Shawn Robare, the author of one of my favorite retro themed websites.. Branded in the 80s touched upon a point in his most recent article, that I've been pondering on lately. He talked about how even though he was a child of the 80s, there were a lot of things about the 1990s that felt very much like his experiences when he was younger. This is exactly the way I feel for a few different reasons. 
I've used the tag line 'Child of the 70s, 80s and 90s' for myself on different social media platforms from time to time over the years. I say this because I was born in 1970, so I experienced my childhood through both decades of the 70s and 80s. My son was born in 1990, so I kind of never stopped enjoying a pop culture generated for kids. I would buy him toys and action figures that we would play together with for hours on end. I also watched cartoons and kids programming with him that in turn led us to go out and buy more toys geared towards those properties. 
To be honest, I could even push the envelope farther and say I was like a big kid for much of the 2000s! When the Star Wars prequels hit, my son became interested in that fandom, and it was like I was living my whole childhood over again (but this time with an expendable income). When my daughters were born, I watched more cartoons and kids programming, and had a blast doing so with them. Nickelodeon and Disney programming ruled our Television during that time for sure.People I've known in the past, have thought it was kind of weird for me to know so much about the cartoons and shows that my kids watched. Kids I work with are truly taken back that a guy their parents age, knows the pop culture from when they were young, backwards and forwards. My bride asked me once, how can you stand watching all those kids shows? I told her "Sure they are packaged for kids, but who do you think is writing them? It's people around my age. I can see through the fluff and simplicity to find the humor and entertainment value in it. In some cases, the comedy really does speak to me".
Here's a short list of some shows I inadvertently got hooked on because of my kiddos:
- Batman the Animated Series
- Disney Afternoon Shows
- The Adventures of Pete and Pete
- Legends of the Hidden Temple
- Hey Arnold
- Doug
- Rugrats
- Eerie Indiana
- Are you Afraid of the Dark?
- Adventure Time
- Regular Show
- Drake & Josh
- Spongebob
- Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
- Teen Titans (Not Teen Titans GO)
- The Amazing World of Gumball
In turn, I also got my kids hooked on a few shows that I am a fan of..
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 (My son is an absolute mega fan now)
- Disney's Zorro
- Jonny Quest
- Death Note (Anime)
- Svengoolie
- ANYTHING Star Wars related
- The Office
- Parks and Rec
- Curb your Enthusiasm
While I definitely have an affinity for the decades of the 80s, 90s, and 1st decade of the 2000s.. I feel like I'm pretty well versed in pop culture from the 60s to present day. My friends always enjoyed having me on their bar trivia teams, to do cleanup when it came to arts and entertainment questions. On occasion, they would praise me for my knowledge of random facts, and I'd just laugh and tell them I was born with a brain that was wired to collect and store useless information. If there's something that entertains me or I geek out over, it gets locked away in the old memory banks. If its something I have no use for, or detest.. I can easily wipe it from the hard drive, freeing up valuable space.
As a kid I lived a bit of a stressful childhood, but always felt at peace when I could play with my toys, enjoy my favorite television shows, or simply read a book. A lot of people forget how to de-stress and reconnect with their inner child. Stress isn't something that I can turn off like a switch, but the conduit for me to do so is definitely always there. I can usually easily get back to that childlike zen state, by doing things I love like collecting, writing, reading, biking, and several other hobbies I enjoy.
This blog has been a lifesaver during this pandemic, serving as a pressure release valve of sorts. I do however want to write more articles soon about my love of the recent past. Keep an eye on this space if retro pop culture is your thing!