Childhood Archives : Page 2 of 3 : The Retro Network

3 Throwback Outdoor Toys That Rivaled Classic Video Games

Outdoor play through swing sets, jungle gyms, and seesaws offers superior child development benefits. Learn how these classic toys provide physical activity.

Nintendo: The Console That Changed Everything

Mickey Yarber

When the NES arrived in 1985, it didn’t just revive a collapsed industry. It transformed living rooms into playgrounds, introduced unforgettable heroes, and sparked a gaming revolution that reshaped childhood and American pop culture forever.

Remembering Hills Department Store

Mickey Yarber

Hills wasn’t just a department store. It was toys, popcorn, Christmas magic, and family tradition. This deep dive explores its rise, its fall, and why generations still feel a powerful nostalgia for the place where memories were made.

The Legacy of Goosebumps: How R.L. Stine’s Scary Stories Became a Generation’s Gateway to Horror

Mickey Yarber

In the early 1990s, Scholastic took a gamble on a series of spooky chapter books aimed at middle-grade readers. What followed was a publishing phenomenon that would haunt bookstores, school libraries, and Scholastic Book Fairs

When the Trapper Keeper Was King

Mickey Yarber

In the neon glow of the 1980s, few school supplies carried as much cultural clout as the Trapper Keeper. More than just a binder, it was a symbol of organization, self-expression, and status…an accessory that

Choose Your Own Adventure Is Bringing Back the Magic With the Retro Box

Walter King

For anyone who grew up flipping pages and making split-second decisions that could lead to treasure, time travel, or total disaster, Choose Your Own Adventure books were more than stories, they were experiences. Now, thanks

A Day in the Life of a 90s Kid

Mickey Yarber

There were so many great things that made the ’90s memorable and fun to grow up in. But since there were so many memorable things, we took them for granted, and rarely “stopped to smell

Summer Reading Program, Day 1: A Boy, A Mouse and Your Own Adventure

Eric Vardeman

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a series of books from my childhood on the Retro Network VIP Slack channel and asked if anyone had heard of the series. Somewhat surprisingly, nobody had heard of

Summer Reading Program: A season full of books

Karen Flieger

When Eric announced his idea for this series, I was very excited. Books have always been a big part of my life. My mom always read and the library was a frequent errand for us.

Summer Reading Program, Day 2: A Lion, A Witch and Several Investigators

Eric Vardeman

The summer of 1982. I’m twelve and it’s the first summer that I’m really allowed to just ride my bike all over the place. My friends and I would usually take off mid-morning and explore

Summer Reading Program, Day 3: A Galaxy Far, Far Away…

Eric Vardeman

I’m a child of Star Wars. I saw the original trilogy in the theaters starting at age 7. I had all the action figures and a lot of the toys. I had shirts and pajamas

Summer Reading Program, Day 4: S.E. Hinton and The Life of A Dog…

Eric Vardeman

Ninth grade me had a huge crush on an tenth grader in my Biology class. She was blonde, cute and very flirty. So when I found out that she was a library aid during my

Summer Reading Program, Day 5: Death, Time, and Fate

Eric Vardeman

By the time I hit tenth grade, my penchant for reading had slowly been replaced with a new hobby: playing guitar. It’s all I did in my spare time and recreational reading fell by the

Downhill Daredevils

The Retro Network

Like many other kids growing up in the 80s, the holidays were a huge deal to me. Christmas was the big one as it lasted a whole month, and Thanksgiving served as the kick-off to

Summer at the Rec Center

The Retro Network

Following my parents’ divorce in 1993, my father was transferred to the Naval Training Center in Orlando, Florida. He took custody of my brother and me and we relocated to the city of every kid’s

The Summer Of Batman: No Batdancing at Boy Scout Camp

Jason Gross

The summer of 1989 was truly one of the most memorable times for movies. I was 13 and can vividly remember watching many films in the theater, five in particular that were released in June.