Remember how great life was back when your biggest worry was making it home before Mum called you in for tea?
Those days of grazed knees and chasing after the ice cream van’s chimes feel like another lifetime now. Somewhere between council tax bills and meal planning, we started missing those endless summer holidays in the back garden. Now we’re buying Freddos that cost five times more than they used to, and somehow they’re not quite as massive as we remember. Ugh. Here are some of the things that make you miss being a kid — and who could blame you?
1. Break time sweets
Counting out your copper coins at the corner shop after school, calculating exactly how many foam bananas you could get for 50p. The shopkeeper would wait patiently while you changed your mind seventeen times about which penny sweets to pick. That little white paper bag felt like holding treasure, even if it only lasted until teatime. Every sweet shop visit was an exercise in advanced mathematics and serious decision-making.
2. Woolworths pick ‘n’ mix
The holy grail of weekend shopping trips with your nan. Strategically filling your cup with the heaviest sweets at the bottom, trying to cram in as many cola bottles as physically possible. The paper bag leaving sticky fingerprints all over your coat on the bus ride home. That specific smell of Woolies that you can still remember even though it’s been gone for years.
3. Summer holiday freedom
Source: Unsplash Six weeks felt like an eternity of possibilities and Calippo-stained t-shirts. Running through the garden sprinkler because British beaches were too far away. Playing out until your mum’s voice echoed down the street calling you in for tea. Your knees permanently scabbed from falling off your bike, but nobody really cared about a few scrapes.
4. The ice cream van’s arrival
That familiar chime sending kids sprinting home to beg for a pound coin. The agony of choosing between a Twister or a 99 with a Flake. Sticky fingers racing to catch the drips before they reached your elbow. The van’s visit turned any regular day into an event worth celebrating.
5. Saturday morning telly
Fighting with your siblings over the remote before Live & Kicking or SMTV Live. Watching Dick and Dom in da Bungalow while eating Coco Pops straight from the box. The theme tunes you can still sing word for word twenty years later. Those two hours of TV freedom before being told to go outside and get some fresh air.
6. School dinner puddings
Pink custard and chocolate sponge that no homemade version has ever matched. The dinner lady who’d sneak you an extra helping of sprinkles on your sprinkle cake. The pure joy of seeing turkey dinosaurs on the menu. That specific metallic taste of the plastic dinner trays that somehow made everything taste better.
7. Playing out protocol
The sacred rules of knocking for your mates — two knocks and step back from the door. The complicated relay of messages when someone couldn’t come out because they hadn’t finished their homework. The specific spots where everyone would meet without ever having to arrange it. The unspoken understanding that when the street lights came on, time was up.
8. Corner shop crisps
Monster Munch multipack flavours they don’t even make anymore. The thrill of finding a Pokémon tazo or football sticker in your Walkers packet. Space Raiders that actually cost 10p like they were supposed to. Trading crisp packets with your mates because somehow theirs always looked better than yours.
9. Blue Peter makes
Collecting toilet roll tubes and washing-up bottles like they were precious materials. The sticky mess of trying to recreate Tracy Island with papier-mâché. Never quite achieving the same results as the ones they showed on TV. That brief period where your creations sat proudly on display before quietly disappearing into the recycling.
10. Holiday anticipation
Butlins or Haven felt like visiting another planet entirely. The excitement of picking which swimming costume to pack even though it was definitely going to rain. Counting down the days on the calendar with increasing drama. That feeling when you spotted the holiday park sign from the car window after what felt like days of travelling.
11. Sports day drama
The egg and spoon race was treated with Olympic-level seriousness. House colours worn like battle armour onto the field. Parents lined up along the track with their massive camcorders. The year you finally won the sack race felt like your greatest life achievement.
12. School disco preparation
Glow sticks and glitter anywhere it would stick. Practising dance routines to Steps and S Club 7 in your bedroom. The drama of who would dance with who during the slow songs. Those plastic cups of orangeade that somehow tasted better than any drink since.
13. Holiday homework denial
Promising yourself you’d definitely start it in the first week of the holidays. The rising panic as September crept closer and closer. The Sunday night scramble to complete something that should’ve taken six weeks. That relief when you discovered half the class hadn’t done it either.
