15 Unbelievable Struggles I Faced as a Child That My Kids Can’t Imagine

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Since the dawn of parenting, it seems we’ve taken great joy in sharing tales of our childhood hardships with our children. “Back in my day,” our ancestors might have grunted, “we didn’t have fancy tools; we had to hunt for our food using nothing but our hands.” We’ve all heard those eye-roll-inducing stories from our parents about walking miles to school through snow, barefoot, uphill both ways. It’s our duty to remind our kids of how resilient we were while simultaneously highlighting how fortunate they are to have modern conveniences.

Although I’m only in my mid-30s and not exactly a relic, the world has shifted dramatically since my childhood in the ’80s and ’90s. Many things that seemed perfectly normal to me now sound utterly archaic to my children. For instance, when I was in elementary school, the principal could actually spank you for misbehavior—a practice that would shock anyone today. (I can’t even imagine that happening now!)

Here’s a list of 15 things that make my kids stare at me in disbelief:

1. Researching the Hard Way
   Forget Google; we had to drag ourselves to the library, navigate the Dewey Decimal System, and discover our information from actual books. The horror!
2. Writing by Hand
   Our reports were penned with pencils until our hands cramped up, or if we were lucky, we got to use a typewriter—which meant dealing with those pesky paper edges afterward.
3. Bathroom Breaks Without a Smartphone
   While kids today scroll social media during bathroom breaks, we had to bring a book or risk reading the back of shampoo bottles.
4. Rewinding Movies
   With no “on-demand” service, we had to rewind rented videos before returning them. Nothing was worse than waiting for the VCR to rewind.
5. Dialing a Rotary Phone
   Kids today can’t fathom the patience it took to dial a rotary phone. Getting it wrong meant starting all over again—talk about a workout!
6. Busy Signals
   After a long dial, hearing that annoying busy signal was the ultimate letdown. If your friend was on the line, you might as well ride your bike over.
7. Guessing Who Was Calling
   Back then, answering the phone was a gamble. It could be anyone from Grandma to the police, and we just had to dive in without knowing.
8. Rolling Down Windows by Hand
   Our arms must have been strong from cranking down the car windows manually. None of that one-finger button nonsense!
9. Waiting for Film to Develop
   Instant gratification? Not in our world! We had to wait ages to see photos, and even then, there were no filters to save us from unflattering shots.
10. Manual Payments
    Checkout lines required endless patience as cashiers manually rang up purchases. This was before swiping cards became a thing.
11. Saturday Morning Cartoon Rituals
    Kids today have it easy with cartoons available at any time, while we had to wait all week just to watch our favorites on Saturday mornings.
12. Changing Channels the Old-Fashioned Way
    Remote controls were a luxury, so most of the time, we had to get up and change the channel ourselves.
13. Limited Flavor Choices
    When it came to snacks, our options were basic. Cheerios were just Cheerios, and Gatorade had only two flavors—imagine that!
14. Gadget-Free Road Trips
    Road trips meant hours of games like I Spy, as we had no gadgets or DVD players to keep us entertained.
15. Dial-Up Internet
    When we finally got the internet, it involved a lengthy dial-up process, complete with the screeching sounds of the modem connecting. If someone picked up the phone, it was back to square one.

Honestly, I’m grateful my kids have access to the conveniences I didn’t. Can you imagine parenting without the internet? While I may not have had to walk uphill in the snow, I did lug around a boombox and live without online shopping, which is pretty terrifying in its own right.

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In summary, it’s a mix of nostalgia and disbelief when recounting these childhood challenges. While times have changed, sharing these stories with our kids is a rite of passage every parent enjoys.