Can someone remind me how kids kept themselves occupied before screens?

[Anonymous]

My kids would definitely spend more time together....now they watch screens independently.....;(

[Anonymous]

I mean, in addition to the accurate "they mostly worked," or "they played with their 7 brothers and sisters," they weren't used to parents entertaining them or being entertained by a screen, so... they came up with their own entertainment. This was their expectation, so they acted accordingly.

It's not like people were (mostly) complaining of boredom all day every day before the invention of TV and computers.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in the 70s and 80s with a hippie mom who thought tv was evil. We didn’t even own one for many years.

We read tons of books, played board games, hot wheels/ barbies/ paper dolls/ action figures; we built dollhouses out of cardboard boxes and glued on pictures of furniture cut from the Sears catalog to decorate them. We made up dances to albums like Grease, and we played elaborate games of pretend like “restaurant,” or tried to find mysteries to solve.

I can remember spending entire afternoons just setting up a pretend scenario—who was who, what their clothes and hair and house looked like, which rooms would stand in for what place, and how it would all work. Friends who did watch a lot of TV would tell us about a show, or we’d pick a book we’d all read, and we’d play Love Boat or Charlie’s Angels or Trixie Belden.

We were pretty limited in our range, much more so than many of our friends, but we did play in all the adjoining yards a lot. Kick the can, hide and seek, etc.

We had basic chores like cleaning our rooms, setting the table, unloading the dishwasher, and just generally cleaning up after ourselves, but we’d certainly weren’t pressed into indentured servitude or anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They were beaten. Also, even from a very young age, many many kids worked, either on the family farm or in factories. As young as age 3 and 4, doing very simple tasks.

In the 50s????

Yes, who do you think picked crops? Particularly in the south and California

[Anonymous]

Reading books...sports & riding bicycles with neighborhood kids...TV at night.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a rural home without any technology. We did a lot of reading. We played outside a lot - in the woods. We did a lot of imaginative play. We did puzzles and board games and card games. We biked around and played hide and seek and various other games. We created plays and games and did dress up and various other things.

[Anonymous]

We had a television. When I was little in was black and white. There were only four channels - ABC, CBS, NBC, and UHF. There was nothing on during the day. Cartoons were on in the morning and after school. No VHF tapes or CDs or anything like that. We played outside a lot. We played board games. I remember playing school. Lots of reading and lots of pretend play. When the weather was decent, we were outside riding bikes, going to the pool, playing in the creek, walking to the shoppette,..... I grew up on Army bases. We knew to come home for dinner when the cannon went off.

[Anonymous]

I read a lot of books, played with paper dolls and did puzzles.

[Anonymous]

Starting around age 5, we would roam the neighborhood. Then after we learned to read, many of us would also spend hours reading. Or learning something.

[Anonymous]

We are not allowing screens before age 5 . Out kids play board games, cards, build forts, tea parties, and run and play like crazy outside. Same thing DH and I did.

[Anonymous]

My brother fished ALL the time and made lures and his own plastic worms, he also worked on his car and his boat and he worked from an early age as a dishwasher. I was beachcombing, reading, playing store. A lot of imaginary play, dancing writing out lyrics to music, I could occupy myself for hours. I sewed clothes for my dolls I sewed for myself. I was a kid in the 70's but we didn't have a TV.

[Anonymous]

My parents would just send me outside and let me run free all over the neighborhood. Pretty sure someone would call CPS if I did that now (this was the 80s). I was expected to check in for meals and otherwise leave my parents alone. I also read a lot once I was old enough (my kids are 3 and 1.5 so not quite there yet).

[Anonymous]

We had a quarantine every summer because it was so very hot growing up in a hot country. We could not even play outside for fear of heat strokes. What did we do? We read a lot of books, listened to radio, painted, wrote, learned, played board games and cards, played music, put up theatre production in our drawing room, sang. If we were lucky enough to get 24/7 electricity and running water, we were ecstatic. No AC, no TV, no internet, limited water, limited electricity, no phone, no landline.

We have the conveniences today at our home that the royalties of yesteryear did not. We eat the kinds of foods that the emperors of old did not get to eat. We will survive.

You are the parent. You can tell them to read, exercise, learn how to clean and cook. In short, this is an amazing opportunity. You can sit feeling sorry for yourself or you can completely change your life.

[Anonymous]

If they don’t know any different they will figure out a way to amuse themselves. My kid (still only 4) played in her bed with her stuffed animals for an hour yesterday inventing some crazy story. Then built manga tile castle and stuck tiny figurines into it. Then sang a couple songs over and over and then drew pictures before dinner. After dinner she entertained her baby sister (letting her pull her hair) while I washed up. No screens.
She had her morning cartoon while getting dressed and that’s it.
I grew up with 15 min tops of cartoons per day since that’s what was available on tv (not the US). And no video games until college pretty much.

[Anonymous]

I think there was a lot more parental neglect. Older kids probably did a lot of the childcare. Kids told to go off and play or do chores. No one worrying about whether they were getting too much screen time or falling behind in math or reading.