Anonymous wrote:8 pages of this thread and no one has mentioned the fact that we, the generation that had this freedom and TV bliss, are now the parents who are forcing our kids into this rat race of enrichment and specialization and stress. How did we get here? If we're all so nostalgic for how it used to be, shouldn't we collectively be pushing to return to those simpler times? Yet, every other thread on here is about how your kid's unweighted GPA has to be over 500 just to get into clown college. Ugh.

Anonymous wrote:A few people have mentioned encyclopedias. I also looked through encyclopedias. There is much more reading material available to kids today, but when I was a kid we had encyclopedias, atlases and dictionaries. Plus the occasional Judy Blume book. I remember enjoying laying on the floor, studying world maps, reading through the dictionary, reading old copies of Washington Monthly and Time magazine. I did this when I was bored of TV. I watched hours and hours of TV - soap operas, day time talk shows.

No kid would do this today.

Anonymous wrote:I watched soooo much tv.

And now dcum is my entertainment. So I guess I did screw up somehow

But hey I own property and have a job and positive net worth

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Anonymous wrote:PP, we weren’t allowed in the house let alone, watching TV all day. Even if we did, we didn’t have cable so 4 channels (and only 1 TV).

What! Everyone I know watched tons of TV. We were latchkeys kids. Parents worked. We had the house to ourselves. I watch Oprah every day after school, plus hours of MTV. I had my favorite TV shows- Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place on Wednesdays. Friends, Seinfeld on Thursday’s. When I was younger I watched hours of TV on weekend mornings, plus evening TV with Cheers, Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who’s the Boss…I could go on and on…

I also read a ton, and spent time exploring with friends. I never had a tutor and didn’t do any extracurriculars until high school.

I agree that education was also better, with the exception of math, sciences and engineering, which are clearly better now.

+1. I watched all of those shows and you could watch MTV for hours. I also liked reading so I read a lot. I did not do any tutoring type of extracurriculars, just one sport.

I think you're too young for this conversation then. Melrose place was in the 90s, I was an older teen when it came out, not a kid. Kids in the 70s and 80s weren't watching it. Same for MTV most of us didn't have cable for a long time in the 80s. Kids of the 70s/80s weren't doing this. You are a different generation.

I was born in 1972 and I watched a LOT of TV. As a little kid, I watched Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo, Electric Company and a couple of others (including a great one with two hippie chicks on swings) twice a day. I started watching General Hospital every day after school before Luke and Laura got married. Then there was Donohue and Sally Jesse afterschool. Nightly news every night (plus at noon at 10, if I was home/awake). I had a 2-3 hour block of prime time that I watched basically every night. Muppets and Little House and the Osmonds and Love Boat and Mash and Different Strokes in the 70s. Into the 80s, there was Family Ties, Cosby, Cheers Murder She Wrote, Silver Spoons, Magnum PI, Moonlighting, Remington Steele, Scarecrow and Mrs King, Kate and Allie, Newhart, the A-Team, Gimme a Break, Dynasty, Knight Rider, Benson, Quantum Leap, Star Trek TNG. I even watched Married with Children and the Fox lineup when it premiered in the late 80s. Most people I knew had MTV starting in the early 80s, and had that on pretty much constantly (who else remembers the Prince video for Red Corvette?) -- basic cable was pretty cheap, and there was a TON of stuff on TBS, USA and TNT, including reruns of the old Star Trek and Twilight Zone, I Dream of Jeanie, Gilligan's Island and all the great old Cary Grant, etc., movies.
Man, the late 80's were like the Golden Era of Television. There was SO MUCH good stuff! Now I'm lucky if I can find one show a year that's watchable on Network TV. I went to a top ranked college and an Ivy league graduate program, so I don't think the TV damaged my brain too much.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up with plenty of "enrichment," but it looked a lot different than dropping kids off at Kumon.

TV was limited (not sure why "unlimited TV" is assumed to be a given). Lots of books, reading and visits to the public library. Outdoor sports and play each afternoon. Board games, puzzles, and "boredom" that led to creative thinking, exploring, and artistic endeavors. Looked up information in the encyclopedia and used the card system at the library to search for information. Read books every evening before going to bed.

Curiosity was encouraged and our dinner conversations ranged from the day's events to world news, science, business, politics, family history and funny stories.

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Anonymous wrote:…succeed in life? Not being snarky, I’m just trying to understand. When I was young, children just watched TV and had no academic “enrichment” outside of perhaps an instrument and a sport. Certainly no Kumon or academic acceleration. They went on to have successful careers and great lives. Were standards lower? Are children going to be a lot smarter because of screen time limits?

Teacher here. Standards were lower. I went to kindergarten in 1980. It was easier then the pre-k is now at my public school. We learned to write our name, one letter each week, counting to 10. That’s pretty much it for academics. It was a half-day and that included a nap time. Now, students are expected to do so much more. I would’ve been far below grade level entering kindergarten if I started now.

That's the same today. Letters are expected in Kindergarten. Earlier than that is just preview exposure.

You are seeing UMC ultra competitive parents, not different developmental standards for children.

Anonymous wrote:When I was a kid in the 80s, every child that attended our public elementary had a very good chance of emerging a strong reader and speller with a command of math facts. If you were precocious you were tracked into a gifted program that achieved much more.

Now it’s hard to guarantee *anything* even at privates. Parents have to be involved to ensure a decent outcome.