14 experiences I had that my kids won’t

On Friday night, my husband and I took our kids to a restaurant for dinner. The Shabbat dinner that we usually have at my parents wasn’t happening and I was being lazy and didn’t feel like cooking so going to a restaurant was an easy choice. After we parked the car, unloaded the kids, we started walking towards the restaurant when all of a sudden we passed  two phone booths. I have walked by these phone booths maybe 5000 times and don’t think I’ve ever noticed them. My kids on the other hand were curious about what they were. When I asked them what they were they called them  “phone callers” and “street phones”. My husband and I chuckled, but it got me thinking. Phone booths were something that were part of my childhood and growing up, but they had no idea what they were! I always made sure I had a quarter on me to call my parents should I need to check -in. This was clearly before cell phones! By the way, did you know phone booth now are fifty-cents per phone call?! Ok, sorry. I digress. So it got me thinking that there are so many things that I loved about my childhood and made such amazing memories, my children will not have. Here is a list of 13 experiences my kids won’t have:

Phone Booths– no need to ever use one of these because everyone has cellphones now! I didn’t even know they still existed!

 Phone booth My So-Called Mommy Life

Film– I remember getting ready for overnight camp and purchasing my rolls of film. Then as I completed each roll, I would label it and take it to be developed. Looking at those pictures (usually horrible shots) weeks later were always so much fun!

Mail Music Subscription Services– BMG and Columbia. Put your hand up if you wasted so much time choosing out the perfect “free” CD’s you would receive? And wasn’t it so exciting to get 6 CD’s for a penny? Unfortunately/ fortunately my kids won’t know anything about these things! They’ve been replaced with instant music subscriptions like Spotify and Apple Music.

Rewinding a VHS tape-trying to find that “perfect” spot on a VHS tape took some skill and the right timing!

Sitting by a boombox, listening to the radio to make the “best” mix tape ever– right? 

Phone books– Need I say more? That’s what Google and Facebook are for now!

Blockbuster– Do you know how many nights I spent walking up and down the aisles in Blockbuster choosing the perfect movie? Don’t get me wrong, I love the convenience of Netflix, but there’s something about walking around a video store, picking up random VHS boxes, reading the description, waiting in a long line and checking out the chosen movie. My kids will never have that experience. That’s sad.

Blockbuster card

Fixing a TV by hitting it– Don’t deny it, you did it too! If your Tube TV wasn’t working, a good ‘ol whack in the back would always fix the problem.

Blowing into video games, Nintendo machines, VHS tapes and VHS Players- that puff of air somehow always fixed the problem! If it was only that easy now! ha

Dial-up internet– that noise and the wait. Kids today have NO idea the frustration and time it would take for us to get online! And then a call would come in and you would get kicked offline only to start the process all over again.

TV Guide– Remember when you would open a magazine called the TV Guide to see what time the shows you liked watching were on? Thanks to digital TV our kids will never have to reference a magazine to figure out what shows they want to watch. Digital TV guide for the win!

Saturday Morning Cartoons- my sister and I loved waking up on Saturday mornings to watch Smurfs and Care Bears. It was special and part of our weekly routine. Now my kids can watch cartoons 24/7 and they don’t find them as special as we did.

Commercials– Would you believe if I told you that Princess Peach LOVES watching commercials?! Crazy, right? She loves them because she so rarely watches them because all the shows she watches are either on Netflix or on PVR.

ICQ/MSN Messenger/AOL IM– before there were all these sophisticated ways of communicating with friends, life was easy with ICQ 🙂 OH UH. Who can hear that little sound it use to make to let you know you had a message? Sadly, my kids won’t get to experience it.

So there you have it! What would you add to this list?

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