Top Five Things We Miss From Our Childhood
Top Five is a show where the hosts categorize, rank, compare, and stratify everything… from cars to gadgets to people and movies. From stuff that is hot, and things that are not nearly as interesting – it’s Top Five.
This week, we take a look back to the things we miss from when we were kids. Be warned, this is a downer of an episode…
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9 Comments
Stephen,
You’re absolutely right; cartoons in our youth were absolutely horrible. I’m about the same age as you and Matthew and as my kids (now both teenagers) were growing up, I was always jealous about how good they had it cartoon-wise.
Cartoons like “Rugrats”, “Dexter’s Laboratory”, “Jimmy Newtron”, “The Wild Thornberrys”, “Powerpuff Girls”, and “Hey Arnold” were all so far ahead of what we had as kids in the late 70s and early 80s that it’s depressing.
About the only place our childhood toons have them beat is in the anime offerings from both time-periods. Stuff like “Pokemon” is OK… good even. But it is far inferior to stuff like “Star Blazers”, “Battle of the Planets”, and “Robotech” which I grew up with.
Besides the anime from my youth, about the only contemporary cartoon that was any good was “Transformers” and even that was essentially ruined after the first couple of seasons by the feature movie where Orson Wells plays, appropriately so, a planet (as a fat man, I have a right to make fat jokes about others). Things didn’t really start to perk up until the very late 80s and early 90s when we got the Disney cartoon block on weekdays, “Tiny Toons”, and later the masterful “Animaniacs”. But by then, I was already an adult…
OK, a large child… ;-)
Rui, aka Ariamus
Oh man, I was watching that Mario episode with Sgt Slaughter in it just the other day. So ridiculous.
Well my youth is little more past it than others.. I remember Kimba , Speed Racer, Astro Boy, Ultra Man, Hot Wheels. Cartoons didn’t really get crappy till parents groups got involved. Then we got Smurf cursed.
I miss not wanting to stick my head in an oven after an episode of Top Five.
You and me, both.
5. Summer Time at the Beach – Living in Florida my whole life I miss waking up on Saturday mornings at 6am at the beach at 7am stayed till we saw the thunderstorms coming in. Get home and take a nice nap as the rain and the thunder started.
4. Ice Cream on the way home from the beach – There was this walkup Ice Cream place on the way home. Every week I would get something different, soft server cone dipped in chocolate hard shell stuff (or strawberry), root beer float, chocolate vanilla swirl with rainbow sprinkles. Whatever I got, it was gone by the time we got home.
3. Playing Outside – I spent a lot of time after school and the summer time outside playing all kinds of games and they were all right outside my front door. Kick ball, riding bikes, Hide and seek, Football (Tackle on the grass, 2 hand touch on the drive way and side walk, and losers take a walk), basketball, and PING (not the computer term) this game is when we tossed a racket ball against the garage door then caught it. But if you missed it 4 times (PING) you got a firing squad which is you went to the door and stood there and everyone playing got a free hit. Also if you dropped the ball you had to run and touch the garage door and run back pass the line and anytime you were past the line you could be hit. Same thing goes if you missed the door. Good times
2. Being an Altar Boy (Yes back then it was only Boys) – Going to a Catholic School for most of my school time it was only fitting I became an Altar Boy and I was one until High School. I prided myself as being one of the best and know the correct process for different types of masses. I did normal weekday, weekend, Sunday, Weddings, Funerals. I remember being called out of class to do one or the other if they needed and Altar Boy. I really enjoyed doing it; so much I was almost thinking of becoming a priest.
5. Going to the Movie Theater and Seeing an R rated Movies – This was the best because back then the person buying the ticket only had to be 17 and older not the watcher. It was awesome your friends mother would drop you off and buy the tickets and say see you in a few hours. Then after you would play video games until you got picked up. I remembering seeing Robocop, Nightmare on Elm Street (2 and 3 as well), Bloodsport, the Rambo movies and a lot more. I miss that thrill.
I miss riding my bike on saturday afternoons with my friends to the local family owned corner store with my allowance We would each have a buck or two and we’d buy a soda, some candy and still have a little left over. The owner of the store knew your name and you knew him. Then we’d ride back to the school yard and hang out eating our junk food and wasting away the afternoon.
I also miss the Saturday morning cartoon schedule. Super Friends, Bugs Bunny, Wacky Racers and Banana Splits. Great stuff. I still remember when my older brother stopped getting up early to join me. I though he was crazy.
I miss playing kick the can after dinner with the kids from the neighbourhood. We’d start after dinner and play till it was dark. No worry about who’s yard you were in or how much noise you made.
This may never be read, but here goes: #5) The Lions Club Carnival. This still exists and I have been, not since I was a teenager. I remember the build-up to the carnival at school and counting down to opening day. We would make a beeline to the cars and the carousel every year until we were too big to fit in/on them. Then, in the following years as we grew older, we’d ride the big kid rides, like the Scrambler, where we would always convince John that the person sitting on the inside was the one who got squished and that he needed to sit on the outside. The Tilt-a-Whirl was another favorite. I never did eat any carnival food though.
#4) Riding my bike with my friends. I have a bike now as an adult, but I don’t ride it very often. We would get on our bikes and just ride up and down the street jumping ditches and racing and falling. Sometimes, after watching C.H.iP.s on tv, one would be the bad guy and the others were Frank and John trying to catch him/her. We used to go everywhere on our bikes without any care in the world, but now, when my grandson rides his bike, he’s got on a helmet, elbow pads and knee pads and can only go to the second neighbor’s yard before he has to turn around and come back.
#3) Playing in the rain. This one comes more with age than anything else. If there was no lightning, we could play in the rain as long as we wanted. And if it flooded, the ditches were turned into makeshift swimming pools. Now if it rains, I seriously consider calling in to work.
#2) The newsstand. I know our local newsstand has been gone for about 30+ years and don’t know if any exist anywhere anymore. My dad subscribed to National Geographic and American Heritage, but would go to the newsstand to get magazines on trains, ships or anything related to the old West. He would take me with him and would let me get a MAD or Cracked magazine, which is where the majority of my MAD and Cracked magazine collection came from. We would also stop by the Dairy Queen for a Dilly Bar before going home.
#1) The Saturday trips to my grandmother’s house. My dad’s dad, Pappaw, died in 1975, two months shy of my fourth birthday, so I never really knew him. We lived about a mile from their house, and would visit with my dad’s mom, Mammaw, every Saturday. Looking back, I’m sure my dad was having to do chores, but we were there to visit. I remember one particular Saturday when I had the chicken pox, crying my eyes out because I couldn’t go to Mammaw’s house when everybody buy me and my mom went.
We always read. We’re always watching…