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10 Things We Miss From Our Childhood

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Ottawa chapter.

When things get tough, it is completely normal to wish you were a child again. You might be walking down the street, or listening to an old song, or visiting your childhood home, when a wave of nostalgia washes over you. Below is a list of some of the best things we miss from being kids, and we hope you can relate.

Being pushed around in a stroller

Whenever I see babies tucked in their strollers, I can’t help wishing I could be a baby for one day and having everything done for me. It would be pretty convenient for someone to push me around campus in a stroller, especially in this awful wintry weather.

Bedtime stories

For younger kids, bedtime stories are the best part of going to bed. Maybe you fell asleep to the sound of your mom reading Harry Potter, or I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. It didn’t matter if they’d already read it to you a thousand times; it’s the comfort of familiarity that lulls children to sleep.

Saturday morning cartoons

Do you ever just think back to the times when TV was a privilege? You were limited to an hour of television a day, and it was probably the Saturday morning cartoons, like Bugs Bunny or Pokémon. It was a time to eat Fruit Loops and chill with your family.

Trick-or-treating

This was hands-down the BEST part of October. I loved dressing up and working my neighborhood until my pillowcase oozed candy. Helping to decorate the house with Halloween paraphernalia wasn’t so bad either.

Believing in Santa Claus

If you were anything like me as a kid, then you were devastated to find out that Santa Claus doesn’t actually exist. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of putting milk and cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve. Though now as adults we might see it as a lie told by our parents, we should instead see believing in Santa Claus allows us to continue the magic when we have children of our own.

Awesome birthday parties

Us 90s kids were famous for our McDonald’s birthday parties, rife with orange punch and vanilla cake. Other awesome kid’s parties like pool parties, camping out in the backyard parties, or parties at Cosmic Adventures (basically any themed parties), were the absolute BEST. Let’s not forget the sweet loot bags!

Valentine’s Day

Remember in elementary school when you wrote little Valentine’s cards for your classmates and put them in heart-shaped envelopes? It was our first introduction to love and romance, and a sweet way of letting your little crush know how you felt about them.  

Snow days

In university, no one gets snow days. In high school, snow days just meant sleeping in and watching movies all day. As a kid, snow days entitled you to little to no schoolwork (if your parents forced you to go to school). Other times your teacher might have even let you play board games or watch a movie. Nonetheless, no schoolwork + all-day recess activities = one happy kid.

Classic Disney movies

If you don’t still watch Disney movies, there’s something wrong with you (only kidding). While Disney movies nowadays might be good (Tangled, Frozen, etc.), they will never have the same effect on children today as they did for us when we were younger. Movies like The Lion King, Mulan, and Beauty and the Beast were not only aesthetically and musically pleasing, they had wonderful messages.  

Arthur

Often times children’s shows will instill within their characters adult-like qualities so as to allow their viewers to aspire to be like them. This is definitely true for Arthur. It is without a doubt the greatest children’s TV show in existence, equipped with loveable characters and situations applicable to real life.

Photos: 1, 2, 3

 

Alexandra is a third-year English Lit and Classical Studies student at the University of Ottawa. Her favourite activities include reading, working out, and Tumblr. She currently lives at home, working to save up money to travel and take the world by storm. She never stops dreaming, and wants to explore more of Canada before anywhere else in the world. Her dream career is to become a journalist for the Canadian Forces.