Things that are foreign to your kids, that were normal for you...

[wilbret]

Landline phones. Some kids may have seen them, but we did a quiz in a Cub Scout meeting, and none of the 76 kids knew what it was! (we were talking about 911 calls)
Our kids have NEVER had a landline phone in the house.

A phone book. We've never had a phonebook in the house with them. They delivered them for a while, but we just chunked it. Who needed it?

Cable or Satellite TV. I grew up in the country, and didn't get cable tv until I went to college! We had 2 channels, ABC and CBS. Some nights NBC and PBS would work. And around 1990, Fox worked on one tv in the house. Our kids have never lived in a house with cable or satellite tv. We made the digital conversion (antenna on the roof) in 2008, and have either watched OTA broadcast, or streamed content.

For that matter, our kids will NEVER know what it's like to wait for a show or movie to come out on TV, or in theaters... or worse... to miss it. OMG, I missed Rudolph!! Wait til next year. Our kids can access any content they want at their fingertips.

They will never have to wait for that new song to come on the radio, and then have it ruined by a chatty DJ talking over it while you tried to hit record for your mixtape. All our kids have to is, "alexa, please play...."

Anything other than a smart phone. Our kids have never known us to have anything other than an iPhone. (they missed out on blackberries, nokia phones, flip phones, bag phones...). The concept of a phone that doesn't allow you to send email and take pictures is strange to them.

Seatbelts and carseats. Nobody wore seatbelts when I was a kid! We were watching a show on TV (Andy Griffith), and my daughter asked why they didn't put on their seatbelts... she was SHOCKED that we have only really been wearing seat belts since the late 80s/early 90s. I told her that when we were kids, we used to roam around the car while we drove.

The sheer joy of the Sears Wishbook arriving, in all of its 5lbs of glory. Circling things you wanted, and hoping Santa got the message.

 

[low-key]

Seatbelts and carseats. Nobody wore seatbelts when I was a kid! We were watching a show on TV (Andy Griffith), and my daughter asked why they didn't put on their seatbelts... she was SHOCKED that we have only really been wearing seat belts since the late 80s/early 90s. I told her that when we were kids, we used to roam around the car while we drove.

The sheer joy of the Sears Wishbook arriving, in all of its 5lbs of glory. Circling things you wanted, and hoping Santa got the message.

my dad drove the family and y buddy from Ohio to California , in one of them death traps station wagons where the back seats looks out at where you been, what fun, but how crazy.

And around Christmas time it was so much fun, looking thru a catalog putting and X on the stuff you wanted

 

[kaytieeldr]

Seatbelts and carseats. Nobody wore seatbelts when I was a kid!

she was SHOCKED that we have only really been wearing seat belts since the late 80s/early 90s.

Interesting, given that seat belts (but not actual use) have been mandatory since 1968. And we did have car seats midcentury. Hooked over the passenger front seat, metal frame, cloth or vinyl seat, steering wheel with horn...

 

[kiddo76]

Parents allowing you to stay up past your bedtime to watch the Wizard of Oz when it was aired only one time a year.

 

[kiddo76]

Interesting, given that seat belts (but not actual use) have been mandatory since 1968. And we did have car seats midcentury. Hooked over the passenger front seat, metal frame, cloth or vinyl seat, steering wheel with horn...

We only had to wear our seatbelts on "long trips". I joke now because the first car we had didn't have a middle seatbelt in the back seat. I was the youngest of 3, riding the hump with a straight, unhindered shot through the windshield.

 

[fly girl]

Getting up early on Saturday to watch cartoons. The only time they were on!

Using an encyclopedia (not google) to find out information on a subject.

Forgetting something (name of a show, famous person, or toy) and not having any computer to help find the name of the thing you couldn’t remember! (It killed me for days as a teen when I couldn’t remember the name of the villain on the Smurfs. I kid you not, lol)

 

[gary1955]

a couple of years ago, I picked up a 6 year old nephew up from a soccer game and when we got to the car I took out my keys to open the door and he was excited and asked "wow, what's that".

since then I upgraded cars and now have keyless entry and start. now when I have to drive one that doesn't I have to think a bit when I get in. also turn on the headlights when needed.

also, I remember the days back seats did not have seat belts. we probably had a couple that didn't have them in the front too, but I don't have any specific memory of them.

I remember when back seat belts came into use. coming from a family of 8, my father took the economical route and got one seat belt that went all the way across the back seat.

 

[wilbret]

** I should add for the fact checker of the thread, that I turned 16 in 1992. Here's some history in my state. Mandating seat belts in vehicles did not equal mandated use until around this timeframe, in most states. Usage in the "back seat" was very rare for a very long time, and still not required by law in many states. Most kids born since the 2000s have known nothing but being buckled up, so they do it by nature.

copy/paste
Lawmakers adopted the state’s first seat belt law in 1988, requiring front-seat occupants to buckle up. But the law exempted vehicles mounted on truck chassis. And it made violations of the law a secondary offense — police couldn’t cite someone unless they had violated another traffic law.
In 1990, lawmakers clarified the law, specifying that the occupants of pickup trucks were exempt from seat belt requirements. Three years later they approved a bill requiring minors to be restrained.In 1996, they made seat belt violations a primary offense — meaning police could cite motorists if they saw they were not strapped in. And in 2010 they eliminated the pickup truck exemption.

 

[fly girl]

I defer to your thread-killing-post. Please continue. Did the Sears catalog not actually weigh 5lbs?

Oh! That’s another one. Circling the Sears and JCP Christmas catalogs for items you wanted!

Pittsburgh Dad thumbed through one last Christmas, memories flooded right back!

 

[wilbret]

Oh! That’s another one. Circling the Sears and JCP Christmas catalogs for items you wanted!

Pittsburgh Dad thumbed through one last Christmas, memories flooded right back!

Those were the days! Everything looked so awesome... of course, the endless onslaught of commercials on Saturday morning helped.

 

[GusGus77]

Parents allowing you to stay up past your bedtime to watch the Wizard of Oz when it was aired only one time a year.

And Annie!!!! But we had to have our rooms cleaned and all of that kind of stuff to be allowed to watch it! I was always really good on that day so I could watch Wizard of Oz on the COLOR tv! It loses something on the Black and White.

 

[L&Lfan]

Was watching Annie ever really a national event like the Wizard of Oz? I have to question that...wait.... just to be sure, we’re talking about the 1982 Annie, right?

 

[Heather07438]

How easy it is to get Xrays at the dentist today.

Recently I brought my son to the dentist for a check-up/cleaning. When we were leaving he smiled and said, "That wasn't so bad." I had to tell him about how horrible Xrays used to be when they used to jam those hard plastic things in our mouth and make us bite down. Ripped the heck out of our gums. Ouch! Anyone remember that?

Dentistry as a whole is soooo much more pleasant than decades ago.

 

[wilbret]

 

[StephMK]

No internet. Sunday morning TV choices were Blondie or the Three Stooges. It was a good week if it was Blondie.

Playing in the woods without our parents really knowing where we were. Not huge woods but there was a small river at the end of the street and a creek behind our house.

 

[rkstocke5609]

Pagers come to mind.....

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We were just talking about floppy disks the other day and our 20-something year old boys just stared at us like we were crazy. One finally said, “Why were they called floppy disks when they didn’t even flop?” We explained that the bigger ones were flexible and did flop, but then the smaller, hard plastic ones came along that didn’t flop but were still referred to as floppy disks. More blank stares.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

My daughter brought home a library book the other day, and asked me what this was:

I was surprised to see it and figured it must be an old book. I then had to explain to her how checking out library books used to work.

 

[Moliphino]

How easy it is to get Xrays at the dentist today.

Recently I brought my son to the dentist for a check-up/cleaning. When we were leaving he smiled and said, "That wasn't so bad." I had to tell him about how horrible Xrays used to be when they used to jam those hard plastic things in our mouth and make us bite down. Ripped the heck out of our gums. Ouch! Anyone remember that?

Dentistry as a whole is soooo much more pleasant than decades ago.

My dentist still does it that way.

 

[firefly_ris]

We were just talking about floppy disks the other day and our 20-something year old boys just stared at us like we were crazy. One finally said, “Why were they called floppy disks when they didn’t even flop?” We explained that the bigger ones were flexible and did flop, but then the smaller, hard plastic ones came along that didn’t flop but were still referred to as floppy disks. More blank stares.

Well I guess technically if you opened it up the actual circular disc on the inside was still floppy, so to me that counts!!