What Gen X Got Right About Childhood

There is a particular kind of childhood that many Gen Xers remember. You went outside, found your friends, invented something to do and came home when you were hungry. There was no family WhatsApp group checking where you were, no smartphone quietly tracking your location and no YouTube tutorial explaining how to fix your bike. Somehow, you just got on with it.

Of course, nostalgia has a habit of polishing the past. Not everything about growing up in the 1970s and 1980s was wonderful, and plenty of things have improved since then. But there are some things Gen X genuinely got right about childhood, particularly the freedom to be bored, explore, make mistakes and work things out for yourself.

We knew how to be bored

This might be one of the biggest lost skills. Being bored wasn’t an emergency. You couldn’t instantly reach for a phone and disappear into TikTok, YouTube or an online game. If there was nothing interesting on television, you had a choice between watching something you didn’t particularly like or finding something else to do.

So you found something else. You messed about, went outside, looked through your bedroom drawers, annoyed your brother or sister or discovered that an old cardboard box could become anything from a spaceship to a fort. Boredom wasn’t necessarily a problem that needed solving. Quite often, it was the beginning of something.

We played outside

For many Gen X children, the world beyond the front door was the real playground. The street, park, playing field, woods, alleyway or patch of grass could become whatever you wanted it to be.

A football goal could be two jumpers. A tennis ball could become practically any ball required for the game you’d just invented. A couple of planks of wood could become a ramp, despite nobody having conducted the necessary safety assessment.

You learned to negotiate, make up rules, argue about the rules and then change them when you started losing. You learned to include other children, settle disagreements and carry on playing afterwards. Gen X didn’t necessarily know they were developing independence and problem-solving skills. They were just trying to get through Saturday afternoon.

We made our own fun

There was a remarkable lack of entertainment infrastructure when Gen X was growing up. There were fewer television channels, no streaming services, no smartphones and no endless supply of online content.

And yet we were rarely bored for long.

You could turn almost anything into a game. A bike wasn’t just transport, it was freedom. A football wasn’t just a football, it could provide hours of entertainment. A pile of cushions could become a fort, the garden could become an obstacle course and the local park could become an expedition.

The important thing was that adults didn’t necessarily have to provide the entertainment. Children could create it themselves, and that’s an underrated skill.

We learned to solve problems ourselves

If something broke, you didn’t immediately search for a replacement. You had a go at fixing it. Sometimes badly, sometimes with Sellotape and occasionally with something that definitely wasn’t designed for the job.

The same applied to everyday problems. You worked out how to get somewhere, figured out what time you needed to leave, remembered telephone numbers, read maps and asked somebody for directions. You learned that if you didn’t bring enough money, you couldn’t simply tap your phone and magically produce another £20.

There was a certain amount of practical independence built into everyday life. You had to think ahead because there wasn’t always an easy digital solution sitting in your pocket.

We had adventures without calling them adventures

A Saturday spent cycling around the local area could feel enormous. You might discover a road you’d never been down before, find a stream, climb a tree, explore somewhere you probably shouldn’t have been exploring or simply end up much further from home than you originally intended.

You might come home with muddy trousers and absolutely no useful explanation for where you’d been.

There was a sense that the world was something to explore rather than something to be constantly supervised. It wasn’t perfect, and some of the freedoms we had would understandably make parents nervous today, but there was value in gradually discovering what you could do for yourself.

We learned that friendships took effort

If your mate lived around the corner, you didn’t send them a message asking if they were free. You knocked on the door. If they weren’t in, you tried somebody else. If everyone was out, you went home.

Friendships were built face to face. You had disagreements and then, usually, got over them because you still wanted someone to play football with tomorrow. There was no group chat to leave dramatically and no ability to hide behind a username when things got awkward.

You had to deal with people in real life. That wasn’t always easy, but it was useful. You learned how other people reacted, how to apologise, how to compromise and occasionally when it was better to simply forget about an argument.

We weren’t constantly comparing ourselves

This might be one of the biggest differences between Gen X childhood and growing up today. There was no social media feed showing you what everyone else was doing. You weren’t looking at photographs of somebody else’s holiday while sitting at home, comparing your bedroom to somebody else’s bedroom or wondering why everybody else seemed to be having a better time than you.

You mostly knew what your mates were doing because you were actually there.

There was something quite liberating about that. You could have an ordinary day without feeling as though it needed to be interesting enough to photograph or impressive enough to share.

We understood that adults didn’t have to organise everything

There were organised activities, of course. Football teams, swimming lessons, Brownies, Cubs, youth clubs and school activities were all part of growing up for plenty of children.

But there was also a huge amount of unstructured time. You could simply be somewhere with your friends and work out what happened next.

That matters because children learn a lot when they have to make their own decisions. They learn to negotiate, solve problems, invent games and cope when things don’t go according to plan.

Gen X didn’t have a name for it. We just called it playing.

We appreciated small things

A new bike was a big deal. A cassette you really wanted was a big deal. Getting the latest computer game was a big deal. Finding a pound in an old coat pocket could transform your afternoon.

Going to the cinema was an event. So was getting a takeaway. Even a trip to the shops could feel exciting if it didn’t happen every day.

Because you didn’t have instant access to everything, things could feel special. You had something to look forward to, and anticipation is a surprisingly enjoyable part of life.

When everything is available immediately, it’s easy to forget how much pleasure there can be in waiting for something.

We knew when the day was over

There was a natural rhythm to childhood. School, home, tea, homework eventually, then perhaps some time outside before coming back when it started getting dark. There was television in the evening and then bed.

There wasn’t an app reminding you that you’d been outside for 47 minutes. There wasn’t a notification telling you to move. You simply knew that when the streetlights came on, or your mum started shouting your name, it was probably time to go home.

And if you ignored her for long enough, you discovered another important childhood skill: running.

We weren’t perfect, and neither was childhood

It is important not to romanticise everything. Some children had difficult homes, some were lonely and some experienced bullying, neglect or problems that adults failed to recognise. There were risks that perhaps weren’t taken seriously enough, and we didn’t have the awareness, technology or understanding that we have today in many areas.

Modern childhood has plenty of advantages. Children have access to information we could never have imagined, and technology can educate, connect and entertain. Parents can keep in touch with their children in ways that simply weren’t possible when Gen X was growing up.

The point isn’t that everything was better. It’s that perhaps we got some things right.

Maybe the real lesson is freedom

Perhaps what Gen X got right wasn’t simply the lack of technology. It wasn’t the rusty playground equipment, the three television channels or the fact that you could leave the house on a bicycle and disappear for hours.

It was the freedom.

Freedom to get bored. Freedom to make mistakes. Freedom to make your own fun. Freedom to negotiate friendships. Freedom to explore. Freedom to fail at something without everybody knowing about it. Freedom to have an ordinary afternoon that wasn’t photographed, recorded or shared.

Perhaps that’s the bit worth remembering.

Childhood doesn’t necessarily need to be packed with experiences. Sometimes the best memories come from having absolutely nothing planned.

A bike, a few mates, a sunny afternoon, a packet of crisps and nowhere you particularly needed to be.

Maybe Gen X didn’t have the perfect childhood.

But we certainly had some pretty good afternoons.

What do you think Gen X got right about childhood?