Yesterday after getting my 8 year old Cooper from school, we had this conversation on the way home…
COOPER: “Dad, how old were you 30 years ago?”
ME: “I would have been 14 years old.”
COOPER: “I bet your life was boring back then.”
ME: “What do you mean by that, because my life was NOT boring.”
COOPER: “You know, you didn’t even have televisions back then.”
ME: “WHAT? Yes we had televisions in 1980, you crazy kid.”
COOPER: “Well, maybe you did, but they weren’t in color.”
ME: “They were too in color.”
COOPER: “Seriously, you had color televisions?”
ME: “Yes, Cooper, we had color televisions.”
COOPER (after a couple of minutes of silence): “Okay, but I bet you didn’t have computers.”
ME: “Okay, you’re right. Home computers didn’t come along for about another 7 years. And when they came out, we didn’t play games on them. Computers mostly did work-stuff.”
COOPER: “WHAT? Computers that didn’t play games? No wonder your life was so boring back then.”
ME: (shaking my head in disbelief…over my apparent “boring” childhood)
I am a Christian husband and father, who moonlights as the minister for the church of Christ in Childress, Texas. My wife Lea and I have been married for 23 years. We are doing our best to raise our 4 boys, who are all growing up way too fast.
Well, does he know about the time you rolled the tire off your roof and it knocked down your neighbor's fence?
My dad (who is now 80) likes to share stories about how he gathered all of his neighbors dried up Christmas trees, discarded on their curbs for post Christmas trash collection, and stored them up in his family's garage.
Then, one day, after he had collected enough, he and his buddies took them to a vacant lot, piled them up and lit them on fire – a huge bonfire!
Heh. Maybe it's a good thing NOT sharing such stories…might give the young ones crazy ideas!
Save this. Give it to him in 30 years. Let's see how boring his childhood was!
I wonder what it would have been like if I had Facebook, Twitter, current cell phones, etc, back in high school.
Fraizerbaz – #1, how do you know about the tire off the roof story? Thought that was top secret
#2 – You are 100% right. Don't give them any ideas.
David … things have changed, haven't they?
I love that the old G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Thundercats shows are now on DVD. I get to show them what kind of cool shows I had to watch when I was a kid.
Then we got to outside and beat each other up like the characters on the show — no real guns allowed
Seriously, my kids have internet, Dish, wii games, etc. and they still complain about being bored. the biggest smiles I see on their faces, and when they get along the most, is when they are OUTSIDE playing.
Your boring life produces some wonderful blogs!
I was at a yard sale a few years ago and the person was selling some of the older rotary dial phones … a little girl was looking at one, turning the dial, and asked her mom, "What is this thing?"
It's all a matter of perspective, isn't it? I never was interested in the video games … finding them all rather boring.
I've had a similar conversation with my 10-year old daughter. It's so darn cute when they start thinking for themselves!
Ya, but people in our generation know how to party! We had roller skating and dancing and people was just plain friendly back then! Not so boring when you could go to the drive in and see the latest flick!
Life was simpler back then or am I just getting older?
Brandon Voss
admin@fangearltd.com
It is funny that you would have a conversation like this because recently I had one of these with one of my teenage daughters. She too was surprised to find out that I had a television back then and even computer games (Atari) and such. Funny. And I read this on my 40th birthday (well, it was until we past midnight anyway).
Love in Christ
Our 15-month-old daughter is just starting to talk. I can't wait for the crazy stuff that's bound to come out of her mouth when she can put together coherent sentences…
Thanks for the post, Trey.
Tell sweet Cooper that I never saw you bored when you were a boy, never. But do you remember what I had my children do when they said they were bored – I put them to work. It works everytime.
I am proud that Cooper thinks things out. Love to all, Cooper's Grandmama
It will seem like tomorrow, when Cooper turns 14 himself. For a full year you'll have a blast reminding him of how BORING his life is. Meanwhile, just tell him how thankful he should be that he doesn't live in Boring, Oregon!
It's so cute when kids can't conceive that their parents actually had fun lives when they were kids! They imagine that we must have been bored silly! Hey kids, we had Intellivision! Ha ha!
At 7 years old I asked my mother, "When you were little, what was your dinosaur's name?" For my mother (who turns 70 next month) that story never seems to grow old….It took me a lot of years (and maturity) to realize my parents may have been a little cool. Just a little….