Rediscovering Lessons from Childhood: A Modern Perspective

Reading an article today, I ran into another one of those pieces that hits like a “yeah… that tracks.” It’s titled “Psychology says people who grew up in the 1960s and 70s learned 9 life lessons that are rarely taught today” by Farley Ledgerwood (dated January 25, 2026).¹

I’m not going to pretend everything was “better” back then. It wasn’t. A lot of what we survived, we shouldn’t have had to. But I can’t ignore how many of the lessons he lists line up with my own lived experience—especially growing up in a world where boredom existed, consequences were real, and adults were not a 24/7 customer service desk.

So here are my own highlights of the nine points—filtered through my memory, and through the lens of what I’m trying to do now: rebuild a life, rebuild direction, rebuild stability.

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1) Boredom was the birthplace of creativity

I can definitely relate to that. There were long stretches as a kid where nobody was “curating” my day. Not because no one cared—because that’s just how it was. You got told, “Go find something to do,” and you did.

Psychology actually backs this up: boredom can force the brain into planning, problem-solving, flexibility, and creativity—because you have to generate your own stimulation instead of consuming it.² And there’s research suggesting that boring tasks can increase creative output afterward (often through daydreaming and mental wandering).³

“Those long, empty afternoons forced us to create entire worlds from cardboard boxes and sticks.”¹

That line landed, because it’s true. And honestly? I think that ability to sit in silence without panicking is becoming a rare skill.

2) Failure was allowed to sting

Ledgerwood talks about not making a team and not being handed a fake trophy to patch the bruise. I get it. You failed, it stung, you dealt with it, and life moved on.

Now—here’s where I’m careful. I’m not pro-shame. I’m not pro-cruelty. But I am pro-reality. Resilience isn’t “never feeling pain.” It’s adapting through it.⁴

And the mindset we build around failure matters. Dweck’s work on “mindsets” is basically a formal version of what many of us learned informally: failure can be information, not identity.⁵

3) Waiting was simply part of life

If you wanted something, you waited—or you earned it—or you planned for it. That wasn’t a parenting strategy; it was the operating system of the era.

Even the famous “marshmallow test” is part of this conversation, but with an important modern update: later work found the long-term link between “waiting” and outcomes shrinks a lot when you control for early environment and family context.⁶ Translation: patience matters, but so do resources, stability, and trust.

Still, the core point holds for me: waiting trained endurance. And endurance matters when life is not cooperating.

4) Unsupervised play was the norm

Unsupervised play used to be standard. Not because parents didn’t care—because the world worked differently, and we were expected to be capable.

I remember hopping on my bicycle and vanishing for the day. We lived near farmland—hundreds of acres. There was a creek running through the property. We’d pack a lunch and disappear into the back forty like it was normal (because it was). And we’d come back around sundown.

There’s real research arguing that independent activity and free play help develop mental well-being and competence, and that the decline of independence has costs.⁷ Not because danger is good—but because autonomy builds skills you can’t download from an app.

5) Adults weren’t always available

Adults had their own lives. They weren’t there to solve every problem, smooth every edge, or manage every emotion in real time. We learned to self-start.

From a psychology lens, this overlaps with autonomy and competence—basic needs that shape motivation and confidence.⁸ You don’t develop “I can handle this” if you never have to handle anything.

6) We witnessed real consequences

We saw death. We saw grief. Pets didn’t “go live on a farm.” Funerals weren’t hidden behind polite lies. We learned early that loss is part of life.

And while that sounds harsh, there’s a difference between hiding reality and helping a kid process it. Even pediatric guidance today emphasizes honest, age-appropriate conversations about death and grief as healthier than confusing euphemisms or avoidance.⁹

7) Resources were limited, so we got resourceful

Money was tight. So you got creative. You fixed things instead of replacing them. You patched jeans. You made do.

I watched my father do plumbing, foundations, repairs—because paying someone else wasn’t always an option. And even if he didn’t sit me down and “teach” me, the lesson still transferred: problems are solvable if you stay present and get your hands into them.

8) We learned by doing, not by being told

This one is huge. We learned by watching and by doing—trial, error, repetition. That’s experiential learning in plain language: knowledge built through experience and reflection, not just instruction.¹⁰

And we learned values through modeling—by watching adults handle pressure, conflict, money, work, grief. Observational learning is real; we copy what we see, not what we’re told to memorize.¹¹

9) Community was a safety net

This one might be the most “lost” right now.

When I was a kid, if the neighbor saw you doing something stupid, they corrected you. They didn’t ask permission. They didn’t worry about a lawsuit. They stepped in because you were part of the neighborhood—not a separate, sealed unit.

Sociology has language for this: social capital (the networks, norms, and trust that let people cooperate)¹² and collective efficacy (social cohesion plus willingness to intervene for the common good). Communities with higher collective efficacy tend to have less violence and better social outcomes.¹³

It really does take a village—but only if the village is allowed to exist.

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So what do I do with this now?

I’m not interested in nostalgia as a religion. I’m interested in extracting what’s useful.

Because when you’re rebuilding—from a collapse, from a loss, from a life that got knocked sideways—these nine “old lessons” aren’t cute memories. They’re tools:

• Comfort with boredom (I can sit with myself without running).
• Failure tolerance (setbacks hurt, but they don’t end me).
• Patience (some things take time, and time isn’t an insult).
• Independence (I can figure things out).
• Reality contact (life has consequences, so choose wisely).
• Resourcefulness (constraint forces invention).
• Learning-by-doing (motion creates clarity).
• Community (nobody makes it alone—no matter how tough they act).

If anything, the question isn’t “Can we go back?”

The question is: How do we rebuild the best parts—intentionally—without recreating the harm?

Godspeed.

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Footnotes

1. Farley Ledgerwood, “Psychology says people who grew up in the 1960s and 70s learned 9 life lessons that are rarely taught today” (January 25, 2026). Source. ↩
2. Child Mind Institute, “The Benefits of Boredom” (updated November 13, 2024). Source. ↩
3. Sandi Mann & Rebekah Cadman (2014), “Does Being Bored Make Us More Creative?” (Creativity Research Journal). PDF. ↩
4. American Psychological Association, “Building your resilience” (Jan 1, 2012). Source. ↩
5. Carol S. Dweck (2019), “Mindsets: A View From Two Eras” (Perspectives on Psychological Science). Source. ↩
6. Tyler W. Watts, Greg J. Duncan, & Haonan Quan (2018), “Revisiting the Marshmallow Test…” (Psychological Science). Source. ↩
7. Peter Gray, David F. Lancy, & David F. Bjorklund (2023), “Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Well-being” (Journal of Pediatrics). Source. ↩
8. Richard M. Ryan & Edward L. Deci (2000), “Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation…” (American Psychologist). PDF. ↩
9. American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org), “How Children Understand Death: What to Say When a Child Grieves” (June 26, 2024). Source. ↩
10. Toronto Metropolitan University, “Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle” (overview of Kolb, 1984). Source. ↩
11. Matthew J. Fryling et al. (2011), “Understanding Observational Learning…” (Behavior Analysis). Source. ↩
12. Harvard Kennedy School, “Social capital: Predicting an epidemic of loneliness…” (Putnam definition/explanation). Source. ↩
13. Robert J. Sampson, Stephen W. Raudenbush, & Felton Earls (1997), “Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy” (Science). PDF. ↩