Thursday Thoughts: When I Was a Kid

Last night, my daughter, Miranda, was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. When I thought about how different the world was when I was inducted thirty-five years ago, it reminded me of an essay I submitted to the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition in 2008 (now hosted every other year by the Washington-Centerville Public Library and the University of Dayton).

Here’s my essay, "When I Was a Kid":

We’ve all heard stories from our parents and grandparents about how they had to walk for miles in the snow uphill both ways to attend school. Lately, I find myself reminiscing with my own children about how school used to be when I was a kid and how different it was.

When I started school in the late 1960s, I took a bus; my kids ride a bus. That’s where our similarities end – unless you include our mutual regard for Pop Tarts.

On a typical school morning, as my mother cooked Cream of Wheat over a gas stove, I turned the knob on the eight-channel black and white television to watch The Little Rascals. My couch potatoes can flip through 300 channels on a plasma TV that cost more than my first used car. Meanwhile, I make instant Cream of Wheat in the microwave in less than two minutes.

I proudly toted a metal Lost in Space lunch box; my kids enjoy a delicious hot entree by using a PIN number from an account I set up online with a credit card.

I covered my textbooks with brown supermarket bags and carried them using a rubber strap; my kids use Book Sox and have backpacks equipped with luggage wheels that a seasoned traveler would envy.

I schlepped to the library and spent hours researching an assignment; my pajama-clad kids Google a topic and the world is their oyster.

I gave up ballet lessons because I was missing The Monkees; my kids TiVo their favorite shows and watch them whenever the mood strikes.

My mother created a Sunday night ritual which remains a cherished memory. Freshly bathed and in our pajamas, my siblings and I would settle down in front of the television with our parents to watch Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom followed by The Wonderful World of Disney. Mom served hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and warm Pillsbury apple turnovers covered with vanilla icing. We were ready to face another week of school.

Those precious moments inspired me to start our own family tradition on Sunday nights. I put away my laptop, pry the remote from my husband’s grip, and ask the kids to turn off their video games. We gather to play a board game while we sip hot chocolate, savor a tasty treat and chat about life. Suddenly, our family battery has been recharged.

I envision my future grandchildren complaining about standing in the snow as they wait for a Jetsons-like space mobile to transport them to school; I imagine their parents recalling, "When we were kids we took a big yellow school bus – but then again, we used to have something called a snow day."

What about when you were a kid? What memories do you treasure that the kids of today will never experience?