What Do You Miss the Most About Childhood? Stars for Answers...

I miss the hills and canyons that were raped for McMansions to be set up. I miss wandering around in the hills from sun up and sun down, exploring, and thinking that I could be the very first human to have seen or walked upon this particular area. How can this ever be replaced?

I miss the way the world seemed more laid back. You could shoot a .22 out your back yard, and nobody would call DHS on you. You could get in a fight, and solve it right then and there, nobody would get stabbed or shot, and nobody accused you of having an anger problem, and sent you to therapy.

I miss alot of the truly cool toys I used to have that nowadays would be considered unsafe. Like model rockets, playing with fireworks, those airplanes that had strings on them that flew around in circles, realistic cap guns and squirt guns, Lasertag battles for hours in the school yard. Going to Mexico and getting butterfly knifes and ninja stars.

I miss Underoos. Running around the block in Underoos playing with friends.

I miss how cool things seems when you were unjaded and approached the world with a child's fresh perspective. My first bike, my first dirtbike, the original NES system. I miss my old dog.

Ok , now I'm rambling lol.

26 here. I miss making science experiments. I miss my little self when I could fit in the dryer during hide and seek. I miss NOT watching the clock. I miss not caring that I was muddy, had grass in my hair or that there was ice cream dripping down my face. I miss KNOWING how the universe worked. I mean, I thought I had that crap covered. I miss believing in monsters and witches and fairies and jesus. Anyway, I need to take the time to try to remember more of my childhood, that was stinkin fun. Thanks OP.

reply to post by wildoracle13


I just remembered one more: I miss when it was perfectly acceptable to give a giant wedgie to someone that pisses you off.

reply to post by EvolEric


I miss the simplicity, The real friendship, Feeling like nothing could harm me when I was with my parents. I hate getting older, Btw my birthday is tomorrow.

I think what I miss most is having no concept of time.

Oh yeah and naps. Taking naps was the tops!

Not a lot!

I really enjoy being able to drive, have sex, drink and receive paychecks...

Let's not forget how damn frustrating childhood can be. I'm 24 and pretty happy about it

reply to post by EvolEric


I'm 21 turning 22 in July.

I miss living in the country. We had hardly any neighbors, so I could see the wide fields behind our home. It was a safe area, and we were far from the road. I had my own swing and that was it, but between that, having 2 indoor/outdoor cats and my imagination every day was fun. I had no siblings and no neighbors to play with, but my days were spent happy and fulfilled. I miss watching the sunrise and the sunset. I miss seeing nature play out in ways not everyone gets too. I remember watching and waiting for robins to hatch in our tree. I remember how our cats found mice and always managed to kill them then stick them in my moms slippers (oh how many times she'd stick her foot in and scream!).

I miss being closer to nature. Sitting outside with no plan, no rush, no deed needing to be done. I'd do my homework under a tree or in my swing. Take a nap on the grass on a nice day. I miss those days most of all, more than anything. Sure I miss old shows, like the nickalodeon shows, but most of all it's nature. With technology as it is I can find those old things easily. Yet, as the days go on and I get older (though I'm only 21) it's not so easy to just sit outside in a field and waste a day being out in nature.

Asides from that I miss spending days with my grandpa. He is a big inspiration in my life.

reply to post by EvolEric


I have only read your opening post...
I am 56 years old and I miss the type of television
programs we had in the 1950's and early 1960's.

7 cent fudgecicle bars,penny candy,5 cent candy bars,
35 cent gallon of gas,crispy critter cereal and mountain
dew commercials with the hillbillies saying,"yahoo,mountain
dew," great cartoons,board games,pogo sticks,wooden yoyo's,
chatty baby and chatty cathy dolls.
Those were the days....

I almost forgot the best...A western auto western flyer.26",coaster brakes,
and chrome fenders.

I miss the ignorance of childhood... not knowing the reality of the world we live in. I also miss having next to no responsibility.

i miss staring out the window with a sense of wonder even the things that were "bad" like dead animals and bad weather were wonderful and new. i miss thinking that i was like everyone else. but most of all i miss the friends ive lost or left behind as i grew and became a adult. oh and ill be 31 in 2 months

reply to post by EvolEric


I'm 39.

I had a wonderful childhood. I would spend summer days climbing our apple trees and playing hide and go seek with my friends in the neighborhood. I would pretend to cook dinner with my mom and watch my dad working on his old cars in the garage. But honestly, now that I have children I don't miss my childhood. I get to live it all over again with them. I get to see the wonder on their faces everytime they have a "first". I get to experience so much more from this perspective, I get to remember how I felt and also marvel at their innocence. Live for now, not yesterday, not tomorrow. Now.

Great thread!

I'm 26.
I miss being blissfully ignorant. I miss predictable weather... during the summer, we would get thunder storms everyday at 3pm. So we always had to get our swimming in before that! I only say that because it's the freaking middle of may and it's barely 40 degrees and raining here.
I miss every Saturday, going into my parents room and watching cartoons. And TGIF on Friday nights.
I miss being so carefree. I was a very carefree child. I would play and play and play with my friends. We would make forts and sleep in them at night in the back yard.
I miss the feeling of security. I miss my mothers cooking. I miss all the big dreams and goals I had for myself. I miss the feeling that your whole life is in front of you, waiting for you.
I miss riding my bike to a little strip mall close to where I lived. They had all these specialty shops. I would go into each shop with my friend and we would look for the newest Beanie Babies. I had quite a collection! (Which I just donated to Childrens Hospital)
I miss my barbies! And My Little Ponies. And Pound Puppies. I miss playing dress up.
I miss playing sports. I miss having crushes on boys! I miss believing everything they told me at church was true. I miss playing all the musical instruments I played. I miss performing.
I miss my youth very much. Most of all, I think I miss KNOWING that I could be anything I wanted to be. The determination. The drive I had. I wanted to be a doctor and damn anyone who stepped in my way.

Oh and to top it all off, I miss boy bands!!!!! IMO, the wold was a happier place when boy bands graced this earth. Just throwin that out there ;-)

reply to post by EvolEric


The rich blue skies. I haven't seen the rich blue skies in decades.

And a family I can trust...but that's a personal affair.

EDIT to add: I'm 54.

I'm 21...

I miss the simplicity of it all. I miss seeing my sister everyday. I miss my Mom and Dad. I miss my Grandma.

40's

One thing is the toys stores and hobby stores.

Back then, there wasn't a lot of worry about leaded paints, choking hazards, and other toxic chemicals (like plastic cement fumes - they used to sell some that were lemon scented).

I recall going into a store where I could actually open the boxes to see what was inside before I decided whether to buy it or not. They weren't taped shut or encased in cellophane.

The hobby shops even used to sell jars of chemicals to replenish our chemistry sets when the stuff ran out.

40s here


I miss simplicity, timelessness, the energy I had and how invulnerable I was,

thats it, I have a wife and kids now, I think I would miss them more, ....

mid 40's

I miss:
-being able to buy a pop and a huge bag of candy from a neighbourhood store (NOT 7-11) with a dollar and getting change back.
-riding my bike around at any time of day/night and not afraid of getting killed/accosted by some lunatic/pedophile
-mom letting me go to the park (by myself!) to meet friends, and you were NOT to come inside until dinnertime.
-pine cone/chestnut fights with the neighbour kids that we never took personal and if injured, the aggressor was not gunned down or beat up by a gang of thugs.
-toys that were NOT made in China.
-the fact that there were only 12 TV channels of crap to choose from
-nothing had a remote control
-riding in the back of Dad's pickup or the back of the station wagon and parents not getting a fine/jail for no seat belts

I miss the summers. Being outside from dawn to way past dusk. The only time we had to be around the house was when the bell rang, usually for dinner. Exploring the woods, the fields, riding motorcycles, not having a care in the world. (Except when we threw mud balls at the few cars that went down our road.)

No wonder I ended up back out in the country!

I miss the sense of wonder that came with childhood. Now I'm 26 and trying to get it back again.

I miss having no concept of monetary value, I had no need for it.

But most of all, I miss the feeling of freedom.

There were no constraints as your imagination shaped the world. Now your imagination is but a day dream with no firm basis as you slave to produce for the farm that encapsulates you.