If you are a kid who was born anytime during the '90s, you don’t need to be reminded how your childhood was different than the kids who are growing up today. A lot of young kids and young teenagers today think that the time period they are growing up in now is WAY better than how we had it. I mean think about it. They have iPhones, tablets, social media, and almost every form of technology that can make their lives easier. We all know this because we are all using it and were a part of it later in our lives and still are. But really think about it. What if you grew up with all of these things as early as elementary school? The reason this thought scares me is because I couldn’t have dreamed of a better 12-year childhood from 1995-2007. So, to all of us '90s kids, here is a little reminder why being born in the '90s gave us the best childhood a kid could ask for.

I cannot stress enough how amazing it was growing up in a time when playing outside and exploring anything and everything was a part of our daily lives. Finding a playground and spending time playing on it for hours was our idea of fun. Playing the “don’t step in the lava” game -- I mean, come on? It doesn’t get much more imaginative than that. Imagination is almost not a thing today with kids. Remember playing sports outside with your friends and family? I mean personally, I will never take for granted those great times after dinner when my entire family would play wiffleball or football together with no other obligations or things to distract us from quality family time together.

For us '90s kids I feel as if family time together was valued more. When we got home from school we didn’t have all these means of communication to immediately connect us with our friends right after we left them at school. Instead, this time after school was spent just being with your family and having a life outside of the school where you had to wait until the next day to see everyone. It may sound crazy, but it made at least my time at school more cherish-able. It was great to go in the next day to see my friends because we had so much more to talk about having been apart physically and technologically.

Speaking of friends, being born in the 90’s meant that the time that we did have with our friends was extremely special. Conversations would always happen face to face and the nonexistent various social media would not be there to get in the way of this. Kids today will never know the process of trying to make plans with your friends. We actually had to call their house on the landline (not to mention find their numbers in the school directory or telephone book). Some younger kids might think, how is that an advantage of 90’s kids? To have to go through so many steps to even call up a friend? Here’s why. When we called up a friend a lot of times their parents would answer and we had to say the classic line, “Hi Mr./Mrs. (fill in the blank), can (insert friend’s name) come over/out to play?” This is when kids actually formed relationships with their friends' parents and parents knew all of their kid’s friends. Maybe it’s just me, but there was something oddly nice about this fact because it made me feel like my friends were more like family than just people I hung out with at school.

Let’s take a little break from why growing up without this advanced technology made the '90s and early 2000s the best time to grow up in and jump right into some of the great things that this time period had to offer in general.

First thing’s first…our TV shows! If you are anything like me and often times turn on Nickelodeon or Disney Channel to see what the kid shows are like today, I’m almost positive you will be horrified by the low quality and ideas of the children’s shows on television today. Not to say there is necessarily anything wrong with them, but they just don’t have that comedy, sentimentality, and originality that the television shows we grew up with did. Although it still plays today, "Drake and Josh" will forever be the funniest kid’s show that we grew up with. Not to mention all of those memorable shows that made us laugh and smile from "Rocket Power," "Dragon Tales," and "Courage the Cowardly Dog" to "Lizzie McGuire," "All That," "The Amanda Show," "Even Stevens," "That’s so Raven," and "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody." Then you had my favorite show of all time from the '90s: "Boy Meets World." The lessons I learned from Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and most of all, Mr. Feeney, I still take with me today. You just can’t recreate the shows that we all had if you were born in the '90s. I mean really? "Dog With a Blog?"

Who needed technology when you had all of the crazy fun throwback toys of the '90s? First, we had the outdoor toys like the Razor Scooter, Pogo Sticks, and much more. I’m almost certain if you weren’t outside doing tricks on your Razor Scooter, you didn’t have a proper childhood.

Secondly, let’s all take a minute to reminisce of some of the best toys we had. Who doesn’t remember the famous Tamagotchis that taught us responsibility (to an extent of course)? Game Boys and Nintendo 64s were all the rage and they were honestly our Xbox’s and Nintendo Wii’s, and let me tell you, they were great. Bop It, Easy Bake Ovens, Etch a Sketch, Magic 8 Balls, Super Soakers, Furbies, Candy Land, and everything in between are things that when I look back on I get the greatest feeling of nostalgia and am glad those were my forms of entertainment.

Don’t get me wrong -- I am in no way bashing kids that grew up in the world we live in now or the technology that we have today. Honestly, it is great that we have come so far and developed all of these things that we all enjoy. The reason this topic is something so important to me is because being in college and knowing the real world is only a couple of years away, it’s normal to look back on our childhood and want to be back there. Being born in the '90s has given me an amazing time to look back on when I get nervous about starting my adult life. Yes, I still take a look at my old Pokémon cards, jump on a Razor Scooter, and play my Gameboy Color from time to time. Having all of these simple things that made me and I’m sure everyone else happy is what makes me appreciate having all of this technology now. So to all of you other 90’s kids, never take for granted some of the little things that made the way you grew up so memorable.