Dad recalls how easy it was for 90s kids to make friends compared to today's generation

In today's virtual times, people are finding it hard to make friends and real-life connections. Kids in modern times don't have huge friend groups or outdoor activities they can indulge in with their peers. A dad named Owen Squires recently highlighted the issue by giving the example of his two young daughters. Squires—who goes by @owen_squires on TikTok—had a shocking realization that "the village" from the '90s is gone. “Tell me that I'm not the only one experiencing this and I'm not just like a bad parent,” he asks the audience.

He says in the video, “My daughters have very few friends like they don't have any other kids to play with. After school or on the weekends they just follow me around the house, like, ‘Dad what should we do now?’” His daughters are aged 4 and 5 respectively and it isn't healthy for them to not have friends. The dad is concerned and compared it with his childhood in the 90s.

“But dude, I grew up in the ‘90s, right? I made a best friend. I still talk to this guy to this day. I met him when I was four years old. He lived at the bottom of my street. I had another friend that I played with who lived right across the street. I don't see any kids out in our neighborhood ever,” Squires reveals. “I had eight cousins that I grew up with. We hung out constantly. Or all of my little friends from school. We just rotated who was gonna hang out at whose house over the weekend. One of my parents would drop me and my brother off. We would order a big pizza and get blockbuster movies. We'd play hide and seek," the dad shares.

"I can't help but feel like those days are gone," the dad says. "Like sleepovers, are you kidding me, like nobody does sleepovers anymore?" The dad feels that sleepovers are not safe anymore. He wouldn't trust anyone with his kids except if he knew the person very well. “What? Am I supposed to knock on somebody's door here? I f****** made you a pie. Can my kids play with your kids? I don't know. I don't really know any of the other parents from their school," he adds.

"Like, do I call them and be like, ‘Hey, can your kid come hang out at my house?’ It just sounds creepy. With the way society is now, do you want me to come drop my kid off at your house? Maybe it's a dad thing? I don't know. Like does anybody else relate to this? Like what are we supposed to do? The village is gone!" Squires concludes by sharing his frustration with the internet.

People took to the comments section to share their experiences with kids and friendships. @gypsy_love_36 wrote, "My kids are the same way. No friends. You can't trust people today. Sad but true. Can't let your kids go out and play alone, no sleepovers, no babysitter." @mrsthomas90 shared, "I sent virtual and paper birthday invitations for my 4-year-old's party to her class and a few other friends, not one single person came to her party. Not. One. We both cried."

On the other hand, @rowan1313130 commented, "My kids are the ones that usually have the friends over. The word got out that I’m not weird and wake up with a houseful of teen boys now all the time." @jessie.cae felt this was a more big city thing and said, "We have sleepovers at our house. We live in a small town and while it’s new to us I definitely feel safer than when we were in a huge city."

You can follow Owen (@owen_squires) on TikTok for more parenting content.