Today is National Retro Day. Every year on this day, we’re given official permission to look backward, shake our heads, and confidently declare that things were better back then. This unofficial but widely loved observance celebrates nostalgia in all its glory—old-school fashion, classic music, rotary phones, and the sacred phrase that has launched a thousand eye-rolls: “Back in my day…”
National Retro Day didn’t start with a big committee or a government proclamation. Like many of the best ideas, it grew organically out of our shared love for the past—and our collective inability to stop talking about it. It recognizes the styles, trends, habits, and “common sense” of earlier decades, even if we conveniently forget how inconvenient, confusing, or uncomfortable some of those things actually were.
In other words, it’s a holiday tailor-made for dads… and especially stepdads.
Because if there’s one thing stepdads excel at (besides assembling things without reading instructions), it’s bridging generations. We’ve lived in a world before Wi-Fi, during dial-up, and after kids decided phone calls were emotionally invasive. We remember life before Google—and somehow survived.
So in honor of National Retro Day, let’s take a walk down memory lane. Try not to throw your back out.
Back in My Day… A Collection of Timeless Truths
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Back in my day, summer break meant disappearing.
We left the house in the morning, came back when the streetlights turned on, and no adult had any idea where we were—as long as we were alive and mostly clean. -
Back in my day, if you missed a TV show, you missed it. Forever.
No recording. No streaming. No “I’ll just watch it later.” If you weren’t back on the couch when the show came back on, that scene was gone—no rewind, no mercy, just a missing sock. -
Back in my day, we memorized phone numbers.
Not two. Not three. All of them. Friends, relatives, neighbors, and the one emergency number written on the fridge “just in case.” Today, if a phone battery dies, half the family is legally considered missing. -
Back in my day, we drank water from the hose—and lived.
Not filtered. Not flavored. Just cold, metallic, and slightly terrifying. -
Back in my day, “Be home when the street lights come on” was a complete safety plan.
No texts. No check-ins. Just vibes and a general sense of direction. -
Back in my day, jeans were tougher than most modern appliances.
You could fall off a bike, climb a fence, and slide into second base in the same pair. Now they tear if you look at them wrong. -
Back in my day, “screen time” meant sitting too close to the TV.
Every adult within a 20-foot radius was convinced it would permanently ruin your eyesight. Meanwhile, today’s kids stare at a phone for six straight hours and still pass an eye exam. -
Back in my day, phones were attached to walls.
Which meant private conversations were impossible—and everyone in the house knew your business, especially if the cord stretched suspiciously into another room. -
Back in my day, when the phone rang—and you answered it.
Even when you didn’t know who it was. The bravery was unmatched. -
Back in my day, we didn’t need everything to be “smart.”
If the fridge talked back, it was broken. - Back in my day, being bored was considered a character-building exercise.
And nobody tried to fix it for you.
Why Retro Still Matters
National Retro Day isn’t really about saying the past was perfect. It wasn’t. But it was formative. It shaped resilience, creativity, and a kind of problem-solving that didn’t involve searching for answers online.
For stepdads, it’s also a reminder that shared laughter builds bridges. When you laugh about the past—your past—you invite kids into your story. And when they laugh with you (even reluctantly), connection happens.
So this National Retro Day, feel free to embarrass your stepkids just a little. Tell the stories. Make the jokes. Defend the hose water.
Because one day, they’ll say it too.
“Back in my day…”
Maybe one day, Snoop Dogg will take over hosting a senior cruise. He’ll perform old favorites like “Who Am I (What’s My Name?)”—tastefully adjusted for the senior crowd—along with “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (though “lukewarm” will probably be more accurate). And “Gin and Juice” may need a few creative substitutions.
The dancing will be enthusiastic but cautious—because the only thing more dangerous than twerking is realizing your body no longer recovers like it did back when summer meant disappearing until the streetlights came on.
And that’s how you know you’ve gone full retro.
What’s your go-to “back in my day” line?
Share it in the comments—and see how many eye rolls you earn today.
