re: What experiences from your past would you bring back for today's kids if you could?

Building ramps out of scrap wood, then jumping stuff on our bikes….

Surge and Starter jackets.

Halloween being safe, and for them. Whether they were nice little kids who were just trick-or-treating, or mean kids like us that had neighborhood water balloon wars every Halloween.

Being able to have empty lots without fences around the neighborhood. One owner of one kept his mowed all summer so we could play baseball on it. Playing ball with your friends was 10K times more fun than playing a Little League game. Especially if it was your neighborhood against another one. Today's society is too litigious for that. Some a-hole parent would sue the owner if her baby broke a leg. Their Insurance company probably makes people sue landowners today.

Just riding a bicycle anywhere you wanted to. Our parents had no idea where we were on a given summer day. We knew when we had to be home for supper, We stayed out of trouble if we did that. It was OK to ride across town to play sandlot baseball or football, or to just hang out at a park all day. The only thing we did on our bikes that our parents didn't want us doing was riding all over town at 2:00 am on a night we were 'camping out' at someone's house. We would always ride our bikes by the police station on the Attala County courthouse square.

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pick-up offseason baseball games at the baseball fields.

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A kid can learn a lot about true competition in such an environment.

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A kid can learn to love the game playing like that.

The fields aren't available now days. Either someone has signed their organized team up to practice on it, or it's locked up. Where we played Little League games was open for kids to play anytime there were no games scheduled. They were adjacent to a huge park that had an area big enough for sandlot football games and tennis courts. It was way across town, but we rode our bikes, parked them against the fence and forgot about them until time to go home. Nobody stole them.

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Fireflies on a summer night. When they would light up the sky no matter where you lived.

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Last summer my brother and his family came down. His kids are like 8 and 10.

I suggested taking some jars outside and catching fireflies. They looked at me like I was an alien. It was actually sad.

I should have turned off the wi-fi and told them it was broken.

Fun factory

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What experiences from your past would you bring back for today's kids if you could?

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Monoculture events like The Beatles and Jaws.

70s AM radio.

Pictures without filters

Communicating and interacting in-person (no texts, emails, social media)

Playing outside

Having to use your imagination to prevent boredom

Delayed gratification

Not knowing every opinion and life detail of acquaintances, friends, and family

Listening to every song on the album because you can’t skip ahead

Spending uninterrupted quality time with friends and family without cell phones or computers

Being unreachable, and people not expecting instant responses

iwyLSUiwy was the first person I knew with an iPhone. I didn't get my first one until 3 years later at 27 years old. Total gamechanger. I don't think I could get my kids a smartphone until they could legally drink.