When I Was a Kid...

I was listening to the radio and some guys that are about the same age as me (early 30s) were talking about how things were when they were kids. It was weird because it sounded like something that people my parents age would say like "when we were kids we had to walk 10 miles to school in the snow and we didn't have computers" and bla bla bla. I thought it was weird to hear some people from my generation talking about how different things were when we grew up so I thought I would put a list together of how things really are different from generation to generation and even a fun look into the future. I was thinking about how my parents grew up, the stuff I had growing up, and the stuff my kids will have.

    My Parents Growing Up Me Growing Up My Kids Growing Up My Grandkids Growing Up
phone pick up phone and operator answers phone with cord dont even have a home phone phone calls can be taken right into your brain
vcr didn't have anything vcr tivo tv on demand
computers Didn't have them at all (when I worked in the 60's, they just came out with a xerox copy machine--thought it was fabulous) punch cards floppys hard drive wireless internet
video games or games Hula Hoops, pong video games wii real life characters
tv First TV early 1950's; black & white, small screen, rabbit ear antenna; Only 5 stations. Was first on our block to get a TV--10 inch screen Had ugly rabbit ears on the top remember when we were kids and we had tv color tv HD real life characters
radio big radio in living room walkman xm you can tune radio stations in right in your head
exercise Roller skate on city sidewalks Walk to grade school, 5 blocks one way Play tag, other kid games, lots of running. Walking to school (and walking home for lunch and walking back to school) playing hopscotch on sidewalk yoga pilates machine does it for you
coffee kona blend dunkin starbucks water with caffiene powder
dinner Lots of meals in skillets, stews Homemade chili Hamburgers Lots of fried stuff: chicken, French fries Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, canned vegetables home made pies made with lard Lots of meat every night fried chicken in lard fried chicken in oil grilled chicken breast tofu
dessert We had a bakery nearby, got kolacky, donuts, sweet rolls. Bread was white & rye, no whole wheat. Mother based pie occasionally. Pies, cakes, brownies, lots of ice cream from Prince Castle donuts muffins dried fruit
sandwiches At home: bologny, hot dogs, ham, other processed lunch meat. Also leftover turkey, ham. ham, bologna pb and j turkey Fresh Vegetables on wheat bread
fries Cooked in melted lard Only ate them at McDonalds--if mom made them, we had a deep fryer that you had to put about 2 qts. of cooking oil in. veggy oil fries baked chips fried taste seasoning on boiled potatoes
car My mother & father did not drive; we used public transportation-bus. Got my first car in 1961, a 1957 used Chevy. Basic radio, no power windows. Dad had huge Chrysler New Yorker (8 cylinders) Also had an old black Plymouth with an open rumble seat in the back - stick shift of course 1970s beast car cars automatic everything cars drive themself
clothes Men word shirt & tie on Sundays; jeans at home. Slacks similar to today's Dockers, for school. No jeans to school. women--always a skirt of a dress always nylon stockings always high heels always white gloves to church on Sunday or going to work men wearing shirt and tie tight pants jeans space suits
baseball Ted Williams Reggie Jackson Arod Jimmy McBaseball
football Gayle Sayers Walter Payton Peyton Manning Johnny O'Football
basketball Wilt Chamberlin Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant Timmy Van Basketball