54. From Lawn Darts to Legos: How Play Has Changed

🎙️ Hot Flash Chronicles – Episode: From Lawn Darts to Legos: How Play Has Changed 🪁🧸🎮 From drinking out of the hose to iPads at Applebee’s, let’s talk about how childhood play has evolved—and what we miss most about it

In this nostalgic and hilarious episode, Angie and Shelly swap stories about what it was like to grow up before screens ruled everything. From lawn darts and swing set injuries to Easy-Bake Ovens, sticker wars, and Barbie dramas, they compare the wild freedom of 70s and 80s playtime with the structured, screen-filled world kids grow up in today.

🧒 What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

🎯 The Dangerous Toys We Survived – Lawn darts, Tonka trucks made of actual metal, and swing sets that weren’t cemented down

🧁 Easy-Bake Ovens and Spirographs – How a lightbulb cake could take hours, and why drawing endless loops was weirdly satisfying

🚲 Neighborhood Adventures – Riding bikes until the streetlights came on, building forts out of plywood, and mud pie masterpieces

📺 Saturday Morning Cartoons – When the highlight of the week was cereal box prizes and cartoons you couldn’t watch on demand

🚬 Cigarette Runs for Mom – The handwritten note that let an 8-year-old buy smokes at the corner store (yep, really)

🧩 Board Games and Imagination – From Yahtzee and Barbies to turning playgrounds into battlefields, why kids back then had to invent their fun

📱 Then vs. Now – Screen time, instant entertainment, and why being a parent today is both harder and more complicated

💬 Survivor’s Bias – Why “we turned out fine” isn’t always true—and why every generation does the best they can with what they have

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💬 What did YOU play with as a kid? Were you a Barbie-and-board-games type? A mud pie chef? A lawn dart daredevil? Share your childhood play stories—we love hearing them.