There are a lot of things about growing up in the early 2000s that I don’t necessarily want to bring back.
Low-rise jeans? Absolutely not.
Having to wait until the next morning to find out what happened on your favorite TV show? Questionable.
The fact that we somehow survived without Google Maps? Honestly, impressive.
But there are also so many little pieces of my childhood that I look back on now and think, I really want my kids to experience this.
Not because everything was better before smartphones or because I’m determined to make my kids live like it’s 2003. I just miss some of the simple, silly, wonderfully ordinary things that made childhood feel like childhood.
So here are 20 things from my early 2000s childhood that I secretly hope my kids will love as much as I did.
1. Saturday morning cartoons
Waking up early on Saturday because you knew your favorite cartoons were waiting for you.
No streaming. No choosing from 400 different shows. Just whatever was on.
I want my kids to know the joy of getting cozy on the couch in pajamas with a bowl of cereal and watching cartoons simply because it’s Saturday morning.
2. Making friendship bracelets
Embroidery floss, questionable knots, and bracelets covering every inch of your wrist.
There was something so satisfying about spending an afternoon making something for your best friend and then immediately making one for yourself.
Bonus points if you still have absolutely no idea how you managed some of those patterns.
3. Playing outside until someone called you home
There was no location sharing.
No text saying, “Where are you?”
You just went outside.
You rode bikes. Played tag. Wandered around the neighborhood. Made up games. And eventually someone yelled your name from the porch because it was time for dinner.
I want my kids to have a little bit of that freedom.
4. Sleepovers that involved absolutely nothing
A sleepover didn’t need an itinerary.
You could spend six hours talking, eating snacks, watching a movie, making prank phone calls you absolutely should not have been making, and laughing about something that wasn’t even funny.
Sometimes the best memories are the ones where you weren’t actually doing anything.
5. Disposable cameras
You took the picture and had no idea if it was good.
You couldn’t immediately check it.
You couldn’t edit it.
You couldn’t take 47 versions until everyone looked perfect.
You just took the picture and waited.
And then getting the photos developed felt like opening a tiny time capsule.
6. Movie nights with actual DVDs
Picking out a movie was an event.
You’d browse the shelves, read the back of the case, argue over what to watch, and then spend five minutes trying to figure out where the DVD remote disappeared to.
And yes, I want my kids to experience the little thrill of hearing:
“Please insert Disc 2.”
7. Making ridiculous playlists
Before Spotify could create a playlist for you, you had to do the work yourself.
Burning CDs. Making mix CDs for friends. Carefully choosing which songs made the cut.
And the ultimate form of affection?
Making someone a playlist and giving it a very dramatic title.
8. Gel pens
I don’t know why we were so obsessed with gel pens.
But we were.
Metallic. Glitter. Neon. Probably scented.
And somehow every notebook, journal, birthday card, and homework assignment became an opportunity to use one.
I fully support bringing this one back.
9. Decorating your school supplies
A plain notebook simply would not do.
You needed stickers.
You needed doodles.
You needed colorful pens.
You needed your name written in approximately seven different fonts.
Today we might call it personalization. Back then, we just called it making your stuff look cool.
10. Mall trips
The mall wasn’t just somewhere you went to buy something.
It was somewhere you went.
You wandered around. Looked at things you couldn’t afford. Got food. Went into stores just because they were there.
And if you had enough money for a little something from Claire’s?
You were basically rich.
11. Scholastic book orders
There was nothing like getting the Scholastic catalog at school.
You’d circle everything you wanted and then bring it home hoping your parents would approve at least some of it.
Then came the glorious day when your order arrived.
It was basically Amazon Prime, but with a teacher handing you a paper bag.
12. Making forts
Blankets.
Pillows.
Dining room chairs.
The couch.
Anything that could possibly support a sheet became part of the architecture.
And once the fort was built, it didn’t matter what you did inside it.
You had a fort.
You were set.
13. Calling your friends on the phone
There was something exciting about calling your friend’s house and having to ask their parent:
“Hi, may I speak to Sarah?”
No texting.
No Snapchat.
No sending someone a meme and waiting for them to react.
You actually had conversations.
And sometimes you had to leave a message.
Terrifying.
14. The AIM away message
Okay, maybe my kids don’t need to experience this one.
But I do want them to understand that there was once a time when your entire emotional state could be communicated through a cryptic away message.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Some people.”
“Listening to that song.”
We were dramatic little philosophers.
15. Playing board games
Not every family activity needed a screen.
You could sit around the table and play Uno, Monopoly, Sorry!, Clue, or whatever game had somehow survived being shoved into the closet for five years.
There were arguments.
There was cheating.
Someone inevitably flipped the board.
And somehow everyone still wanted to play again.
16. Going to the library
The library was an adventure.
You wandered around looking at books, found something you wanted to read, checked it out, and brought it home.
No notifications.
No autoplay.
Just books.
I want my kids to know what it’s like to find a book they love and get completely lost in it.
17. Riding bikes everywhere
We rode bikes for fun.
To a friend’s house.
Around the neighborhood.
To the corner store.
Sometimes with absolutely no idea where we’d end up.
I want my kids to have memories of scraped knees, bike rides, sidewalk chalk, and coming home sweaty and exhausted.
18. Making up games
We didn’t need an organized activity.
We could make one up.
The driveway became an obstacle course.
The backyard became a kingdom.
The couch became a spaceship.
The possibilities were endless because nobody was handing us a list of things to do.
I want my kids to be bored enough to invent things.
19. Being excited about the little things
A new CD.
A trip to Blockbuster.
A sleepover.
A new pair of shoes for the first day of school.
A magazine.
A trip to Target.
There was something special about not having constant access to everything.
When something new came along, it felt like a big deal.
I want my kids to experience that kind of excitement.
20. A childhood that wasn’t constantly documented
This might be the biggest one.
I have thousands of pictures of my kids on my phone.
And I love that.
But sometimes I think about growing up when most moments weren’t photographed, posted, shared, or saved somewhere forever.
You could have a completely ordinary Tuesday afternoon and never take a picture of it.
And somehow those are the memories you still remember.
I want my kids to have some of those, too.
The silly memories.
The boring memories.
The messy memories.
The ones that don’t make it onto Instagram.
The ones that exist only because we were there.
Maybe I don’t actually want my kids to have an early-2000s childhood.
I don’t want to take away everything modern about their childhood. I like being able to text them when they’re older. I like having a camera in my pocket. I like streaming movies without rewinding a VHS tape.
But I do want to give them pieces of the childhood I remember.
More afternoons outside.
More forts.
More board games.
More books.
More sleepovers.
More boredom.
More little traditions.
More experiences that don’t require a screen.
Because maybe the thing I miss most about growing up in the early 2000s isn’t the specific stuff.
It’s how ordinary life felt like enough.
And that’s the part I hope my kids love, too.
Leave a comment down below and let me know your favorite part of your childhood that you’d like to share.
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