1. Blissful ignorance

2. Young independence

3. Kids running things
When I was in high school, my friends and I ran our church youth group completely on our own. Every Easter, we'd put on a massive Easter breakfast, shopping and cooking for our entire congregation. Nowadays, the adults seem to run everything. The kids have to work, but the adults often do the organizing. I see this everywhere, and it's a shame. I think we do too much for our kids.

When I was in junior high and high school, the wild kids drank alcohol and smoked. The "stoners" would smoke pot, but that was about it. It might have been because I grew up in the suburbs, but the hard drugs didn't seem to be as plentiful or accessible as they are now. No crack, no meth...less temptation for kids craving an escape. Remember "Saturday Night Fever"? They were smoking and drinking, not doing drugs.
5. More time outside
Most of my great childhood memories were from being outside--playing in the backyard, roaming the neighborhood, camping, going to summer camp, running free. Nowadays it seems we have to make a conscious effort to get our kids outside, and because of heightened awareness of the dangers out there, we are less likely to let them roam freely.
6. Less scheduled time
I played intramural sports in grade school and junior high, took music lessons, and participated in Girl Scouts and Campfire Girls, but that was about it. There just wasn't anywhere near the variety of after-school activities when I was a child, and the sports didn't take nearly as much time. Now the overscheduling starts when they are in preschool! I was going to add as #7 that Americans had more family dinners together, but the good news is that myth has been disproven: "A study of a nationally representatives sampling of adults or guardians of children under 18 found that 71 percent of respondents said their families eat dinner together as often or more today than their families did when they were children."

7. Less fundraising
I remember selling Girl Scout cookies and Campfire candy (door to door), but that was the extent of it. The Girl Scout cookie fundraising wasn't anywhere near the huge production it is now, either. We never had to raise funds for our schools. No auctions, run for the arts, readaloudathons, wreath sales, cookie dough sales, wrapping paper sales, etc., etc. I long for those days!
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My simple Christmas presents--dolls and a tea set! |
8. Less crap
We didn't have as many possessions or toys to choose from. Mass production in China and other countries means that Toys R Us carries a huge volume and variety of toys. We didn't have that kind of selection, and toys were not as cheap either.
9. Less to watch
I remember the excitement when MTV came out, around the time that we were going to the video store to rent videos. It was such a novelty to be able to rent movies! Cable didn't exist, and if the video store didn't have "The Exorcist" available at the time, you had to come back on another day.
Now kids watch on cable, Netflix, Hulu, illegal streaming sites, by DVD, etc., on TVs, computers, iPads, and iPods. There's no shortage of content or places to watch. We are really mean parents because we don't have cable. We've found when we've had Netflix occasionally, it increases their TV addiction. The less available, the less they're drawn to it.
10. Less pressure
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The young, carefree me |
High school kids had never heard of AP or honors classes (AP was brand new when I was a senior in high school), running starts to college, or baccalaureate programs. When I took the SAT, I took it ONE TIME (now many students take it more than once to try to improve their score). No one ever took it more than once back then unless there was something wrong. I applied to one college where I knew I wanted to go, not 10 or 15 like some kids do now.
Sometimes I think we've lost some things along the way. Our kids are under more pressure but they have less independence, less time outside, and more crap and time online (the trappings of modern life).
On the other hand, girls have far more opportunities, and we have a black president. LGBT people are in a much better position. My teenage son has a couple of classmates who are gay, one of whom is out and the other one is out only to a few friends, including my son. Being gay is totally normal to my sons. This is a VAST improvement over what it was like when I was a young person. Things have improved in many ways. With progress comes loss, I suppose.
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