A couple of years ago, one Redditor was curious to know what cool things people experienced in their childhood but didn’t appreciate until they became adults. They went on r/AskReddit and posedthis questionto the community. People shared all sorts of wholesome and sweet things and even some impressive stories.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
Energy to do s**t. The older the more I miss it.
I’ve shared this before, but it is a very important thing I realized I did not appreciate until I was an adult.When I was a kid my dad and I had a tradition every week of going to the video store and renting a movie or two to watch together. I remember I used to get really upset at him because every single time we’d actually start to watch the movie he would fall asleep.It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that the reason he would fall asleep was because he was exhausted from working two very physically demanding jobs to try and give me the best life he possibly could. On top of that, even though he was tired he still made an effort to try and start a little tradition with me and spend time with me.Those memories of me having to nudge my dad awake are so great in my eyes, because they made me realize what a caring and hard working man he was and still is to this day.
3 months of summer vacationGrowing up without a cell phone or social media.
Sometimes we tend to remember things more fondly just because they happened in the past. That way, our childhood might seem better than it actually is. This is called’rosy retrospection.‘Experts say that the phenomenon is a “cognitive bias that runs parallel with the concept of nostalgia, though the latter does not always directly imply a biased recollection.“But it’s nothing to be scared of, it happens to most of us. It’s just how our brains process memories over time. Young adults tend to remember their childhood as their ‘golden age.’ For older adults, it’s their young adult years that seem to be the best.
Sometimes we tend to remember things more fondly just because they happened in the past. That way, our childhood might seem better than it actually is. This is called’rosy retrospection.‘Experts say that the phenomenon is a “cognitive bias that runs parallel with the concept of nostalgia, though the latter does not always directly imply a biased recollection.”
But it’s nothing to be scared of, it happens to most of us. It’s just how our brains process memories over time. Young adults tend to remember their childhood as their ‘golden age.’ For older adults, it’s their young adult years that seem to be the best.
Falling asleep somewhere, like in the car, and waking up in my bed.
This might sound stupid or boomerish.When I was a kid -1960s- every town had its own stores for everything. Local shoe shop, local sporting goods store, local five and dime, non franchise gas stations, local one-screen movie theater. Every town was a little, local economy.Then the malls killed it all. Now the big box stores are killing them.Progress?
Remember how you use to feel waking up on Christmas day? And now Christmas is just a holiday we save up for and worry about what to get people and hope we didn’t forget anyone. I miss the stress free Christmas.
Apparently, our most vivid long-term memories happen between the ages of 10 and 30, and those are the years that our brains remember the best. We also tend to concentrate on our 20s, because many significant life events occur during those years: college graduation, marriage, having children, etc. This age period is also called ‘the reminiscence bump.’
Having loving & kind parents, and a happy family unit who genuinely enjoyed each other and had great holidays together.Seemed normal to me but reading reddit makes it seem so unusual.
When I was a little kid (probably around ~5-6 years old), there were a few times when I was riding my bike around the neighborhood in the afternoon and my dad happened to see me while on his way home from work. We would always “race” back to the house, and I thought I was the fastest biker ever because I would always win even though my dad was in his car.After a while, I completely forgot about this. Then, when I was 18, my dad was teaching me how to drive stick in the exact same car he had when that happened, and I happened to drive past a kid about that age on a bike. Suddenly I remembered those “races” again, and at the same time I realized that my dad had been revving the engine in neutral.
Having a functional body.Having free fun time.Making friends easily.All of these were a given for me, until it becomes no more a given.
Walking around town without adult supervision and no one bothers you or calls the authorities.
Growing up on a farm and participating in 4H. So many kids today completely lack any sense of where their food comes from, why we need to be humane ro animals or why it’s so good for the mind to be outdoors! Not to mention the built in work ethic and sense of responsibility and accomplishment that comes with raising animals and doing physical tasks.
Waking up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday to play video games for a few hours before watching cartoons.I mean, I can do that now. But it just lacks a certain charm as an adult.
Home cooked food. Every day.
Just being a kid in general. All I ever wanted to do was grow up.
I’m from europe and in the middle of the woods near my village there is an abadon monestary from the XV century, it’s a huge place. We would play hid and seek there. It’s an amazing place but for us was just a good place to play.
Showing livestock. I was embarrassed about it as a kid and especially as a teen. Looking back, it’s pretty badass that I was able to halter-break, groom, and show 1,200 pound steers as a kid.
The early stages of the internet. It felt like I was part of a secret club. The vibe of it felt much more underground and it had a ton of variety.
Coming home after school and having almost no responsibilities. In fact, we were not even allowed in the house until dark because we got in the way! Now I get home after work, and I still have so much to do. I would love that feeling again.
My dad had an airplane and I lived on a farm and he would buy a bag of candy and rain it down in the field for me and my cousin to find.
Eating meals at the table with the whole family, using food grown in our garden. Majority of my childhood friends were raised this way so i didn’t see the value in it until i left my small town for college and realized that it wasn’t the norm in a lot of households. Now I really appreciate the time and conversations my family had during meals.
Not only making friends easily but always getting to hang out with them easily because of school. As an adult, it’s difficult finding the right time to hang out with one friend, let alone several.
When I was five or so I was throwing a tantrum. So my dad locked me in his room and let me tire myself out. Once I was quiet, he’d walk in and calmly ask “are you ready to talk?“The first couple times I baited him and just went back to the tantrum.The last time, after I was thoroughly disheartened, he explained to me the importance of thinking things through rather than emotionally.The lesson stuck.
For me my answer is simply my parents. As a kid the life your given tends to be what you think life is. I greatly took for granted my parents and the love they gave me. I never saw them fight or yell at eachother, they never punished me for no reason but rather explained why what I did was wrong (which worked very well) They allowed me freedom as I grew up because they had the mindset of kids and teens make mistakes our job is to help them learn from them. The craziest part about all of this is my parents are extremely Mormon. My dad is a high ranking leader in the church as well as my mom. When I decided it wasn’t for me unlike many mormon parents they accepted that and told me they love me no less. This is quite unusual for mormon families especially one this deep in the religion.Growing up I was like any other kid and would get pissed at my parents for some reason or another. I never told them I hated them but there were times that I felt like that. Looking back that was so childish as they never gave me anything close to a reason to feel that way. I aspire to be in a marriage as good as theirs and I aspire to raise my kids as well as my parents did.
By age five I knew every swimming stroke except the butterfly. Had been given infant swimming lessons; learned to swim before I could walk.As a kid I kind of noticed other people weren’t as comfortable in the water, but it wasn’t until adulthood that I realized how many people either couldn’t swim at all, or were apprehensive about their skills at it.
Eating whatever you want.
Family gatherings.
See Also on Bored Panda
International travel. Seemed normal as a kid, but I didn’t realize how rare it was until I was an adult. The family wasn’t rich; my parents just put all of their entertainment and discretionary money towards traveling.
Those few kids in school who had it all to be popular and they were, but they weren’t mean or cliquey.They had all the social power a kid could have - they were good-looking, funny, dressed well, athletic, everything - but they didn’t exploit it. They were usually smart and well-behaved (though not too much) but also fun and didn’t take themselves too seriously.I didn’t have many friends growing up, and even fewer genuinely good ones because most of my not-so-popular friends secretly wanted to be in those mean cliques and only spoke against them because of sour grapes (I was likely one of them, at least at some point).I wish I had known to seek out those genuinely decent kids who really had their heads on straight.Later in life, I got to know some of them and they are still great people - really the best kinds of friends to have. A number of them mentioned that they totally would have been friends with me when we were in school together - they even thought about it, but I didn’t seem interested.I just assumed anyone who had so much going for them wouldn’t want to be friends with me.
Continue reading with Bored Panda PremiumUnlimited contentAd-free browsingDark modeSubscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
Continue reading with Bored Panda Premium
Unlimited contentAd-free browsingDark mode
Unlimited content
Ad-free browsing
Dark mode
Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
The northern lights. I took for granted being able to see them in the sky a few dozen times a year.Now I live further south and I haven’t seen them in years.
This one’s really specific, but when I was a kid my father took me to see the King Tut exhibition when it was on tour. He bought this special package deal that included a private viewing of the exhibition with cocktails (I was the only child there and I did not get a cocktail, LOL), and then we took a week long river boat journey back up to our home city. The whole thing was just insanely cool, but I don’t think I really appreciated how amazing it was until I was older.Also, less specific: having the freedom to ride my bike anywhere I wanted. I’d be gone for hours without any adults worrying about me or needing to know my every move. All the kids I knew had that freedom, and this was way before cell phones. Different world.
Going up to the cockpit of an airliner during flight and talking to the pilots and looking out the windshield down at the Rocky Mountains. August 2001 right before 9/11 made that impossible.
Naps.
Growing a garden with many varieties of vegetables and fruits.It’s rewarding sharing fruits and veggies with others - then canning all that can be canned at the end of the growing season.
I lived on a tiny island and used to take a boat to school every morning. I hated it because it was so limiting to my social life, but now when I tell people about it they think it’s the coolest childhood ever! Makes me appreciate how unique it was.
World famous children’s book author Robert Munsch toured Canadian schools throughout the 90s and personally read to my class several times.
Having - your own - money. All the time as a kid, I took my end of the week hard earned 10 pounds from my dad to the corner shop and bought myself the old vimto, brain licker, space raiders and monster munch combo and thought nothing of it. Now, as an adult with literal hundos given to me each week, I make sure to be grateful everyday for anything I purchase for myself, whether it’s food, games, furniture, appliances, anything. Even paying my rent makes me feel quite accomplished.
Living at the beach, checking the waves from the deck and walking to surf.
Saw Halley’s comet when I was a kid. It was really cool at the time but I didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now, knowing it won’t come around again until I’m like 70.
We had a small 2 bedroom lake cabin on about an acre of land with a dock and beach. My dad rented it for over 30 years for ~$225 per month.We used to grab our golf clubs, toss them on the boat, and casually ride over to the golf course to play.I never appreciated how cool driving your boat to the golf course was. It just seemed normal.
I sued two federal agencies in my childhood and won both times.I didn’t really appreciate the scope of how rare it was to win against the federal government once, much less twice, even when they’re blatantly mistreating you.
Playing with friends, we rarely meet now a days.
The 90s.
Shared my bedroom with my brothers. Hated it as a kid, being the only girl but I do look back on some good late night joking and fart beats.
Getting to watch Michael Jordan play live. I mean, as a kid I understood he was a good player, but, I had no clue who he really was or what he had really done, and how he would be viewed. Simply amazing.
Coming home after school and having almost no responsibilities. In fact, we were not even allowed in the house until dark because we got in the way! Now I get home after work and I still have so much to do. I would love that feeling again.
Modal closeAdd Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Modal close
Add Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add source
Modal closeModal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Modal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
Upload
UploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
Error occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.
TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermark
InstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermark
FacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
ChangeSourceTitle
You May LikeHow To Ruin Your Entire Life: 35 Scary And Sobering Stories Shared By People OnlineIlona Baliūnaitė30 Nostalgic Toys You May Have Forgotten Existed If You Were Born Pre-2000DominykaNetizen Asks: “What’s One Habit People Think Is Normal But You Find Secretly Disgusting?” Gets 33 RepliesDenis Krotovas
Ilona Baliūnaitė
Dominyka
Denis Krotovas
Curiosities
