Memories of a Millenial's Childhood

A Blast From the Past (1987 Born) I didn't know how much the childhood of the youth had changed since growing up in the 90s. I'm 38 now and recently became a Father. I often think about the kind of Father I'd like to be, I currently am, and what I can do to be better. As my mind races daily with thoughts of how I am providing as a Father/Husband, I contemplate what it means to me to raise a child.

Though I have the privilege and unique challenge of raising a daughter in this time, I can't help but constantly worry about the future of my baby girl and what her personal navigation could be. Through the midst of all these constant, daily thoughts, sometimes, I'm able to find moments where I think about her present and immediate future. This provokes (almost instantaneously) the thought, 'What was my life like at her age?'

Let me preface by saying that financially, we didn't have the easiest time growing up. Multiple jobs were worked, eating out was a treat, and thrift stores were part of the shopping experience.

Going to the local park or playground, looking for and catching bugs, and spending time with outdoor activities. This is essentially how I was brought up in my youth during the 1990s. I have vivid memories of visiting a local pond or lake, finding tadpoles, small turtles, and minnows. Many we caught and brought home to put in the small thank that we had. We made handmade nets from hangers that we bent out to the shape of the net. With old shirts, we cut material enough for the netting and sewed it to a netting form. We used these and small bottles/containers from home to keep the animals in. We had a big pine tree in the front lawn of the house. This was fun to climb, but you couldn't make it home without the intensely sticky sap getting your hands or clothes every time. Climbing trees was a pretty big part of growing up for me and an activity to do with friends. Any tree had the potential to be climbed; however, Magnolia trees were the best. They had numerous slim to medium-sized branches, just the right size to climb, jutting out in all directions. In the warmer weather, it was sprinkler fun in the lawn and slip n' slide on the backyard slope. Nothing was more pleasing than the anticipation of driving to Toys R Us and finding unique fun toys to play with or that one you saw on the commercial on TV (we will come back to this).

Somehow, I got caught up on the original TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) series and, of course, fell in love with turtles. I remember waking up early on Saturday mornings, going quietly to the living room, and snapping on the TV. The channel selection was quite easy as we only received about 7 channels. One or two of them were the news, a spanish channel, a channel where they sold random items, TBS 17, where Seinfeld and Friends would come on and then the kids' channel. Somehow, I was able to find and catch the Saturday AM cartoons without waking anyone up. I was always happy to watch Ninja turtles in the morning with some cereal, but there were a few other favorites as well:

1. Talespin

2. SWAT Kats

3. Sonic the hedgehog

4. Gargoyles

5. Bonkers

6. Pinky and the Brain

7. Darkwing Duck

8. Animaniacs

You never knew which one was coming on, which one would be fun to watch and at what time. There was no internet or way of knowing. We were simply entertained by what appeared and made sure the metal expandable antenna for the tv box stayed steady.

As I got a bit older (still younger than 10), a gaming system or two had entered the home. The video games (Sega Genesis and Game Gear) I had could only do so much as I wasn't very good at playing any in my youth. Also, losing the charging adapter for the game gear was no fun, as loading it up with batteries was not an option since they were expensive. I can remember getting stuck on early stages in many games and not being able to play it any further.

Life was simple. There wasn't much with material possessions and spending, but it was childhood.