25 Surprising Things That Only Became Cool In Adulthood, According To These Folks Online

The journey down memory lane is often peppered with moments of nostalgia, and for the members of the Reddit community, a recent question sparked a delightful trip back to their childhoods. On the subreddit r/AskReddit, an inquiry was posed: “Adults of Reddit: What’s something you experienced as a kid that you did not truly appreciate how cool it was until your adult years?”

#1

Image source: Damnmoref**kingsnow, Daiga Ellaby

Walking around town without adult supervision and no one bothers you or calls the authorities.

#2

Image source: Yummy_Chewy_Scrumpy, Anastasia Shuraeva

Growing up on a farm and participating in 4H. So many kids today completely lack any sense of where their food comes from, why we need to be humane ro animals or why it’s so good for the mind to be outdoors! Not to mention the built in work ethic and sense of responsibility and accomplishment that comes with raising animals and doing physical tasks.

#3

Image source: Atlantic_Nikita, K. Mitch Hodge

I’m from europe and in the middle of the woods near my village there is an abadon monestary from the XV century, it’s a huge place. We would play hid and seek there. It’s an amazing place but for us was just a good place to play.

#4

Image source: 14_lbs, Kat Smith

Showing livestock. I was embarrassed about it as a kid and especially as a teen. Looking back, it’s pretty badass that I was able to halter-break, groom, and show 1,200 pound steers as a kid.

#5

Image source: Joggingmusic, Szymonek Pograniczny

The early stages of the internet. It felt like I was part of a secret club. The vibe of it felt much more underground and it had a ton of variety.

#6

Image source: Limp_Pick2843, Kelly Sikkema

Energy to do s**t. The older the more I miss it.

#7

Image source: drgloryboy, cottonbro studio

3 months of summer vacation

Growing up without a cell phone or social media.

#8

Image source: Xylrean, Artem Podrez

Falling asleep somewhere, like in the car, and waking up in my bed.

#9

Image source: ZTH-Yankee, Eduardo Soares

When I was a little kid (probably around ~5-6 years old), there were a few times when I was riding my bike around the neighborhood in the afternoon and my dad happened to see me while on his way home from work. We would always “race” back to the house, and I thought I was the fastest biker ever because I would always win even though my dad was in his car.

After a while, I completely forgot about this. Then, when I was 18, my dad was teaching me how to drive stick in the exact same car he had when that happened, and I happened to drive past a kid about that age on a bike. Suddenly I remembered those “races” again, and at the same time I realized that my dad had been revving the engine in neutral.

#10

Image source: Alive-Singer-3432, Alyson McPhee

Coming home after school and having almost no responsibilities. In fact, we were not even allowed in the house until dark because we got in the way! Now I get home after work, and I still have so much to do. I would love that feeling again.

#11

Image source: amahler03, Stefan Vladimirov

Eating meals at the table with the whole family, using food grown in our garden. Majority of my childhood friends were raised this way so i didn’t see the value in it until i left my small town for college and realized that it wasn’t the norm in a lot of households. Now I really appreciate the time and conversations my family had during meals.

#12

Image source: elle_bison, Providence Doucet

Eating whatever you want.

#13

Image source: ClownWar2022, Chris Liverani

When I was about 10 years old, I lived next door to a guy who played for the Pittsburgh Penguins. (This is in Massachusetts)

One spring morning, I was playing hockey in the driveway with my friends. Pro hockey playing neighbor comes over to play with us. He was so nice/cool to us. We gave it everything we possibly had, against him, while he wasn’t even close to trying. At one point, he took a slap shot that ripped a few seams in my street hockey net. (Worth it.) He also put a dent in the wooden back stop we had behind the net. He stopped after that, because it was as loud as a gun shot and he didn’t wanna disturb the neighbors. We were all checking him, hitting him, roughing him up, trying to fight him, etc. and he did a good enough acting job where it kinda seemed like what we were doing was actually semi-effective.

That night, the Penguins had a playoff game against the Bruins, in Boston. Neighbor was an absolute animal that night. He hit everyone who dared to touch the puck, scored a goal, nabbed an assist, got in a fight and eventually got ejected from the game. At the old Garden, the away team had to walk past the Bruin’s bench in order to get to their dressing room. When hockey neighbor went to pass by the Bruin’s bench, he got into it with the guy at the end and absolutely manhandled him. When a resulting brawl broke out, the camera zoomed in on neighbor who was terrifyingly angry and talking trash. (I could see his mouth form the words “F**K YOU! YEA YOU! F**K YOU!” as blood leaked from the bridge of his nose.) A seriously intimidating individual at 6’5, 250lbs.

In looking back, it’s absolutely insane to me that he went from my driveway to my TV screen and that my friends and I also “fought” him earlier that morning.

#14

Image source: OptimisticByChoice, Jep Gambardella

When I was five or so I was throwing a tantrum. So my dad locked me in his room and let me tire myself out. Once I was quiet, he’d walk in and calmly ask “are you ready to talk?”

The first couple times I baited him and just went back to the tantrum.

The last time, after I was thoroughly disheartened, he explained to me the importance of thinking things through rather than emotionally.

The lesson stuck.

#15

My dad had an airplane and I lived on a farm and he would buy a bag of candy and rain it down in the field for me and my cousin to find.

Image source: Charisma_Cat

#16

Image source: -eDgAR-, Sean Benesh

I’ve shared this before, but it is a very important thing I realized I did not appreciate until I was an adult.

When I was a kid my dad and I had a tradition every week of going to the video store and renting a movie or two to watch together. I remember I used to get really upset at him because every single time we’d actually start to watch the movie he would fall asleep.

It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that the reason he would fall asleep was because he was exhausted from working two very physically demanding jobs to try and give me the best life he possibly could. On top of that, even though he was tired he still made an effort to try and start a little tradition with me and spend time with me.

Those memories of me having to nudge my dad awake are so great in my eyes, because they made me realize what a caring and hard working man he was and still is to this day.

#17

Image source: Alexastria, S&B Vonlanthen

Remember how you use to feel waking up on Christmas day? And now Christmas is just a holiday we save up for and worry about what to get people and hope we didn’t forget anyone. I miss the stress free Christmas.

#18

Image source: PutnamPete, Sherzod Max

This might sound stupid or boomerish.

When I was a kid -1960s- every town had its own stores for everything. Local shoe shop, local sporting goods store, local five and dime, non franchise gas stations, local one-screen movie theater. Every town was a little, local economy.

Then the malls killed it all. Now the big box stores are killing them.

Progress?

#19

Image source: anon, Vidal Balielo Jr.

Having loving & kind parents, and a happy family unit who genuinely enjoyed each other and had great holidays together.

Seemed normal to me but reading reddit makes it seem so unusual.

#20

Image source: Truebetold, Antoni Shkraba

Having a functional body.
Having free fun time.
Making friends easily.

All of these were a given for me, until it becomes no more a given.

#21

Image source: Local-Lychee-9016, Klaus Nielsen

Home cooked food. Every day.

#22

Image source: Felinomancy, abdullah karataş

Waking up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday to play video games for a few hours before watching cartoons.

I mean, I can do that now. But it just lacks a certain charm as an adult.

#23

Image source: alli3rae, Myles Tan

Just being a kid in general. All I ever wanted to do was grow up.

#24

Image source: MadClam97, Airam Dato-on

Not only making friends easily but always getting to hang out with them easily because of school. As an adult, it’s difficult finding the right time to hang out with one friend, let alone several.

#25

Image source: Vanhollander, Nicole Michalou

Family gatherings.