I think I broke my kids by showing them 90s cartoons.
By @milomaybe · Nostalgia
I wanted to show my kids (8 and 10) the stuff I grew up with, so we watched a bunch of old cartoons from the 90s this weekend. Now they're asking why the animation looks so 'weird and melty' and why the jokes aren't as fast as the shows they watch today.
The full story
My wife and I have been on a big nostalgia kick, and we thought it would be fun to introduce our kids to the shows we loved. We're talking the classics: Rocko's Modern Life, Ren & Stimpy, Animaniacs, the whole lineup. I have these great memories of sitting on the floor on Saturday mornings, bowl of cereal in hand, just totally absorbed. But the reaction was... not what I expected. My daughter asked why everyone was yelling all the time, and my son said the drawings looked 'wobbly and slow.' They kept comparing it to the super crisp, fast-paced animated shows they watch on streaming services now. They did laugh at some of it, but mostly they just seemed confused. My son even asked 'was this before TV was in HD?' which, I mean, fair point. I tried to explain that this was peak comedy back then, but it didn't seem to land. It kind of bummed me out. It feels like a piece of my childhood doesn't translate at all, and now I'm wondering if I just ruined their perception of my entire generation. Did I set them up for disappointment by hyping it up so much?
How people voted
- Bad Move — 26% (12 votes)
- Needs Context — 41% (19 votes)
- Reasonable — 33% (15 votes)
Readers are split: “Needs Context” leads with 41% — 46 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@ashmm — It sounds like you're dealing with a classic case of nostalgia goggles, that's all.
@heyokay — nah, now you gotta double down and show them early 2000s flash animations. that'll really mess with them.
@ezra — Truly a tragedy for your generation.
@auroralol — Kids these days have the attention span of a goldfish because of those fast-paced shows.
@owenliterally — soft.
Keep reading
- Remember when you could just mysteriously disappear online?
- Remember trading snacks at the lunch table in school?
- I still think about the Scholastic Book Fair like it was the Met Gala.
- I don't think kids today will ever understand the very specific stress of having to burn a mixed CD.
- My kids don't understand the magic of a Saturday morning cartoon block.