People Born In The 50s, 60s, 70s & 80s Have Very Different Ideas Of What Was Good About Their Childhood
Everett Collection | Shutterstock There are a lot of different things that people agree make a good childhood regardless of the era they were raised in.
But since people born in different time periods tend to have very different lives, kids from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s think they grew up with a special childhood that no one else understands.
During the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, kids were the first to test new innovations while still living pretty simple lives.
These decades were marked by changing cultures that affected everyone, including kids, although they still had the freedom to run wild.
People born in the 50s value the simplicity of their childhoods.
The 1950s were an idealistic decade in a lot of ways. People were getting used to a sense of normalcy again after World War II while also enjoying the prosperity that followed. Traditional family life in suburban homes became a staple of the era.
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For kids, this meant a pretty simple childhood, but simple in a good way. They spent a lot of time entertaining themselves and playing outside without any major restrictions. Classic toys like Legos hit the market, and most families had a TV they watched together.
For those born in the 50s, their childhood felt idyllic. They usually didn’t have too many worries at home, and they had a lot of freedom. They grew up before life was complicated by technology and enjoyed pretty easy childhoods.
People born in the 60s saw big changes happen that gave them hope for the future.
Kids reached new levels of independence in the 1960s. Many mothers started working, leaving their latchkey kids to take care of themselves until they got home from work. This pushed them to take on a lot of responsibility, but they also learned how to feel comfortable without adult supervision.
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Young people realized how much their voices mattered during the 60s as well. In the middle of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, student activism became really powerful. Other big changes like the space race affected what toys kids were interested in and what their dreams for the future were.
60s kids didn’t really have the stable, simplistic childhood of the previous decade. They got used to a lot of changes, but that taught them to expect big things from life. They were confident in their abilities and optimistic about the future, which made their childhoods feel magical.
People born in the 70s enjoyed access to early technology while still living mostly free-range childhoods.
Nobody would have blamed 1970s kids for feeling like they had whiplash from the various political and social movements that marked the era. It was honestly a hard time to keep up with.
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The 70s gave kids an early taste of technology with color TV and vintage video games. Still, technology wasn’t so pervasive that it replaced the time they spent outside with friends. They got to have fun without too much interference from their parents, making it another decade of independence.
If you asked someone who was born in the 70s what made their childhood special, they would probably point to the variety of experiences they had. They watched the world change and became more familiar with technology, but they still had free play and time to use their imagination, giving them the best of both worlds.
People born in the 80s were the first to experience new trends that continued to define life for years to come.
The 80s were an interesting decade that made kids feel like they were on the cusp of something new and exciting. A lot of toys started to incorporate electronic elements, although the Rubik’s Cube remained supreme.
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Kids who grew up in the 80s were also the first to feel like they had their own personal culture. They had movies made just for them and restaurants like Chuck E. Cheese that let them eat and play at the same time. This was also when MTV hit the airwaves, which changed music forever.
80s kids had childhoods that blended the old and the new in a really cool way. The only downside was that their parents tended to be pretty strict, so life wasn’t always happy. They found a way to make the innovation they grew up with the thing that left the biggest impression on them, though.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
