If you are between the ages of 50 and 70, chances are you share a common memory: trudging to school through snow, ice, and temperatures that today would trigger three emergency alerts and a press conference. And yet… we went.

Today, snow is predicted, and by 8 p.m. the night before, schools are already closed. Sometimes for a whole week. Sometimes because it might get cold. Possibly. Eventually. Which raises an important question: Were we tougher back then, or were we just mildly frozen?

When we were kids in the ’80s and ’90s “school cancellation” was an extremely rare and magical event. It usually required at least a foot of snow, winds strong enough to relocate barns, and possibly a blizzard named after a president. Even then, there was no guarantee. We woke up early, turned on the TV, and stared intensely at the scrolling school list. If our district didn’t appear, we sighed, layered up, and headed out anyway—often in boots that leaked, coats that were “water-resistant” in theory, and gloves that mysteriously disappeared every January.

Waiting for the bus was its own extreme sport. We stood in snowbanks, stamped our feet, blew on our hands, and pretended not to notice our eyelashes freezing. Somehow, no adults seemed concerned. Today, if a child is exposed to single-digit wind chills for more than 90 seconds, three agencies are notified. Back then, our parents just said, “You’ll be fine. The bus is coming.” And usually, it was.

Despite what we sometimes like to think, modern kids are not weaker. They are just living in a different world. School transportation now covers larger areas, meaning longer waits in more remote spots. Safety standards are higher, and districts must consider frostbite risk, road conditions, power outages, and liability concerns. If there’s real danger, administrators would rather cancel than take the risk—which, honestly, makes sense, even if it hurts our “we walked uphill both ways” pride.

Another big change is forecasting. When we were kids, weather reports were basically: “Snow. Maybe. Good luck.” Now, administrators can see storms coming days in advance. They know when roads will ice and when wind chills will drop dangerously low. So they cancel early. It’s practical, even if it’s deeply disappointing to parents who already made coffee.

No, most of us did not lose fingers at the bus stop. But we were definitely colder than we admit. We just didn’t have social media to document it. If Instagram had existed in 1982, it would have been full of posts like, “Day 47 of winter. Can’t feel my toes. Send help.”

Yes, schools close more often now. Yes, it sometimes feels excessive. And yes, we survived worse. But we also didn’t have seatbelts in every car, helmets for every sport, or sunscreen in every backpack. Progress often looks soft—until you realize it’s mostly about keeping kids safe.

Still, we’re allowed to miss the thrill of waiting for our school name to scroll by. And we’re definitely allowed to mutter, “Back in my day…” Because some traditions should never disappear.

~Article by Dan Miller