We make the kids watch really old movies…it’s Friday Night Flicks here and we are forcing them to watch the 1985 teen comedy Better Off Dead.

I mean, who doesn’t want to know exactly the right tone of voice to use when you say “I want my two dollars…” As if the kids today even know what a paper boy is, let alone a newspaper.

They also have no recognition or knowledge of: 

• Howard Cosell
• A time when people thought bacon was bad for you
• The word “bodacious”
• Geeks or nerds being called such as a term of ridicule
• Outright bullying amongst high schoolers (um, wait, maybe that still happens)
• Mail order cereal box prizes
• Muscle shirts and short shorts (on boys)
• Feathered hair
• Floral wall paper
• Station wagons
• Tab

So through vintage movies, and some classic John Cusack comedy, these are the ways to teach them about concepts that aren’t actually really old, just kind of before their time. Oh, and apparently, their word for it is “cringe” – which is pretty much the same thing it felt like in the Eighties – we just didn’t call it that.
~ Dawn aka Hat Girl