I often go through phases where I feel deeply emotional about the fact that my childhood is over. This happens when I see something that brings back old memories, when I hear a song I used to love, or even see a TikTok that includes one of my favorite childhood books. I get brought back to a time when I experienced pure joy. I think that a lot of people tend to “mourn” their childhoods because for many, things were a lot simpler and felt stress-free.
I recently read an article that talked briefly about how as we grow older, we tend to forget some of our favorite items from our childhood. This, of course, made me feel emotional as I didn’t want to forget the items connected to my favorite memories. So, I am brain-dumping all of my favorite items sorted into categories of my good memories for my older self to look back on and give me something to smile about. List after list, I am certain that I am forgetting many things, but I fear that some of these lists could go on forever. So here is what I can think of off the top of my head after digging into my old memories and smiling thinking about little me.
As a kid, I loved many things. Books were among my list of favorites and kept me busy and entertained. I loved reading as a kid and looked forward to going to the school library every week to pick out a new one. I remember getting a book at school and coming home to read the whole thing. As much as I loved picture books like every other kid, I am specifically talking about kids’ chapter books here. I remember a few of my favorite series, and when I come across them, I still get that same feeling of joy that I felt when reading them. Some of these series include but are not limited to:
Another thing that I loved was just toys in general. I was very lucky to have lots of toys as a kid. I also have three brothers who had many toys, so all together, it was quite the collection. Most of the time, I remember playing by myself or with friends, but I also have some good memories of playing with my brothers. They never wanted to play with “girl toys,” but I didn’t care and just wanted to play with someone, so I played with them every chance I could. Sometimes I could convince them to combine our girl toys and boy toys and that was always a lot of fun for me. I still remember what my bedroom and our playroom looked like with toys scattered all over the place. I smile thinking about it because I have some great memories of those areas. It makes me feel so grateful that I had such a fun and positive childhood. On that note, some of my favorite toys were:
When I think about all of the toys that I loved, I can’t forget about all of the outside toys we had. I thank my parents for allowing and sometimes forcing us to play outside instead of sitting in front of the TV all day. Playing outside was some of the most fun I have ever had, whether it was with the neighbor kids, my siblings or my whole family. I can happily report that I was not an iPad kid, partially because iPads were not a huge thing when I was growing up but also because my parents placed a great deal of importance on us being outside and exploring. I thank them for that. Some of my outdoor favorites were:
- Yellow Bumblebee Bike
- Razor Scooter
- Chalk
- Pool
- Playground (more specifically, the monkey bars)
Now I know that I claimed that I wasn’t an iPad kid, and I stand by that. However, I did get to have some screen time, and I loved playing games. Computer games were probably at the top of my list but I also loved playing on my DS and Wii. Though I didn’t spend much time on electronics, I still remember the old graphics and sound effects. I would love to go back and play some of these games because I can guarantee I didn’t fully understand them when I used to play. The list of games I loved includes:
Computer Games
- DressUpWho
- Webkinz (my first love)
- PBS kids
- Polly Pocket
- Barbie
- Moshi Monsters
DS Games
Wii
- Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones
- Just Dance
- Animal Crossing: City Folk
- Wii Sports Resort
- Mario Kart
- Wii Fit
So clearly, I have a fear of forgetting things and try to hoard all of my memories because of that. I could go on and on about hundreds of things I never want to forget, but the rest is going to have to go into my diary. I encourage you to think back on some of your happy childhood memories — it makes you realize how far you have come. I also realized that I am still pretty much the same girl that I was back then. I still love playing outside, playing computer games and I still have to force my brothers to hang out with me. Some things just never change. I will always get emotional about growing up, but looking back on things like this makes me happy for who I used to be and who I am now. So really, me being emotional isn’t always a negative thing. Usually, it is just a wave of happy memories. Either way, I will always hold these things in my heart.