Remember when..

brianlux

...when you were a kid and your TV looked something like this:

PJ_Soul

hedonist said:

As a kid, nothing beat Chutes & Ladders and Parcheesi for board games.

Do families still get together and play those?

I know some must (like HFD), but not nearly as much as back in the day. I have actually recently seen public service ads on TV that encourage families to turn off the fucking tablets and TV and make time for game night, for the sake of maintaining quality time with the fam.

HesCalledDyer

PJ_Soul said:

hedonist said:

As a kid, nothing beat Chutes & Ladders and Parcheesi for board games.

Do families still get together and play those?

I know some must (like HFD), but not nearly as much as back in the day. I have actually recently seen public service ads on TV that encourage families to turn off the fucking tablets and TV and make time for game night, for the sake of maintaining quality time with the fam.

Pretty sad, isn't it? Maybe it's because I grew up in a time where we didn't have iPhones and iPads and Surfaces and yadda yadda, but I simply do not understand the incessant need/desire to have you face glued to the damn phone or tablet all the time. Parents let their kids get away with it, mostly because the parents have their noses stuck to the screen, too. And I see it in public with groups of friends all the time. I'm like, why are you people even hanging out together when you're all talking to other people on your damn phones??!!

PJ_Soul

HesCalledDyer said:

PJ_Soul said:

hedonist said:

As a kid, nothing beat Chutes & Ladders and Parcheesi for board games.

Do families still get together and play those?

I know some must (like HFD), but not nearly as much as back in the day. I have actually recently seen public service ads on TV that encourage families to turn off the fucking tablets and TV and make time for game night, for the sake of maintaining quality time with the fam.

Pretty sad, isn't it? Maybe it's because I grew up in a time where we didn't have iPhones and iPads and Surfaces and yadda yadda, but I simply do not understand the incessant need/desire to have you face glued to the damn phone or tablet all the time. Parents let their kids get away with it, mostly because the parents have their noses stuck to the screen, too. And I see it in public with groups of friends all the time. I'm like, why are you people even hanging out together when you're all talking to other people on your damn phones??!!

Yeah, same here. If you're alone I get it, but I think it's pretty weird to be glued to your device around other people. It's so damn antisocial. And parents who do it around their kids should be ashamed of themselves. When I walk by a playground SO many parents are just sitting there on a bench using their phones instead of engaging with their kid who is there playing (or even keeping a close eye on them). It's terrible. And I've read many articles about the kind of sociological/psychological harm an unengaged parent glued to their phone can cause little kids.

The Juggler

Gary Carter said:

Remember when this board was fun and free and actually felt like a community

northerndragon

Gary Carter said:

Remember when this board was fun and free and actually felt like a community

Yup, now it's like work. Everyone has to be nice whether you mean it or not, you can't interact with your friends like you normally would and you have to follow company policy. Otherwise you get reported to HR and reprimanded. Unless you brownnose the boss then you get to be a dick all over the place. :plus_one:

pjhawks

Walking all over the neighborhood just hanging out

when summer seemed to last forever

parents not knowing what you were doing or where you were every second of every day - "Yea I'm heading out with Mike and Dave. be back later"

cable boxes with cords to the box and buttons to push for the channels.

cars with no air conditioning

HughFreakingDillon

hedonist said:

As a kid, nothing beat Chutes & Ladders and Parcheesi for board games. Do families still get together and play those?

my wife and I play board games with our daughters all the time. our laundry room is filled to the ceiling with board games. chutes and ladders is one of our staples, as is go fish, connect 4, jenga, and Sorry!

Yeah, Hugh! Your daughters will hold those memories dearly (as I know you will), trust me. We used to play a board game called Payday. Not sure how popular it was, but a fun way to bond AND learn about bill-paying, budgeting, etc. Those lessons served me well...says this debt-free adult I'm feeling slightly nostalgic today - more and more lately, it seems! - and thinking of childhood lunches of grilled cheese and tomato soup, of our sweet black Lab/Shepherd mix with her white chestplate and sweetest eyes who just knew I was at the bottom of the family totem-pole (dad was #1). Of summer school as a kid, even. Guess I just miss the oblivion that came with that age. Knowledge is power for sure, but ignorance is / can be bliss. But, not when you're a supposed grown-up

just on saturday we had a family game night. Pictureka, which is really fun,and we play Payday at the cottage (my wife and I even played that at the cottage prior to us having kids-no tv or internet will lend itself to this). there's also one we play called Canada. I think it was from the 70's, and many of the cards and pieces are missing, but it's still fun/frustrating to play. 

and the girls and I are having grilled cheese and tomato soup tonight for dinner. when Mama HFD has a meeting, HFD and the Freaklings go 1980's style dinner! 

HughFreakingDillon

I let my nearly 11-year old and my nearly 8 year old go for a walk to get slurpees on the weekend. not too far, but they have to cross a major busy street. i was nervous AF, but they got home safe. 

doubt my parents gave a second thought about stuff like that at that age. well, I know they didn't. i was out all day on my bike by myself and they had no idea where i was, only that I was coming back at dinner. 

and it's not just nervousness about them out on their own; it's the ridiculous public perception. I may have addressed this issue in this thread already but if not.........there was a case last summer in Winnipeg where a woman had a visit from child and family services about a report that her children were being neglected. THEY WERE IN THE BACKYARD. one of them was young, maybe 2, but totally fenced in, the mother was doing the dishes inside watching them outside. someone called CFS on her. And now there's a file on her. No matter the findings, the file stays. 

also last summer, maybe two summers ago, we started letting my daughter go to the park down the block alone, and we'd meet her there about 10-15 minutes later. a woman at the park went up to her, CRYING, telling her how horrified she was that she was only 9 and at the park alone. totally freaked my daughter out. and approached us when we got to the park about how she "isn't judging, but she was very concerned becuase you never know the evils that may lurk around the corner". 

helicopter parenting at its finest.