When we made our own entertainment…
It amazes me, the sheer breadth of entertainment at a 21st century child’s fingertips. They literally have everything at the touch of a button.
Yeah, this is one of THOSE posts, harking back to a simpler time.
Cue music from the Hovis ad…
Of my two boys the Wunderkind is the most technically focused. He is Digital Boy. The line between human organism and PS3 is blurred. Witness him “networking” with his like-minded friends, earpiece lodged in ear, issuing orders to advance on a legion of murderous zombies. This is the same boy who once played with Enjy Benjy toys?
If he isn’t doing that he’s watching Diary of a Bad Man on Youtube or playing the charmingly lo-fi Minecraft. All the while, his TV is tuned into Simpsons or Family Guy. He’s currently just outside the top ten carbon footprint rankings, ahead of Denmark. We’re so proud.
His brother, Moppet, is getting the same way. Tonight when I was shaking my head ruefully (as parents do) at some online game he was playing, I told him, “we didn’t have any of that stuff when we were kids. No computers, no games consoles.”
He replied with genuine incredulity in his voice, “how did you survive?” I then had to convince him we had colour TV back then. Jeez…
But what did entertain me when I was a boy? Good question. Thinking back, I was a bit of a sponge. I liked learning stuff. Yeah I had Action Man and Ker-Plunk and Top Trumps. But you want to know what fascinated me when I was a kid? It was this… (click it and it grows)
I was entranced by this map when I was a kid (okay not THIS one, the late 70s/early 80s equivalent). The colours, the lines, the names. I had no idea of the physical geography relative to it, but then that was the point of the innovative design by Harry Beck. Other than going to the library, or to London I suppose, I would never know the detail behind Cockfosters, Stanmore or Chalk Farm.
And yet, it intrigued me. Isn’t that so weird?
I remembered too I was also a car registration anorak, and had a book which deciphered what the old car registrations meant (second and third letters divulging town of registration).
With this cornucopia of fun to hand, who needs friends? It’s a wonder games consoles ever got a look in…
So everyone of the pre-technical generation, what did you occupy yourself with when you were a kid? Were you a book worm? Did you have a thing for bird- or trainspotting? Dolls, horses, hoop-and-stick?
I was thinking about this recently having finally let my eldest have a DS lite for her 8th birthday. I used to read books, explore the countryside, ride my bike….. The advent of Pong on a binatone, then computers with games on cassette are all strong memories from when I was older than she is now! She and 2 friends have had fun tonight with a mini beauty spa in my front room which is a bit of an advance on when we used to pinch mum’s make up but its still much more simple…
The only reason our generation didn’t have all the tech was because we had to develop it
I remember seeing my first Tube map and was just as fascinated.
A great Post ty
You know, Monkey still likes poring over things and learning about them. He likes spotting car makes, he likes knowing where places are and how far they are, he likes learning the names of football teams. He doesn’t use his DS in the car that often and we only put the DVD player in for longer journeys. He likes Wonders of the Solar System book and looking at things in that – one of his favourite books to look at if he wakes early is How our bodies work.
We had the AA book too and we used to spot where cars were from. Much excitement if we were in Devon and we spotted a BH, KX, or PP (all local to us). We also used to spot pub signs etc on long journeys.
When I was about 7 or 8 – when my sister was a baby and too young to play with – I liked to be outdoors climbing trees and running around the open fields with my friends – all boys – until it started to get dark. we used to make fires, coat potatoes in tar and put them in the fire. the hot powdery flesh of those baked potatoes was heavenly! i have no idea where we got the tar from! When my sister was older we spent hours playing a game we called ‘two girls’. We were two best friends who lived in a flat and spent all our time waiting for our boyfriends. We put jumpers on our heads for swishy hair (really crucial as we both had curly – immovable hair that we had yet to fully appreciate) and balled up socks in our vests for …well you know what for. Goodness we had some fun!
I loved this post!
My OH was map obsessed too as a little boy – and still is. On the flip side my friends 9 year old plays Call of Duty whilst pretending to be his old brother (he’s actually better than the brother and all the friends). The other day she heard him shouting from the bedroom – don’t shoot me I’m only 9!’ Not good but just a little bit funny…
I lived in a cul de sac with 16 houses in it and a big green to play on and that is what we did…we played outside and amused ourselves. My parents took us for nature walks and we also did more things as a family.
At primary school age I was a real bookworm. Famous 5 and then on to the target dr who books, as well as tintin & asterix. I also loved gadding about outside and our little gang used to build forts, hide in bushes and generally have fun. Excitement was finding a box of matches or some hedge porn. Kids today. Don’t know they’ve got it made. Although we did get a spectrum when I was 7…
I remember our primary class going out to stand at the roundabout on the main road to collect car number plates. We then made bar graphs and mapped the results in various ways to show where the cars were originally sold and registered.
My brother, aged 11, started to use the tube every day to get to school. His personal quest was to collect a ticket issued at every station on the map.
PS I grew up in Stanmore so anything you want to know about it….
Oh yes, one last point: We only had BBC1 and ITV (BBC2 when I was 8) and there was a community spirit fostered in the fact that EVERYONE had watched the same programme the night before and we could all discuss it together.
I had a brilliant book all about How to be a Spy that I was obsessed with. My best friend and I would leave coded messages at our pre-assigned ‘drop’ point, make markings on sticks, tie pieces of string to pebbles, and track ‘enemies’ on the street. I’m going to have to find this book again now I’ve remembered it. Great post!