Reality Check Throwback
Isn't it amazing how nostalgic we get when we see or hear something from our childhood? Being a 90s baby, I can relate to this very much. I remember the late 90s and very early 2000s when the 90s style was still very prominent. The TV shows, the music, the clothes...you name it.
Every generation thinks that their shows, upbringing, and style was the best (except maybe some clothes from the 80s). But I am gonna say that the ones from my childhood were the best. I say this not because it's my generation, but because my generation is the last one that has not had to be coddled and actually has a back bone.
I passed by my old elementary school the other day and noticed that the blacktop was covered in swings and other kinds of playground materials, even though there is a perfectly good playscape just steps away where I spent most of my recesses when I was a kid. There is no more kickball and no more 4 Square because it was "too dangerous." Seriously?! If you got hit in the face with one of those rubber balls, it was like a right of passage. We played those games, and chose them many times over the playscape, and we are fine. I couldn't believe what I saw.
Watching the cartoons and other shows we used to watch when I was a kid, I realize that they aren't just there for entertainment. They showed us that life seriously sucks; things don't always work out the way you want them to. When that happens, the characters aren't coddled and given their way. They suck it up and go on to try harder for something else the next time. They cry a little but then they understand that they can't always have their way.
These cartoons called people morons and slapped each other in the face all the time. They didn't care if they were inappropriate. And guess what...we all turned out okay! We were the generation that didn't need to be told, "Don't try this at home," because we weren't complete idiots who tried everything we saw in a cartoon at home. Half the time that idea didn't even occur to us.
I grew up in the era of those shows, music that didn't constantly talk about sex and drugs and "popping caps," but the music was still fun to listen to, spankings (which are not beatings by the way; they are not meant to injure the child they are meant to let the child know they did something wrong and that it was unacceptable), using our imaginations to keep ourselves busy, when basic math actually MADE SENSE, and telling people NO and to suck it up and get on with their lives. I would take my generation over anything newer that has come along. These newer generations don't realize how bad off they are because they don't know any better. They are so inhibited because they are so coddled and are not allowed to grow up because they really don't know how.
The sad part is, even if the parents of these newer generations try to have their kids grow up with the same values they had themselves, show them the shows they had when they were young and tell the child "no," society still undermines them. And that just doesn't help the child in the long run.
So thank you 90s (and previous generations) for giving us the greatest childhood; thank you for letting us grow up without thinking that we will always get what we want and letting us see that sometimes life sucks. Thank you for showing us that we are not always right. Thank you for letting us grow up with good values. Thank you, and we miss you.
Every generation thinks that their shows, upbringing, and style was the best (except maybe some clothes from the 80s). But I am gonna say that the ones from my childhood were the best. I say this not because it's my generation, but because my generation is the last one that has not had to be coddled and actually has a back bone.
I passed by my old elementary school the other day and noticed that the blacktop was covered in swings and other kinds of playground materials, even though there is a perfectly good playscape just steps away where I spent most of my recesses when I was a kid. There is no more kickball and no more 4 Square because it was "too dangerous." Seriously?! If you got hit in the face with one of those rubber balls, it was like a right of passage. We played those games, and chose them many times over the playscape, and we are fine. I couldn't believe what I saw.
Watching the cartoons and other shows we used to watch when I was a kid, I realize that they aren't just there for entertainment. They showed us that life seriously sucks; things don't always work out the way you want them to. When that happens, the characters aren't coddled and given their way. They suck it up and go on to try harder for something else the next time. They cry a little but then they understand that they can't always have their way.
These cartoons called people morons and slapped each other in the face all the time. They didn't care if they were inappropriate. And guess what...we all turned out okay! We were the generation that didn't need to be told, "Don't try this at home," because we weren't complete idiots who tried everything we saw in a cartoon at home. Half the time that idea didn't even occur to us.
I grew up in the era of those shows, music that didn't constantly talk about sex and drugs and "popping caps," but the music was still fun to listen to, spankings (which are not beatings by the way; they are not meant to injure the child they are meant to let the child know they did something wrong and that it was unacceptable), using our imaginations to keep ourselves busy, when basic math actually MADE SENSE, and telling people NO and to suck it up and get on with their lives. I would take my generation over anything newer that has come along. These newer generations don't realize how bad off they are because they don't know any better. They are so inhibited because they are so coddled and are not allowed to grow up because they really don't know how.
The sad part is, even if the parents of these newer generations try to have their kids grow up with the same values they had themselves, show them the shows they had when they were young and tell the child "no," society still undermines them. And that just doesn't help the child in the long run.
So thank you 90s (and previous generations) for giving us the greatest childhood; thank you for letting us grow up without thinking that we will always get what we want and letting us see that sometimes life sucks. Thank you for showing us that we are not always right. Thank you for letting us grow up with good values. Thank you, and we miss you.
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