While we got the shaft in adulthood, we really did have the golden age if childhoods. ,
It dawned on me today when I took my 1 yr old daughter to McDonalds today and discovered the happy meals don't even have toys in them anymore. Just a coloring poster and stickers folded up in a box.
We really had it all as kids, the best from all the previous gens and some of the best of the gens that followed without the red tape.
We had little restriction and were constantly unsupervised outside, and many of us still had street light curfews, our parents didn't interview eachother for sleep overs. We were left home alone for the entire day and were told to tell anyone who called or knocked on the door that our parents were in the shower.
We walked and waited for the bus alone, we had analog music, we had polished video games without subscriptions, we had porno mags, we had blockbusters, we had Saturday morning cartoons. Our parents thought all cartoons were for kids and we had internet and cable with parents who didnt care or even had access to parental control. We had it all.
My daughters will never enjoy any of that stuff that I did. And it makes me sad. But it also makes me want to do more for them.
, https://www.reddit.com/r/millenials/comments/1c5n71q/while_we_got_the_shaft_in_adulthood_we_really_did/ , https://reddit.com/r/millenials/comments/1c5n71q/while_we_got_the_shaft_in_adulthood_we_really_did/ , 1713291497 , , 1c5n71q , self.millenials , 3627 , JamesUpton87 , , , , , , , JamesUpton87 , 2024-04-16 18:18:17 , no , , Prompt, #shaft #adulthood #golden #age #childhoods, #shaft #adulthood #golden #age #childhoods, 1730428008, while-we-got-the-shaft-in-adulthood-we-really-did-have-the-golden-age-if-childhoods
It dawned on me today when I took my 1 yr old daughter to McDonalds today and discovered the happy meals don't even have toys in them anymore. Just a coloring poster and stickers folded up in a box.
We really had it all as kids, the best from all the previous gens and some of the best of the gens that followed without the red tape.
We had little restriction and were constantly unsupervised outside, and many of us still had street light curfews, our parents didn't interview eachother for sleep overs. We were left home alone for the entire day and were told to tell anyone who called or knocked on the door that our parents were in the shower.
We walked and waited for the bus alone, we had analog music, we had polished video games without subscriptions, we had porno mags, we had blockbusters, we had Saturday morning cartoons. Our parents thought all cartoons were for kids and we had internet and cable with parents who didnt care or even had access to parental control. We had it all.
My daughters will never enjoy any of that stuff that I did. And it makes me sad. But it also makes me want to do more for them.
Teen life, too, was much easier than teens have it today (depending on what level millennial you are). I didn’t have a cell phone until I was 18, so when I was in HS I got to sneak around un-checked on. If I missed curfew, “oops I forgot my watch” and “their parents wouldn’t let me use the phone to call you”. I didn’t have my parents tracking my every movement on their phones. And best of all – none of the dumb shit I did ever made it on social media.
No videos to post. The worst we had were background pics of people doing stupid stuff. I can’t imagine being in HS when everyone is filming.
everyone wants to be a 90s kids but no one wants to be the adult that grew up in the 90s lol
I still remember waiting until after 9pm to call a girl I was talking to on our landline. The Blockbuster one hits hard too. Kids won’t know the disappointment of running up to the new releases and realizing that they’re all rented out already.
only if you had good parents. so many didn’t.
We had the best teenage years too.
These kids now… bless them. They don’t know what it’s like to not have omnipresent surveillance watching their every move. Not just like the government, but their parents. Their friends. Each other. They’re all afraid to do anything because “what if I go viral?”
My teenage years were wild because it was so easy to disappear. Our parents thought we were studying and we were literally getting alcohol poisoning in a field 2 states away.
Ehhhhh I didn’t have “little restrictions” because the 90s were also full of things like the crack epidemic, crazy murder rates (in my area), and I didn’t live in the best neighborhood. I envy those of you whose parents let you run around unsupervised, because that was not my experience.
Shit here in Texas Porno mags are probably gonna be making a comeback lol.
This makes me sad, as I missed out on being a “normal” teenager and kid. I was isolated by my religious zealot parents.
I feel like all I know is hard work, survival, and catastrophising. Anxiety is like tinnitus.
The older I get, the more treatment resistant the depression becomes.
Weird. My kids got Happy Meals the other week and they definitely had toys in them.
Don’t be sad for your kids. They will have a unique childhood just like you did. And I’m sure they will in turn bemoan how their own children are missing out on the things they loved as kids. That’s the power of nostalgia.
Glad y’all had a good childhood, wish my 90s ass could relate
And we’re paying the price for it now. I don’t know why I always assumed things were supposed to get better. Looking back now, it doesn’t make much sense.
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Some of us did. Not all of us.
My childhood was devastating and traumatizing. My adulthood is pretty great, post-intensive trauma therapy.
Happy meals also still come with toys.
I think a lot of the miserable people here are choosing to be miserable.
Yeah, I remember those days. People still got mad, but usually it was over legitimate reasons. Now, entire riots can break out over cutting the lines.
Right. I would disappear for an entire day during the summer. I was just going to the library, but still. Unlimited freedom. Not a single eye batted when I got into my older friend’s car to drive to the mall in another city while he smoked a fucking tobacco pipe with the window rolled down lmao. He was 17, who was selling him pipe tobacco
Shit sucks for teenagers now, for real. At my niece’s school they were using snapchat and discord as some kind of large-scale, stochastic, omnidirectional 24/7 cyberbullying hell that nobody could escape from. I really regret helping to pay for her smartphone, that shit was wild. Nobody could do anything without getting a bunch of meme’d up videos passed around about it, especially if it involved them getting the shit beat out of them in a bathroom.
I just want to say, the Happy Meals absolutely do still have toys in them. And maybe it depends on your region. Or maybe it’s because they gave you the toddler toy option. They have and under 3 three option and an over 3 option. So it sounds like they probably gave you the under 3. When you order, if you’re ordering from a human, just tell them You want the over 3 toy. But watch out for occasional small/removable parts.
Source: My youngest still orders Happy Meals. My 11-Year-Old still wants to order Happy Meals because she wants the toy, that never gets played with, but isn’t enough food.
6 years of a slighly better childhood is totally worth a life time of slavery
McD’s exists to feed commuters now, it’s not for kids anymore…
Blame liability lawyers (and rumblings about suing McDs for childhood obesity, ala the tobacco company suits) – they definitely got the message & decided that they should only market to adults.
So ‘Do you believe in magic?’ became ‘I’m lovin it’, and the toys/play-places/etc went away….
As for teenagers today?
Can’t speak to the social scene, but at least you won’t have the various school staff telling your parents that you need to ‘get off the computer more’ if you want to have a job as an adult (laughs in mid-6-figures big-tech salary)….
Graduated in HS in 98. Everyone was absolutely convinced I had no future, because of a lack of social skills & ‘obsession’ with computers/technology… Fortunately for me, the world they grew up in died, and the new one is much more accommodating of ‘my type’ of person….
Speak for yourself. My childhood fuckign sucked.
This is why I don’t think young millennials should be counted as millennials. You’re describing my brother’s childhood perfectly, but mine noticably less so.
We didn’t really get the shaft in adulthood either. As for the kid stuff, I think a lot of that is nostalgia driven and you could make similar arguments for any generation.
I’m 35, I did not have that childhood.
Tf are you talking about bruh? McDonalds in my city has WB character toys right now in Happy Meals and before that had mini Squishmallow plushies. McDonalds does still have toys, maybe yours just sucks?
People complain about latchkey kids being neglected, but I thrived.
I don’t think I could handle some of the more modern parenting techniques. I need more space.
And I stop by and fast food years ago because I just got too expensive.
I pay $15 now for a combo meal, and I can get that at a sit down restaurant.
The restaurant has much higher quality food, and it’s worth the extra $5 for a tip.
But I’m single, and have no children. It’s probably more expensive for those that do.
How will they live without their capitalism toys!!!!
Wtf you talking about we had Columbine
You know you could let your daughter experience a lot of that lol it’s you who would be keeping her from some of those things
Yet another reason why I love living in a small town in the Midwest. My kids are able to enjoy a lot of the freedoms we had, though they can’t escape the smart phone age. My son rides his bike to Dairy Queen some days after baseball practice. Kids randomly show up at our house, and our kids show up at theirs. Part time jobs for high schoolers are plentiful. The kids have their own cars to drive themselves places. Almost everyone owns a house with a yard so the kids can play. It’s not possible everywhere, but it does still exist in some places.
These kids have no idea what it’s like to stumble upon wet and gross porn magazines in the woods and it shows.
Do you guys ever remember any huge public freakouts like we see today? In retail stores, fast food, or the mall? I tried to think of even one instance in the 80s or 90s where I saw someone losing their mind on a minimum wage worker. I couldn’t think of any. Even shoplifters were quiet and compliant when caught. I don’t even remember people freaking out in a restaurant. It wasn’t until the end of high school I saw parents freaking out at sports games.
I’m genuinely grateful that I didn’t grow up with social media as a teen. Also, surprise toys in cereal boxes were everything.