My younger coworkers are horrified by what we considered a normal 90s childhood.
By @brynn · Nostalgia
We were talking about summer plans during a team lunch, and I mentioned being a 'roam-free' kid. The Gen Z interns looked at me like I'd grown a second head when I said my parents' only rule was to be home before the streetlights came on.
The full story
The conversation started innocently enough. We were discussing plans for the long weekend, and I made an offhand comment about how summer used to feel like this endless expanse of freedom. I described my childhood summers: leaving the house after breakfast on my bike and not returning until dinner. We'd ride for miles, build forts in the woods, play pickup sports with whoever was around, and drink water straight from some neighbor's garden hose. My parents had no idea where I was half the time, and there were obviously no cell phones to check in. The reaction from the younger people on my team (early 20s) was a mix of shock and morbid curiosity. One of our interns said her parents would have had a panic attack if she was out of sight for more than 30 minutes. Her childhood summers were a structured schedule of camps, classes, and supervised playdates, all coordinated via text. She couldn't fathom just 'disappearing' for eight hours. They started asking questions like, 'But what if you got hurt?' or 'Weren't you afraid of being kidnapped?' And honestly, we just... weren't. We learned to deal with things. If you fell off your bike, you brushed yourself off. If you got into an argument, you sorted it out. We were bored, we were creative, and we learned a certain type of independence that feels absent today. They argued that their way was safer, that they had more opportunities to learn skills at coding camp or on travel teams, and that our parents' approach was basically benign neglect. I see their point, but I feel like they missed out on developing a kind of resilience and problem-solving that you don't get from a scheduled activity. We were a little feral, maybe, but we were fine. The whole conversation just highlighted this massive cultural shift in parenting I'd never fully appreciated.
How people voted
- Facts — 25% (28 votes)
- Depends — 44% (49 votes)
- No Way — 31% (35 votes)
Readers say “Depends” (44%) — 112 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@ashlately — Are we sure we're not just romanticizing the past? I wonder how many people from back then have stories that didn't end so well.
@sashalately — It's the result of 'safetyism' and it cripples a kid's ability to ever feel confident on their own.
@umaactually — My mom used to lock us out of the house for the summer and tell us to only come back for food or if we were bleeding from the head. Different times lol.
@maeee — This is what happens when you give everyone a participation trophy.
@forrealthough — Drank from the hose, crashed my bike, sorted it out myself. The Gen Z kids are definitely cooked. We were just built different.
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