Childhood

[dantheman23]

Did you like your childhood? Do you look back at it with fond memories or are you happy you're done with it? Like most people, I have a mix of good memories and bad. I was just pondering them and thought I'd list three things I miss about being a kid and three that I don't.

Things I don't miss:

1. Visiting various relatives - There were lots of relatives' houses I didn't like going to, but my Dad's parents' were the worst. They were long divorced and remarried so there were two separate places to go and they were both torturous. They were both in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing for me to do. And this was way, way before smart phones, tablets, Gameboys, etc. If there was a b-ball court nearby I would have been totally fine, content to spend hours shooting hoops. But there was nothing; no store, no school, no park, nothing. And my parents didn't give a rat's behind about it either; they'd sit and visit and leave me to my own devices. One grandparent was a 3 hour or so drive, and that was the worse place to go, so thankfully we didn't go there as much. But the other was only an hour or so and there was nothing worse than waking up Saturday morning and hearing, "OK, get in the car, we're going to [town]" Ugh, that was the worst, so glad that's over.
2. Eating meals I couldn't stand - When you're a kid you're at the mercy of whatever your parents make for dinner. Every night I would ask, "Mom, what's for dinner?" Usually the answer was fine but once in a while...The worst was when she was silent, because that meant we were having the dreaded Sloppy Joes. Oh man I hated those. As an adult it's rare I have to eat anything I don't want to and it's very nice.
3. Getting the Christmas tree - When I was a kid my Dad was pretty impatient with us and just in general (he's a lot better since he retired), and getting the Christmas tree was one of the worst examples of that. The whole family would go to one of those u-cut farm places and it was a guaranteed miserable time. First, my parents never made sure I had adequate winter clothing. I had to just wear whatever I had randomly gotten for a gift or scrounged up somewhere. And of course it was always cold and wet outside, and without the right coat, gloves, shoes, etc. I would be cold and wet very quickly myself. I would always cut the tree and no matter how I did it I did it wrong. It was either too close to the ground, or not close enough, or not straight enough, whatever. And Dad would never be like, "Oh hey, make sure you're cutting as straight as you can", it was always some combo of yelling and impatience. And to top it off we wouldn't even get hot chocolate! They always sold hot chocolate at those farms and yeah I'm sure it was a ripoff, but throw us a bone, will you? No going out to eat afterward, no nothing. Just a long boring drive out to some farm (they were never close in of course), some yelling and general miserableness, and then a long drive back. So glad I'm never doing that agin.

OK, got the unfun ones out of the way, let's talk about three things I do miss about being a kid:

1. Having your friends close (and available!) - When you're a kid getting together with your friends is so easy because they all live so close and it's not like any of them have super busy schedules. My friend Tony lived 5 blocks away, Mark was 3 blocks, Travis a block past him, etc. They were all within easy walking distance, and most everyone was within a short drive (for my parents of course). And getting together was as easy as picking up the phone and asking "Want to hang out?" Nowadays everyone is so busy (and flaky) that it's a major accomplishment to get together with anyone. Having friends you could hang with anytime was great.
2. My basketball obsession - When I was a kid I was so into basketball. I could spend hours and hours shooting hoops, and I loved watching the games too, both pro and college. I know I can still do all that, but I just don't have the passion for it anymore. On those occasions when I do shoot hoops I never shoot for more than an hour or so; it just doesn't have the appeal it used to. And while I still follow the NBA, I never actually watch the games. I don't follow college at all anymore; I don't think I could name 5 current college basketball players. When I was a kid I used to dream about getting the cable channel where you could watch all the games, taking the first two days of March Madness off to watch all the games, etc. And now that I can do all that I don't care about it. Man, I would have killed for League Pass when I was a kid!
3. The simpleness of it all - Everything is just so easy when you're a kid and you can't even appreciate it because you don't know any better. You have no responsibilities, no problems, you can just hang out with your friends or do whatever you want. You might homework or chores or something, but big deal. And of course it was just a simpler time. I always think I would like it better if technology and progress had stopped in about 1990, but of course if I went back to that time now I'd probably hate it ("What, no Hulu? No YouTube? No iPad? VCR?! Really?") Or maybe not. Maybe I would love to go back to a time when there wasn't social media and everything you did wasn't being recorded and monitored, and people used to actually look out at the world around them once in a while instead of constantly staring at their phone like a brain-dead zombie. Yes, I'm aware of how old I sound right now ; )

So what are some of the things you miss or don't miss from being a kid?