13 Afterschool Rituals Every 90s Kid Will Totally Relate To
AI generated Only kids who grew up in the 90s understand what it's like to have experienced a childhood that balanced precariously between the forgone days of cartoons only existing on Saturday mornings and a 24/7 television channel dedicated to kids' programming.
Most 90s kids walked a fine line between sitting in front of the TV watching DuckTales all afternoon and rollerblading around the neighborhood without adult supervision. Here are the top afternoon rituals only 90s kids understand.
Here are 13 after-school rituals every 90s kid will totally relate to:
1. Being a latchkey kid and letting yourself in after the bus dropped you off
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Remember that feeling of power when you got your own house key? You'd wear it around your neck or stuff it in your backpack, and the second you got off the bus, you were basically an independent adult. No parents waiting at the door, no one asking about your day. Just you, the empty house, and total freedom until someone got home from work.
2. Catching Saved by the Bell reruns before even thinking about homework
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The minute you walked through the door, the TV went on, and Saved by the Bell was already playing. You knew every episode by heart, but it didn't matter. Homework could wait because Zack Morris was about to freeze time and break the fourth wall, and that was way more important than whatever math problems were due tomorrow. And inevitably wishing you could nail down Kelly Kapowski's hairstyle.
3. Keeping a balloon off the ground for literally hours
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Who needed expensive toys when you had a single balloon from someone's birthday party? The rules were simple, but the stakes were high. Don't let it touch the floor. That's it. You'd dive across furniture, knock over lamps, and work up a legitimate sweat just to keep that piece of rubber floating for one more second.
4. Biking or rollerblading around town with zero adult supervision
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And all without adult supervision. Your parents had no idea where you were and honestly didn't seem that worried about it. You'd just take off on your bike or strap on your rollerblades and cruise around the neighborhood for hours. No cell phones, no check-ins, just pure unsupervised chaos until you got hungry enough to go home.
5. Racing home to feed your Tamagotchi before it died
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Because you weren't allowed to have them at school. The panic was real. You'd spent the whole bus ride mentally calculating whether your digital pet was still alive or if you'd come home to find it had pooped itself to death. You'd burst through the door, frantically dig the egg-shaped device out of your backpack, and pray you weren't too late. And when it died anyway, you'd reset it and start the whole stressful cycle over again.
6. Caring way more about your Sims than real life
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Your Sims had better lives than you could ever dream of. Perfect houses, thriving careers, functional relationships. Meanwhile, you were sitting there in your real bedroom, ignoring actual responsibilities while micromanaging their every move. Remove the pool ladder? Absolutely. Do your own homework? That could wait.
7. Playing pogs until someone's mom honked from the driveway
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You'd dump your entire pog collection on the floor and get serious about your slammer technique. Trading was intense, the competitions were cutthroat, and you were absolutely convinced this was going to be a lifelong hobby. Then someone's mom would lay on the horn outside, and the game was over, pogs scattered everywhere.
8. 'Healthy' snacks like Fruit Roll-Ups, E.L. Fudge cookies, and Capri Sun
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Your parents genuinely thought they were doing something right by keeping these in the house. Fruit Roll-Ups had "fruit" right in the name. E.L. Fudge cookies came in a fun package. Capri Sun had to be healthy because it came in a pouch. You'd demolish all three and feel like you'd basically eaten a balanced meal.
9. Sprinting home to catch Sailor Moon, Power Rangers, or Hey Arnold
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And living for Friday nights for the TGIF line-up of shows. There was no DVR, no streaming, no second chances. If you missed the beginning, you missed it forever. So you'd literally run home from wherever you were, throw your backpack on the floor, and flip to the right channel just as the theme song started. Being late meant catching the tail end of the episode and spending the rest of the week confused.
10. Street football with the neighbors until the streetlights came on
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The game started when enough kids showed up and didn't end until someone's mom yelled that it was dinnertime or the streetlights flickered on. No helmets, no pads, just pure suburban chaos in the middle of the road. Cars would have to wait while you finished the play, and somehow nobody ever got seriously hurt.
11. Waiting forever for AOL dial-up to connect so you could hit the chat rooms
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Coming home, pouring a glass of Sunny D, then going to sit down at the family computer and surf the chat rooms once your AOL dial-up finally connected, and before your sister needed to make a phone call. You'd sit there listening to that horrible screeching noise, praying nobody picked up the phone and killed your connection. When it finally worked, you'd log into a chat room with the most random screen name and pretend to be way cooler than you actually were. ASL? 16/F/California, obviously, even though you were 12 and lived in Ohio.
12. Making the perfect mixtape by recording off the radio
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You had to time it just right! You'd sit by the radio with your finger hovering over the record button, waiting for your favorite song to come on. The DJ always talked over the beginning or the end, ruining your perfect recording, but you kept that tape anyway. Making a mixtape was an art form, and you took it very seriously.
13. Nuking a Hot Pocket and calling it dinner
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Enough said. Your parents weren't home yet, you were starving, and Hot Pockets were right there in the freezer calling your name. You'd microwave one until it was molten lava on the outside and frozen solid in the middle, burn your tongue on the first bite, and eat it anyway. This was fine dining in the 90s.
Bryn Palmer is a podcaster and mother of two. She shares bits and pieces of her family’s story on her personal blog, Her Own Wings, and has a weekly birth story podcast where moms come together to share their birth stories.
