Growing up, I had the things that most kids had. We had no computers, no video games, TV was 3 or 4 channels…but we had fun. One day, when my youngest (twins) were about 11, they had been hooked on video games in a big way. But they came to me telling me they were bored. I told them to go do something. They said they didn’t know what that might be and asked what I did when I was a kid. I told them about the things I listed above that we didn’t have, but that we hiked in the woods, rode our bikes all around, climbed trees, created games, threw footballs and baseballs and had pick up games, we caught praying mantis’ and snakes and frogs….we used our imaginations. By the end of that summer they were going on long bike rides, playing basketball and throwing the football…went out for football in school…etc. They turned their lives around. Video games were still played, but really only as a last resort. It made them really much happier and they took on a lot more responsibility. So my childhood experiences really helped me raise my children.