“Kids these days will never get it.” It’s a comment that escapes more frequently than people care to admit, particularly for those who grew up during the ’70s, ’80s, or ’90s. In those days, childhood was a combination of independence, dubious safety protocols, and a whole lot of raw life lessons.
These weren’t random weirdo moments these were foundational experiences that established toughness, self-reliance, and a certain grit that’s difficult to find in our hyper-supervised, tech-obsessed world today. From endurin’ dodgeball welts to weathering boredom without a screen, these are not just nostalgic memories these are testaments to a different type of upbringing.
Take a look at some of the mundane “hardships” that molded a generation, and why they’d likely send kids these days spiraling.
1. Surviving the Savage Glory of Dodgeball
In the gym classes of decades past, dodgeball wasn’t a friendly, foam-ball affair it was a full-contact, rubber-ball battle. The sting of a well-aimed throw could leave a mark for hours, but it also taught quick reflexes and the art of strategic retreat. Today’s gentler versions, like gaga ball, are designed to be more inclusive and less aggressive, but they lack the raw, unpredictable chaos that defined the original.
Child development specialists point out that brief moments of manageable stress, such as cutthroat games, can strengthen resilience instead. The emotional systems of children get stronger by being tried reasonably. That’s precisely what dodgeball did no matter whether people knew it then or not.
2. The Endless Handwritten Drafts
Life before laptops and spellcheck meant doing school work written out longhand usually in cursive, always in pen. That meant no deleting, only tedious rewriting and a throbbing bump in the middle of the finger. Research papers involved hours spent in the library, digging through the Dewey Decimal System and referencing sources from real books or microfiche.
Though grueling, this process instilled patience, focus, and persistence. In the opinion of educational psychologists, these tedious, labor-intensive tasks assist children in building executive functioning skills skills still vital as adults, though now refined using keyboards rather than lined paper.
3. Boredom as a Creative Catalyst
Long summer afternoons without structured activities or screens were once the norm. Being “bored” meant figuring out how to entertain yourself whether that was building a fort, choreographing a dance, or inventing backyard games.
Contemporary parenting tends to fill every void with scripted events or screen time, yet research on child resilience indicates that free time builds problem-solving, creativity, and self-initiation. As one review of resilience discovered, mental stimulation needn’t always involve materials just possibility.
4. The Brutal Patience of Pre-Digital Entertainment
Miss your favorite TV episode? Too bad you might never see it again. Want to hear your favorite song? You’d wait by the radio, finger poised over the record button, hoping the DJ wouldn’t talk over the intro. There was no binge mode, no instant replay, and no skipping commercials.
This shortage made entertainment seem more precious, but it also conditioned people to tolerate delayed gratification a talent associated with healthier emotional control and decision-making as an adult.
5. Babysitting Before You Were a Teen
In most neighborhoods, it wasn’t uncommon for a 12-year-old to be in charge of infants or toddlers for hours. There were no apps to babysit, CPR courses, or helicopter calls to check in merely an emergency phone number and the assumption to get by.
Although current safety guidelines have changed, developmental specialists note that establishing responsibility at a young age can increase self-efficacy the confidence in oneself to master difficulties. It’s a faith that stems from actual trial and error in the real world, not conceptual hypotheticals.
6. Enduring Secondhand Smoke and Seatbelt-Free Rides
Rides in the ’80s and ’90s were liable to involve riding in a cloud of cigarette smoke with the windows closed or bouncing around the backseat with no seatbelt. Sometimes even children rode in the bed of a pickup truck, wind blowing through their hair.
Though irreparably unsafe by modern standards, these experiences were part of a widespread culture of less-monitored childhoods. Cross-cultural parenting is studied by psychologists who report lower levels of constant surveillance often granted children more autonomy though with a price tag of physical safety.
7. The Agony of Dial-Up and Disconnection
Dial-up internet wasn’t merely slow it was delicate. A single phone call could boot you offline, wiping out hours of work on a school assignment or interrupting a conversation with a friend. The sound of the modem screeched in promise and threat.
Today’s constant-on connectivity has eliminated that annoyance, but it’s also eliminated the necessity of adjusting when technology breaks down. As resilience researcher Camilo Ortiz has noted, accepting small amounts of discomfort whether it’s boredom, delay, or technical issues can prepare children to deal with greater adversity later in life.
These Gen X and Millennial childhood memories weren’t solely eccentric ephemera but mini boot camps in grit, problem-solving, and patience. Sure, no one’s advocating for going back to the unsafe methods, but there’s wisdom in recalling that resilience tends to develop in the areas of buffer between comfort and challenge. And perhaps, possibly, there’s space to introduce a little of that again.
