Home Economics Classes
I had a love/hate relationship with home ec class. I wanted to learn new things besides stupid geography and math but I wasn’t good at anything! We had sewing class and you could never wear anything I made.
But it was such a nice relief from the harder subjects that I hated.
10. No internet
It’s hard to imagine a world with no cell phones, no internet, no computers, but it existed. We went outside and played, we banged on our friend’s door to see if they wanted to come out and play. We had bikes and we drove around.
We were always outside and when the streetlight came on, you better get your butt home. It was the best time ever.
11. The feeling of summer vacation
Summer break was the best! Both my parents worked so we had the whole house to ourselves during the day but we were generally outside at the playground anyway. Remember playgrounds?
We had activities, playground supervisors, a beautiful lake at our playground. It was the best.
12. News papers and phone books
Getting the news from a physical paper and having it delivered to your door was great. If something happened in your town the day before, you couldn’t wait to get the newspaper to read all about it. It also had puzzles, horoscopes and an entertainment section. I loved the newspaper.
And let’s not forget phone books that weighed a ton, were used to kill bugs and smack your sister with.
13. 8 track tapes, and cassette tapes
Cassette tapes. Rewind, fast forward, fix the tape, get a pencil, make a copy of this one. Oh they were the best. You could do so much with them. These were an upgrade from 8 track tapes which were the biggest, ugliest, clunkiest things ever!
But you had a lot of them! I think my favourite 8 track was The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band “we hope you will enjoy the show”…ah, sweet memories.
14. Typewriters
Do you remember taking typing class in school, just learning how to type and how much your fingers hurt in the beginning?? I do! It was fun and horrible at the same time.
And then you got good at it and your fingers were flying across the keyboard!
15. Phone booths
So, weird thing, here in Guatemala they still have phone booths or ‘phone attached to poles’ that you can use to make calls. I was pretty impressed and shocked by this.
But phone booths were fun. You always had a quarter with you to make a call. It was like an unspoken rule. And if you didn’t, you could always call collect. Yup, even your mom at home.
More things i miss from my childhood
There are other things I miss from my teens like big hair, hitch hiking, sleep overs, girl gangs (it’s not as serious or bad as it sounds, I promise), baby oil for suntanning, taking your film in to get processed and waiting weeks to see your pics. The list goes on.
I’m so glad I got to experience all of this. What a time it was to be alive and growing up.
What do you miss or remember the most from your childhood? I’d love to hear about it.
