An acquaintance just posted a pic of them being absolutely delighted with building a snowman and I realized I haven’t done that in years. It also made me think about things I enjoyed doing as a kid, and (whether it be from mental issues or not) I can’t quite recall anything that brought me joy.
So I’m really just curious, what are other people’s happy memories of their childhood? Might help me remember mine, and “worst” case I get to enjoy some good memories second-hand!
Edit: Couldn’t be happier to have asked this question, not only are there some wholesome little stories, but I could also finally remember some of the good times of my childhood again!
Dicking around in the woods with my friends. Building forts, climbing trees, catching crawfish in the creek, playing war, ninjas, or wolf, riding our bikes off sketchy jumps. The woods were absolute freedom. It’s wild, we have a similar area of woods where I live now and my 11 year old daughter has zero interest.
I had a very similar experience and my kids are the same way. More than likely because the internet is their freedom, it’s the thing they can control.
I used to do the same thing. When I was in jr high the guy that owned it sold the property and the new people didn’t want us to play back there anymore.
Christmas morning at grandparents when everyone was done opening presents sitting alone in a corner building a Lego set with no worries about responsibilities or time constraints.
Things I loved but don’t do anymore: Climbing trees, building snow forts, making elaborate toy castles. Falling asleep on the floor in a sunbeam next to the cat.
Things I still do: eat chocolate chips out of the bag, walk barefoot in the grass, take mediocre pictures of random things that feel really profound at the time but are immediately forgotten
My childhood home had a skylight, and I would use the sunbeam like a blanket, with just my head poking out into the shade. It was wonderful.
Playing CS 1.5 to source everyday/every night with the exact same person for years…
After school? Running home and gaming till the morning
During vacation? Non stop gaming
During new year? Just a glass at 00:00 with family and gaming again till the morning…
This was the best time of my life and probably the best childhood memory, until I grew up, met my first girlfriend, went to highschool/university and now having a job…
I miss this good old days where you had nothing in between your fun and happiness.
Now it’s just a mess of disappointment…
When I was in early elementary school, my dad would take me & my sister to the local mall. He would get us all books at the Waldenbooks - he would get a scifi pulp novel, I would get a Garfield book, and my sister would get a Calvin & Hobbes book. Then he’d take us to a restaurant there in the mall, and we’d have a nice leisurely lunch while reading our new books.
Skipping stones over the local water reservoir.
I sucked at it, but it was still time away from my sisters.
When I was a kid my parents would rent a beach house at the end of summer on the Oregon coast. Their friends from college would usually stay there with us, in the evening we would have a campfire on the beach. The smell of a campfire almost always brings back memories of those days even now that I’m in my 40’s.
running around with super soakers
Being able to play sports (baseball/football) with neighborhood kids. No organizations like today. No parents interfering. No one drove you to the field, you walked there. Everyone got along and there were no overweight kids because everyday you got plenty of outside exercise.
The house I grew up in had two trees in the front yard. We would tie string (probably a thin nylon rope) between the trees and hang sheets/blankets on the string, creating a “fort”. All the neighborhood kids would hang out there in the summer and we had so much fun pretending it was a fort, spaceship, bus, etc.
Friends: Other than being outside with friends playing football, soccer, baseball, street hockey, on bikes, playing around creeks, playing in the woods, we played a lot of video games. We had some absolutely wonderful times playing multiplayer Bomberman, any PvP fighter (you name it, we played it), Super Smash Bros, etc. we’d watch each other play all manner of RRGs too. Yes kids, I grew up with the “classics” when they were new!
Family: Long talks around the dinning room table at holidays with family and friends, yearly OBX beach trips, yearly vacations to see family in FL. Christmas’ and birthdays with family.
I’m blessed/lucky to have a family with low drama and we all get along well. I’m also blessed/lucky to have grown up with some really great friends and we still have strong relationships. I wouldn’t change a thing.
I had (have), 3 friends, Bill, Billy, and Joey. The 4 of us used to ride our bikes from just after breakfast until dinner. At least 10 hours a day. No helmets. No phones. Just cruisin’ around. Countless hours of fun. From poking road kill with a stick or buying 45s at the mall record store.
Playing tabletop RPGs with my friends. Or just hanging out with them and playing video games.
Biking to the local pool to spend an entire day. Low-dive and high-dive until my eyes couldn’t take any more of the chlorine. Take a short break where I’d use my allowance to buy a choco-taco or big ol’ ice cream cookie sandwhich. The days when I never thought twice about my protruding little boy belly being visible. I was friendly with one of the life-guards, who was real hairy so we called him wolf-man. I’d get up on the diving board and ask him what trick I should do next, and he’d call it out. Haven’t been able to find a good high-dive at a pool in a long time.
Days when I’d venture out into the neighborhood, going door to door trying to collect enough kids for a proper game of kickball. One day one of the kids dad’s came out and played with us, and it was such a blast.
Biking to my school during summer break to play on the playground, finding a huge dumptruck load of mulch had been deposited on the blacktop, and I was able to kind of bike up one side and hop off. Spent hours on that mulch pile
Rollerblading in the neghborhood, using my older brothers skateboard ramp to do tricks. One time I went door-to-door, telling my neighbors that I was going to do a rollerblading trick show, and if they wanted to come outside and watch it would cost them a dollar. Think I made like 5 dollars, had some nice adults come stand at the end of their driveway, watching me do jumps off the ramp for like 7 minutes. I finished on a 360 spin with a grab to a patient golf-clap that seemed at the time just short of thunderous applause.
Christmas dinner when my grandparents would join us, miss them loads
