Wishing my child could have had the same kind of childhood I did

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When I was a kid, I always said that when I had kids, I'd do some things differently. I wanted some things to be different, and I have made some things different. I have very few pictures from my childhood, and I knew that I wanted to capture all of the moments of my son's childhood. I am bad at putting them in albums, but my son has more pictures from the first year of his life than I probably have from my entire childhood. I never got to do any extracurriculars outside of band, which I didn't even want to be in, but somehow got stuck in it when all of the other art choices were filled. My son got to do some extracurriculars, but he didn't and doesn't care to do most of them. He enjoys his free time. He got to do day camps and scouts. I never got to do anything as a kid because my dad wanted the days free to do things. Of all of the things I said I wanted to do differently, what I failed to realize is all of the things that I wish I could have done the same. I wish I could have given my son the freedom I had as a child. I wish I could have given my son the opportunity to grow up in a small town with a big yard and neighborhood kids to play with. We moved to a small town when he was already 10, and we didn't know our neighbors. We moved here around the time of the lockdown, so kids weren't allowed to play together. I wish my son had the same kind of hands-off freedom I had. I wish we lived in the same kind of world I grew up in, but we don't. Things are done differently. People don't know their neighbors. We knew some of our neighbors in our apartment complex, but they were all older, and there weren't a lot of kids just outside playing. My son was one of the few kids who got to go outside and play in our complex. He used to ride his bike or scooter on the sidewalk and play with chalk on the sidewalk. We would bring outdoor toys out to the yard by our patio. There were few children his age in our complex. When we moved to where we are now, I had hoped he might get to have children to play with, but then we were all in lockdown, and eventually he just didn't care to go outside and play. I wish he could have experienced the kind of childhood I had. I wish he got to hang out with his friends more often. I wish that now that he is in his teens, he could hang out with his friends at the mall, but the mall barely has anything in it. They don't have enough for teenagers to do in my area. When I was growing up, we all went to the mall or hung out downtown. We rode our bikes around town and would find things to do. My son doesn't have the same kinds of opportunities. I wish he could have that. I wish he had more of a social life. I hate that his idea of a good time is hanging out in his room playing video games with his friend on the phone. My son is very into retro stuff and is often jealous of the kind of childhood my husband and I had. I wish he had more of the opportunities my husband and I had as children and teenagers, but so many of the things we did aren't options for him. We live in a digital world. My town has had so many things taken from it thanks to so many things moving online. I love technology, but it has its place. I wish we still had a lot of the things that were around when I was a kid. To this day, whenever we travel anywhere, I find a bookstore and a toy store. I no longer play with toys, but it still brings me joy walking around them for a reason I can't quite figure out. I remember when my son was little, I bought him Don't Wake Daddy from Toys R Us. I was so excited to walk into Toys R Us because I seldom got to go into one when I was a kid. I bought my son the one game I always wanted and never got as a child, which, by the way that game was actually kind of terrifying. It was kind of like a Jack in the Box and Perfection all wrapped up into one. I remember telling my now ex-friend (not over this incident, but it honestly should have been a red flag) that I got my son, who was maybe three at the time, this game and he went on and on about how he bought his daughter things SHE wanted, not that HE wanted, as though this was the only thing I was getting my son. I informed him I wasn't only getting my child things I wanted; I got my son the things he wanted, and then I threw this game in when I saw it because I was at Toys R Us buying something HE wanted and I couldn't find anywhere else, and I saw this game and couldn't resist. I see nothing wrong with wanting to share something from my childhood with my son, who actually LOVED the game; I, on the other hand, jumped every single time this thing jumped up at me. I love the idea of sharing parts of my childhood with my son. He loves when I share things from my childhood with him. I think it's great when you can let your kid be who they are while also sharing things you enjoy with them, and sometimes they really love the things you share with them. I love when my son shares things he loves with me too. We have both found a lot of similar interests because we share our interests with each other. It's a great way to bond with your child. Seeing my son light up when I talk about my childhood makes me wish all the more that he could have had the kind of childhood I did.