10 Things that Made Being a Kid Awesome

10 Things that Made Being a Kid Awesome

Being a kid in the 80's and early 90's was pretty much super rad. Somehow time, style, music and everything else sweet was all crammed into this tiny 10 year decade (plus a few). So here's to my childhood (pop) culture and proof that as an 80's kid.....

1. TV Shows.
Not that TV shows aren't cool now. I am sure there are some great ones out there. But when I was a kid, I think I seriously learned most of life's most important lessons from the family TV. So here is the breakdown of shit we all need to know, as taught to me by 80's/90's TV.

He taught me the importance of reading and using my imagination....but you don't have to take my word for it!

He taught me it was cool to be smart!

He taught me to be kind and considerate, to think with my heart as well as my head.

"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say, 'It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."
-Fred Rogers

These 2 taught me about love.

so did these 2.

These kids taught me the importance of friendship.

She made me cool.

she pretty much explained it all.....

so did he...

(and he made basketball seem super rad)

2. Outdoor sports rocked... and we all totally wished we were from California...no surfing or trick bike riding for me, but Gleaming the Cube really lit a spark....thanks Hollywood!

3. Mixed Tapes! Oh the beautiful mixed tape....recorded directly from the radio station 104.3 onto my Casio boom box duel cassette player!!! I made mixed tapes for dancing! Mixed tapes for by best friends. Mixed tapes to listen to when I was chillin' out. Mixed tapes to make my parents listen to in their car.....even the SECRET MIXED TAPE for boy un-named. It was never so personal or so perfect in music then when you made a new mixed tape! The hours of struggle to record it just right, the huge decision about what order the songs should play to create the ultimate listening experience!

check it

4. Wonder Bread. 

No seriously...am I the only one that remembers when our parents fed us Wonder Bread with peanut butter and grape jelly or bologna and cheese paired with a Little Debbie Swiss Cake Roll, and an apple....like pretty much every day for the entire summer? 
and I ate it in this...

 with THESE......

Was this not super awesome to anyone else? I think the organic mom movement would burn me witch hunt style if I did this with my kids in today's freak feeding acceptability plan.....it was so great!!! No carb counting, or sugar over load....why??? Because we were Outside!!!! Which brings me to number 5...

5. Sun up to Sun down. 
Time frame in which we were outside. Everyday. Doing AWESOME things!

like this

and this

and this

that's my old neighborhood^^^^^

and this (go coves)

and this

and everything else we could get away with!

and I did it all on a model of this exact bike

because I was a Huffy Dream Girl! 

(note the cool basket! it had flowers on it)

(I got a mountain bike in 6th grade, but it just wasn't the same)

And the best part is no one was ever worried about us because we traveled in a pack...like wolves...or probably more like stray dogs. It was so great.

6. Michael Jordan....

because he gave us Air Jordans 

this t shirt...(we all had it)

and finally Space Jam (though that came at the tail end).

but we won't mention baseball...unless it is about Bo...

7. Hyper Color and Umbros with Electric Youth and plastic charms

It was so AWESOME! (for about 4 washes)It was like proof you had a close encounter of the first(base) kind! I never ever got to test the theory, but I totally held my hands on my boobs for 10 seconds so that there would be prints left behind and congratulated myself on how awesome I would be if I ever made out with anyone....like so cool....paired with these babies...

because nothing says fashion like baggy shorts made of parachute material...

and I smelled like a dream thanks to Debbie Gibson!

and always had this on...

totally still wish I had kept the necklace.

8. Monthly Winnwood Wednesday School Skating Parties

Man...best weeknight every month. We had 2 whole hours of mingling, couple skates, reverse skate, and so much more. I think it was 3 bucks and that included our skate rental! I looked forward to this night so much! I didn't even mind the blisters and the sore feet the poorly fitting skates inflicted! So much fun!

9. Scary Movies....

the awesome horror films that were released in the 80's and 90's were some of the most gory, most cheesy, most entertaining cinema ever....who came up with these ideas....and them made so so many sequels? (besides Stephen King) As a kid I spent countless hours watching these films, interpreting them, picking them apart and re-enacting them! Some of the best memories ever.

super scary demonic puppets...and leeches...the leeches really stuck with me.

 then there was his hand

his head

this guy's...well, all of this guy

though thank you for introducing me to Johnny Depp

I hate clowns

it's teeth

(though a 70's flick, it was still very very scary)

this guy was terrifying

I have never said his name 5 times...ever

"if you love me...you will let me eat your brain"...

his theme music

(I don't do camps)

And there are so many many more...

10. Concession Stands and Ice Cream Trucks

I know that I am not the only one that would rummage through the house seeking loose change to bring with me to the pool or when I heard the magical tune that the ice cream truck made! For 25 cents you could get a small candy feast in the 80's! tootsie rolls and bubble gum for a nickel (loved green apple)! Suckers and tiny boxes of nerds for a dime, and for a quarter you could get one licorice rope or a standard looking Popsicle in an array of colors! Amazing stuff! If you combined finances with someone you really trusted then you could get a soda or a candy bar...but you really had to trust them because a lot of these treats were not easy to share.

 They were always a bit better with the smell of chlorine in the air and the humidity that made melting fast and sticky!

So here's to you childhood! You rocked!(pop-rocked that is)!

Thanks for taking the flashback with me! I may never be young again, but I will always be a kid at heart!