I am a proud, card-carrying member of Generation X (1965 – 1980), that independent, pragmatic, adaptable, honest, skeptical and loyal generation with the best music (and you know it).

For those of us born female, those of us now possibly experiencing a variety of software updates, including spontaneous human combustion (and approximately 65 other symptoms…who’s to know because, as Farideh says, we’ve never studied the female body), this time might be a bit more spicy. It is possible that I may be experiencing a wee bit of rage and hostility these days.

So, to explore the warm fuzzy bits of my childhood, my husband and I journeyed down south to Cheshire Connecticut, the home of the Barker Character Comic and Cartoon Museum. This small museum is filled to the brim with 80,000 items, the private collection of Gloria and Herbert Barker, including toys, lunchboxes, and Pez dispensers (too many items to list). It has a little something for every generation, including my own (say hello to Smurfs, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, Matchbox cars, and the timeless Barbie). We met the docent John, who was spouting rabbit ears for the upcoming holiday, and roamed the aisles, in search of our childhood memorabilia.

As Isam Archad points out in his article “Nostalgia Toys are Making a Big Comeback,” a growing sect of consumers, labeled “kidults” are driving a new market, reliving their pasts by purchasing the classic and retro toys of their childhood. 

I too have recently become a “kidult” after my husband found a Smurf lunchbox online (a cool birthday present). I also stumbled across some toys of my childhood at antique fairs, and shops: a wooden beagle pull toy, a Nestle Quick rabbit cup, and the most random, a rubber 1960’s blue station wagon, which I used to play with in the sandbox my dad built for us. These toys serve as a connection to the pleasant aspects of childhood, the time we would play for hours in the backyard, those moments when we slipped into our own imaginative world, creating stories as we rode our banana bikes through the neighborhood, or dressed our Barbie dolls.

There were the times when we weren’t at school, learning long division or grammar, the moments when anything was possible. We were fashion designers, police officers, horse trainers, or race car drivers, not children with little to no agency. The toys we played with and the music we listened to, triggered intense memories, often of those moments when our identities were formed. When I hear Men at Work or Bon Jovi, I am instantly transported to the moments I was dancing for the sheer delight of it. Likewise when I stumble across a Strawberry Shortcake doll at an antique store, I am transported to quiet moments, when my sister and I would play on the front porch.

These time-capsule catalysts allow us to feel young again, to arrive into our past lives, the lives before we had to buy pricey health insurance and pay taxes. Yes, all was not strawberry-scented, but there were some positive moments tucked in between temper tantrums and puberty. Having a shelf of the toys from my youth brings me joy, it allows me to look fondly upon my past, despite the difficulties. So if anyone has a vintage Strawberry Shortcake doll (yes I know they have new ones available) or My Little Pony, hang onto them. Us “kidults” are on the hunt for portals to our past.