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10 laughably inconvenient things from the '90s that absolutely no one misses

Thank goodness we no longer have to talk to random people in the house when calling a friend.

90s; nostalgia; humor; funny; inconvenient
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Inconvenient things from the '90s no one misses.

There are always stories about how great the '90s were, but actually, when compared today, they were many things that were pretty inconvenient. Sure, you got to roam the streets doing who knows what for who knows how long while your mom watched an "Unsolved Mysteries" episode on all the ways you could be kidnapped. But you also couldn't just pick up your cell phone and ask if dinner was ready or if you could get another 15 minutes outside. The notion of inconvenience in the '90s had one Reddit user asking people what they don't miss from the decade of neon and cassette tapes.

The question turned out to be a fun twist on the old rose-colored glasses nostalgia that generally happens when we reminisce on decades past. Personally, I don't miss having to talk to random people in someone's house when I call to talk to a friend. If we're being completely honest here, I don't miss actually having to talk on the phone. Text me, please and thank you because if you call me I will absolutely stare at my phone until it stops ringing and then text to see why you called. It's nothing personal, I just prefer very little human contact. People can be very peopley, but what were other people's gripes?

Photo by Taras Zaluzhnyi on Unsplash
1. Trying to plan your own route with an actual map

Man, it feels like we were once pirates. Blue, pink and yellow lines zigzagging across a map of your state or worse, the entire country if your road trip was taking you out of state, just seems reckless now. Sure, if there's ever some sort of crazy apocalypse and Siri is no longer yelling at us for making wrong turns, map reading will come in handy. Until then, "Hey Siri, give me directions to the children's museum."

2. Not having a quick way to look up random trivia

The younger generations will never know the annoyance of wondering something with no answer for literally days until you make your way to the library to research it. Imagine for a moment having a question and instead of walking your fingers over to the Google, you have to put on real pants and go to the library, look through the card catalogue then search the aisle for the title of the book you need that holds this secret knowledge. The whole thing just sounds exhausting.

3. Missing your favorite television show

Remember when you missed your favorite television show and … you just missed it. That's it. There was no watching it later unless you had a VCR that could record, otherwise you had to wait until the summer for the reruns. Sometimes missing one episode of a show ruins the whole show because you missed a key piece of information.

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4. Actually having to leave your house to rent a movie

No. Just, no. Getting fully dressed to wander the aisles of your local Blockbuster or Hollywood Video to read the back of empty movie boxes only to come home to watch a crappy movie you feel obligated to watch, does not sound like a good time. People in the '90s really liked leaving the house.

5. Needing to keep a pocket full of change

There would be plenty of people confused if their parents handed them a handful of coins because they were going out, but it was how we had to live. You either had quarters to call home or you left really fast messages after the beep of a collect call meant for you to leave your name. Plenty of parents got the "mompickmeupthemoviesover" messages, then promptly hung up the phone without accepting any charges.

6. Not being able to use the phone and internet at the same time

The only internet was dial-up in the '90s and it was a fickle beast because internet was still new and shiny. Not only did you have to wait for your connection to load with that god-awful sound it made, but you couldn't use the internet if someone was yapping on the phone. The absolute frustration that came with the early years of internet would be enough to make someone's head explode today.

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7. Blowing into game cartridges and consoles to get them to work

You just want to play Street Fighter and the dang thing won't work, so you do what any kid in the '90s did, you start blowing the dust out of it. I've heard this doesn't actually do anything, but it certainly did something when I was a kid because after blowing your hot Dunkaroo breath in it, the game miraculously worked.

8. Discmans that didn't fit into your pocket

When CDs came out it seemed that they were a game changer. You no longer had to re-spool your unraveled tape with a pencil because it kept getting stuck in your boom box, but CDs came with their own problem. They scratched easily and the portable music player was too big to fit into your back pocket like the much smaller Walkman that played cassette tapes.

9. Having no idea what your pictures looked like before printing them

Developing pictures was really the wild west in the '90s. Would you get a cool close-up of you and your friends, or would you get a blurry picture of your thumb? It was anyone's guess. Taking a million pictures and hoping for the best was really the only strategy because Polaroid cameras were too big to carry everywhere.

Photo by Marissa Lewis on Unsplash
10. Hoping that someone would be home to answer the phone

There was nothing worse than being ready to leave some place or having your car break down only to dig through your pocket for a quarter to put in the payphone just for no one to be home. How wild is it to think about that now? Someone had to literally be inside their home to receive a phone call.

It's truly amazing how quickly we adapt to things as humans. While most of the things on the list are little annoyances, it goes to show how far we've come with technology and convenience. We have really embodied the term "work smarter, not harder."

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Dad's heartfelt lunch message shows how simple, everyday acts can change lives

You can make a huge difference by using O Organics.

via Meg Sullivan (used with permission) and Canva/Photos

A volunteer hands out food in a food bank and Meg Sullivan shares her dad's kind gesture.

When we consider people who have had a positive impact on the world, we often think of those who have made grand gestures to improve the lives of others, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Greta Thunberg, or Mahatma Gandhi. Unfortunately, that type of effort is out of reach for the average person.

However, O Organics would like to remind everyone that they can positively impact the world through small, consistent acts of kindness that add up over time. Much like how a small creek can create a valley over the years, we can change lives through small, consistent acts of kindness.

O Organics is dedicated to the well-being of all by nourishing people everywhere with delicious organic foods grown by producers who meet USDA-certified organic farming standards.

Upworthy's Instagram page recently posted a touching example of everyday kindness. Meg Sullivan shared how her father, Tom, peeled oranges for her lunch just about every day from kindergarten through high school. But on the final day of her senior year of high school, he sent his 17-year-old daughter unpeeled oranges with a touching note about how she’d have to start peeling them for herself.



“It’s Time Baby Girl,” he wrote on a wikiHow printout on how to peel an orange with a drawing of himself crying. For the father, this daily ritual was about more than just making lunch; it was about showing that he cared by going the extra mile. “I could have put money on her lunch account,” Tom told Today.com. “But it’s one of those little things I thought was important, that she knows somebody’s taking the time to take care of her.”

The small, daily gesture taught Megan an essential lesson in kindness.

The post reminded people how their fathers’ small acts of kindness meant so much to them. “My dad peeled my oranges until I graduated high school, too. Now, I peel my daughter’s oranges and will for the next 7 plus years,” Katie wrote in the comments. “Love this. My dad peeled mine, too. When I moved out, he gave me an orange peeler gadget,” Mary added.

o organics, albertson's giving backO Organics has a wide array of foods and flavors covering almost everything on your shopping list.via Albertson's

Did you know that every time you go to the supermarket, you can also change the world through small gestures? O Organics not only allows you to feed your family delicious and nutritious organic food, but each purchase also gives back to help people and communities facing food insecurity.

Through contributions from customers like you, O Organics donates up to 28 million meals annually. The company’s contribution is essential when, according to the USDA, 47.4 million Americans live in food-insecure households.

O Organics has a wide array of foods and flavors covering almost everything on your shopping list. “Over the years, we have made organic foods more accessible by expanding O Organics to every aisle across our stores, making it possible for health and budget-conscious families to incorporate organic food into every meal,” Jennifer Saenz, EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer at Albertsons, one of many stores where you can find O Organics products, said in a statement.

O Organics now offers over 1500 items, from dairy products such as eggs and milk to packaged meats and breakfast staples such as cereal bars, granola and oatmeal. You can also enjoy affordable organic produce with O Organics’ fresh salads and fruit.

Everybody wants to make the world a better place. With O Organics, you can feed your family healthy, organic food every time you go to the market while paying it forward by contributing to the company’s efforts to end food insecurity nationwide. That’s a small, daily gesture that can amount to incredible change.

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Parenting

Mom shares 4-part secret to making her home "the house" for her son and his friends.

Con: They eat all your food. Pro: You'll learn to know and trust the people they spend their time with.

hi.im.amywhite/Instagram

I grew up in "the house." In high school, my home was the designated place where my friends gathered, sometimes in big groups, sometimes just my small core squad. My three best friends spent the night there almost every Friday and/or Saturday night for four years straight. We devoured Totino's frozen pizzas by the dozens, inhaled soda, and laid waste to any snacks or leftovers that were brave enough to exist somewhere in the kitchen. Not only that, but my house was pretty small — four teenage boys took up a lot of space in the living room (the whole thing) and made a lot of noise playing video games deep into the night. It must have driven my parents and older brothers crazy. It's a wonder anyone put up with it.

Or, so I thought when I was younger. When I became a parent myself, I started to understand a little more why my mom and dad were so willing to host and feed me and all my friends every single weekend. Why the outrageous grocery bill and constant chaos in the house was probably a small price to pay.

One mom has perfectly encapsulated why turning her home into "the house" for her son and his friends was so valuable and exactly how she did it.


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Amy White shared a reel on Instagram showing her college-aged son hanging in her dining room with a group of friends playing cards. The text overlay reads "What makes your kids high school friends want to come over, play cards & spend the night on their College Christmas Break". I think most parents can agree that we want our kids to keep coming home as long as possible! So how exactly did White pull this off?

Her explanation in the caption was spot-on.

First, White says that you have to start early. Become "the hang out house" in high school or even earlier. Then you have a better chance of holding onto the mantle into your kid's college years.

Next, be ready to stock the house with snacks and drinks, and don't make a fuss when your kid's friends have at it. "The kids knew we had food," she writes, "BUT they also knew I didn't care what they had. They knew they could eat anything in my pantry and fridge."

Third, and this is a big one, don't mistake being the "cool house" for being "the house." Some parents choose to allow their underage kids and friends to drink alcohol under their supervision, but you don't have to bend your morals and the law to lure the squad over to your place. Pizza and Coke is plenty to keep most teens happy. "We were not the house that served alcohol or even allowed the kids to bring alcohol to our house. And Guess What?? The kids still came and wanted to hang at our house!"

Fourth, always say Yes (as often as possible, anyway) when your kids want to have friends over. "They know my answer is 99% of the time YES," White writes. "You have to have your kids take the leadership of offering your home and if your home was 'open' to their friends in high school, they know it will be 'open' to their friends in college."

As a bonus tip, White pleas with parents not to worry about the mess having friends over makes. "I love a clean house and organization, BUT I would much rather have a crazy messy house for the kids where memories are made than a quiet house with nothing going on just to keep my house 'clean.'"

White writes, "It's worth being 'the house', so let go of control & get to know your kids friends." Commenters agreed.

White's video went viral to the tune of 8.5 million views and hundreds of comments. Parents shared their own experiences of what it's like being the default hang out house.

"Our house was the high school hangout for my son and friends... every weekend... I loved it!! Miss it now that they are all college graduates and have moved away. I love seeing them when they do come home for the holidays"

"A wise man once said don't be the house with the alcohol. Be the house with the food."


Teenagers will ravage your kitchenMichael Richards Eating GIFGiphy

"Amy 1000% agree!!! My house is full of teenagers on the weekends and I love every bit of it. Even though I wake up to a kitchen that looked much different from when I left it"

"we never allowed alcohol, drugs, bad language, always respectful, and guess what, our house was always the house where the kids hung out. First my daughter, then my son. Through grade school, high school, then when my kids went out of state for college their college friends would come spend a couple weeks during the summer. I always thought of it this way, I loved knowing my kids friends and, who knows, maybe some of those kids, especially during the younger years, just maybe those kids just needed an adult to care. Anyway, it was always fun to have them here!"

"It used to crack me up when my daughter would bring over a bunch of her friends (girls and boys) in high school and instead of hanging out in the family room they all wanted to crowd into either the kitchen with me or our tiny office and happily share all the gossip with me."

Experts say that knowing your kids' friends, and their parents, can have huge benefits. Not only will it bring you the peace of mind of knowing where your kid is and who they're with when they get to those crucial high school years, it has been shown to tangibly improve kids ability to create positive relationships and problem-solve collaboratively. Plus, it can actually be really fun! Kids and teens are the funniest, silliest, most interesting people on the planet. Having a house full of them is messy and loud, but it's always a good time.

Just "Don’t feel bad if your house isn’t the chosen house," one commenter reminds us. "Just be happy your kid has a good group of friends and be thankful they have somewhere safe to hang out."

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Modern Families

Woman finds her grandpa's resume from 1946 and it's a fascinating time capsule

It's refreshingly earnest, for starters.

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How was job hunting 79 years ago?

I've always loved looking at old family photos. Of course, I love the ones from when I was a kid, but I've always been fascinated by the ones that go back even further than that. I love the snapshots of life we find from 50 or even 100 years ago, in what looks like a completely different universe. It's one thing to see old-fashioned clothes or cars in a film, but to see evidence that they really existed is really wild and powerful in a way.

Even better is if you can find more than just old photos of your parents, grandparents, and other relatives. Handwritten letters, old documents—these are absolute treasures that really bring the past to life.

Kyra Shishko's grandfather, Ellsworth Rosen, recently passed away at the incredible age of 100. When going through his things, Shishko discovered an old resume that he'd written way back in 1946.

gif of men boarding a boatAll the way back to World War IIGiphy

She posted it to the subreddit r/TheWayWeWere, which serves as a collection of photos and documents of how people lived 50, 100, or more years ago. Social media users were fascinated by the document, with the post racking up thousands of likes and over 300 comments.

Rosen was an English major who served in World War II, where he wrote for Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper. The CV details his experience as "liaison with French newspaper reporters in Marseille" and as company interpreter in French and German.

Other highlights of the resume include:

Numerous typos! The resume would have been typed on a typewriter, and this may have been an early draft. But it's still amusing for the modern reader to see because a typo in a modern resume would be an instant death-knell if detected by the AI screeners.

A physical description: He notes that he's "Single," "68 [inches] tall", and "180 pounds."

A list of hobbies: Perhaps the most iconic part of the resume is that his interests include "theater, sports, chess, and women." Hey, can't blame a guy for being honest! He also casually mentions hitch-hiking around the United States under the 'Travel' section.

A distinct lack of corporate buzzwords: While Ellsworth certainly puts some effort into making himself sound good here, the whole thing is pretty matter of fact. There are no ballooned figures or gussied-up verbs (say, coordinated streamlined delivery of paper to 50,000 subscribers). It definitely harkens back to a simpler time when standing out on the job market wasn't so cutthroat.

In all seriousness though, for as odd as it looks compared to modern resumes, this CV speaks to an incredible amount of life-lived even to this young point in Ellsworth's life.

You can see the entire document and viral post here:

Commenters loved seeing this unique time capsule. Old photos and letters get passed down in most families, but a resume is a rather unusual find.

"That is such a fantastic piece of family history!"

"What a special document, and testament to the incredible life your grandfather lived."

"I find it fascinating the kinds of things that seemed relevant on a resume at that time that we wouldn't think of putting on a resume today. In fact, sometimes It's the opposite where employers don't want to know those things so they can avoid discrimination, such as a description of looks."

"What a fascinating glimpse into the past. A resume that reads like a life well-lived, with a dash of charm that modern applications lack. The simplicity of it is refreshing and reminds us that sometimes, the best qualifications aren't just what you can type out on a computer."

gif of an older car driving down a streetThe way we were. Giphy

The older you get, the more you appreciate opportunities to see your parents and grandparents as normal human beings who once stood where you stand. Before they were the fully grown, fully formed authority figures in your life, they were kids, teens, and young adults themselves just trying to figure it all out.

It's also important to know about your own roots, and learn as much as you can about the story of how you came to be. We absorb and learn a lot of our values from our grandparents and the stories they tell us about their younger years. Finding photos, letters, and other old documents that help give those stories texture helps keep them alive in our memories and ensure their lessons live on with even greater potency.

"I was so touched by this resume because I always knew him at the tail end of his impressive life and it was so fascinating to see how he started," Shisko told Newsweek. "I hope people see the resume as a way to relate. Human behavior is a through line and people are generally similar, if not also products of the time they live in. This resume is indicative of just a 23-year-old man putting an unpolished, slightly embellished version of himself on paper, hoping to start a life and make a living."

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Parenting

Yet another school district shifts to 4-day week and parents are sounding off

So... when are we getting the matching 4-day work week?

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When talking with other parents I know, it's hard not to sound like a grumpy old man when we get around to discussing school schedules. "Am I the only one who feels like kids have so many days off? I never got that many days off when I was a kid! And I had to go work in the coal mine after, too!" I know what I sound like, but I just can't help it.

In Georgia, where I live, we have a shorter summer break than some other parts of the country. But my kids have the entire week of Thanksgiving off, a week in September, two whole weeks at Christmas, a whole week off in February, and a weeklong spring break. They have asynchronous days (during which they complete assignments at home, which usually takes about 30 minutes) about once a month, and they have two or three half-day weeks throughout the year. Quite honestly, it feels like they're never in school for very long before they get another break, which makes it tough to get in a rhythm with work and career goals. Plus, we're constantly arranging day camps and other childcare options for all the time off. Actually, I just looked it up and I'm not losing my mind: American kids have fewer school days than most other major countries.

So it caught my attention in a major way when I read that Whitney Independent School District in Texas recently decided to enact a 4-day week heading into the 2025 school year. That makes it one of dozens of school districts in Texas to make the change and over 900 nationally.


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The thought of having the kids home from school EVERY Friday or Monday makes me want to break out in stress hives. But this 4-day school week movement isn't designed to give parents a headache. It's meant to lure teachers back to work.

Yes, teachers are leaving the profession in droves and young graduates don't seem eager to replace them. Why? The pay is bad, for starters, but that's just the beginning. Teachers are burnt out, undermined and criticized relentlessly, held hostage by standardized testing, and more. It can be a grueling, demoralizing, and thankless job. The love and passion they have for shaping the youth of tomorrow can only take you so far when you feel like you're constantly getting the short end of the stick.

School districts want to pay their teachers more, in theory, but their hands are often tied. So they're getting creative to recruit the next generation of teachers into their schools — starting with an extra day off for planning, catch-up, or family time every week.

Teachers in 4-day districts often love the new schedule. Kids love it (obviously). It's the parents who, as a whole, aren't super thrilled.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

So far, the data shows that the truncated schedule perk is working. In these districts, job applications for teachers are up, retirements are down, and teachers are reporting better mental well-being. That's great news!

But these positive developments may be coming at the price of the working parents in the communities. Most early adopters of the 4-day week have been rural communities with a high prevalence of stay-at-home parents. As the idea starts to take hold in other parts of the country, it's getting more pushback. Discussions on Reddit, Facebook, and other social media are overrun with debate on how this is all going to shake up. Some parents, to be fair, like the idea! If they stay-at-home or have a lot of flexibility, they see it as an opportunity for more family time. But many are feeling anxious. Here's what's got those parents worried:

The effect on students' achievement is still unclear.

The execution of the 4-day week varies from district to district. Some schools extend the length of each of the four days, making the total instructional time the same. That makes for a really long day, and some teachers say the students are tired and more unruly by the late afternoon. Some districts are just going with less instruction time overall, which has parents concerned that their kids might fall behind.

4-day school weeks put parents in a childcare bind.

Having two working parents is becoming more common and necessary with the high cost of living. I know, I know — "school isn't daycare!" But it is the safe, reliable, and educational place we send our kids while we need to work.

Families with money and resources may be able to enroll their kids in more academics, extracurriculars, sports, or childcare, but a lot of normal families won't be able to afford that cost. Some schools running a 4-day week offer a paid childcare option for the day off, but that's an added expense and for families with multiple kids in the school system, it's just not possible.

This will inevitably end with some kids getting way more screentime.

With most parents still working 5-day weeks, and the cost of extra activities or childcare too high, a lot of kids are going to end up sitting around on the couch with their iPad on those days off. I'm no expert, and I'm certainly not against screentime, but adding another several hours of it to a child's week seems less than ideal.

Of course there are other options other than paid childcare and iPads. There are play dates, there's getting help from family and friends. All of these options are an enormous amount of work to arrange for parents who are already at capacity.

Working 4 days is definitely a win for teachers that makes the job more appealing. But it doesn't address the systemic issues that are driving them to quit, retire early, or give up their dreams of teaching all together.

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A Commissioner of Education from Missouri calls truncated schedules a "band-aid solution with diminishing returns." Having an extra planning day won't stop teachers from getting scapegoated by politicians or held to impossible curriculum standards, it won't keep them from having to buy their own supplies or deal with ever-worsening student behavior.

Some teachers and other experts have suggested having a modified 5-day school week, where one of the days gets set aside as a teacher planning day while students are still on-site participating in clubs, music, art — you know, all the stuff that's been getting cut in recent years. Something like that could work in some places.

As a dad, I don't mind the idea of my busy kids having an extra day off to unwind, pursue hobbies, see friends, catch up on projects, or spend time as a family. And I'm also very much in favor of anything that takes pressure off of overworked teachers. But until we adopt a 4-day work week as the standard, the 4-day school week is always going to feel a little out of place.


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Health

Why 'boomer panic' is a real thing, not just generational bashing

There's a heartbreaking reason behind the problem.

via Canva/Photos

What is "boomer panic"?

In a video posted in September 2023, TikToker @myexistentialdread used the phrase “boomer panic” to explain how baby boomers (1946 to 1964) can quickly become unhinged when faced with the most minor problems. It all started when she visited a Lowe’s hardware store and encountered a boomer-aged woman working at the check-out stand.

“I had a dowel that didn’t have a price tag on it, whatever, so I ran back and took a photo of the price tag. And as I was walking back towards her, I was holding up my phone… because I had multiple dowels and that was the one that didn’t have the price tag on it,” she said in the video. “And she looks at me and she goes, ‘I don’t know which one that is,’ and she starts like, panicking.” The TikToker said that the woman was “screechy, panicking for no reason.”

Many people raised by boomers understood what she meant by "boomer panic." "Boomer panic is such a good phrase for this! Minor inconvenience straight to panic," the most popular commenter wrote. And while there was some boomer-bashing in the comments, some younger people tried to explain why the older folks have such a hard time regulating their emotions: “From conversations with my mother, they weren’t allowed to make mistakes and were harshly punished if they did.” The TikToker responded, “A lot of people mentioned this, and it breaks my heart. I think you’re right,” Myexistentialdread responded.

A follow-up video by YourTango Editor Brian Sundholm tried to explain boomer panic in an empathetic way.

“Well, it's likely that there actually was a reason the woman started panicking about a seemingly meaningless problem,” Sundholm said. “Most of us nowadays know the importance of recognizing and feeling our emotions.” Sundholm then quoted therapist Mitzi Bachman, who says that when people bottle up their emotions and refuse to express them, it can result in an "unhinged" reaction.

TikToker Gabi Day shared a similar phenomenon she noticed with her boomer mom; she called the behavior “anxiety-at-you.”

Day’s boomer mother was “reactive,” “nervous,” and “anxious” throughout her childhood. Now, she is still on edge with Day’s children. “She's immediately like gasping and just really like exaggerated physical reactions, and then, of course, that kind of startles my kid,” Day said. “Again, I know that this comes from a place of care. It's just a lot,” she continued.

@itsgabiday

It comes from a place of love but it is exhausting 🫠😬 #millennialmomsoftiktok #boomergrandma #reparenting #gentleparenting

There is a significant difference in emotional intelligence and regulation between how boomers were raised and how younger generations, such as Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z, were brought up. Boomers grew up when they had to bottle up their feelings to show their resilience. This can lead to growing anger, frustration with situations and people, chronic stress, and anxiety—all conditions that can lead to panicky, unhinged behavior.

Ultimately, Sundholm says that we should sympathize with boomers who have difficulty regulating their emotions and see it as an example of the great strides subsequent generations have made in managing their mental health. “It may seem a little harsh to call something "boomer panic," but in the context of how many of them were raised, it makes a lot of sense,” Sundholm says. “It also underlines the importance of emotional regulation skills and teaching them to future generations. And maybe most important, having compassion for those who never had a chance to learn them.”

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Health

Roald Dahl’s letter about his 7-yr-old dying from measles is a must read for our time

The children’s book author doesn’t mince words.

Carl Van Vechten/Public Domain (left), Photo credit: Canva (right)

Roald Dahl's daughter contracted measles the year before the vaccine was invented.

On February 26, 2025, officials announced that a child in Texas had died of measles, becoming the first death from the disease in the U.S. in a decade. A local outbreak among unvaccinated people highlights the dangers of anti-vaccine sentiment that has affected vaccine rates and opened the door to a highly infectious disease that was considered eliminated in the U.S. in 2000.

A century ago, before the measles vaccine was developed and distributed, measles was a common childhood disease that nearly everyone caught at some point. But it wasn't harmless. Of the 3 to 4 million cases per year, 48,000 people were hospitalized and 400 to 500 people died. According to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the disease itself is dangerous and can also lead to pneumonia, encephalitis, brain damage, and other health problems.

Children's author Roald Dahl lost his 7-year-old daughter Olivia to measles-induced encephalitis in 1962, the year before the measles vaccine was invented. Over two decades later, he wrote a heart wrenching letter about her death, encouraging people to vaccinate their children to avoid that now-preventable tragedy.

roald dahlAuthor Roald Dahl in 1954, before his daughter Olivia was born.Carl Van Vechten/Public Domain

He wrote:

"My eldest daughter caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything.

'Are you feeling all right?' I asked her. 'I feel all sleepy,' she said.

In an hour, she was unconscious. In 12 hours she was dead.

The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. That was 24 years ago in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her.


measles rashMeasles often causes a skin rash in addition to flu-like symptoms.Photo credit: Canva

On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunised against measles. I was unable to do that for Olivia in 1962 because in those days a reliable measles vaccine had not been discovered. Today a good and safe vaccine is available to every family and all you have to do is to ask your doctor to administer it.

It is not yet generally accepted that measles can be a dangerous illness.

Believe me, it is. In my opinion, parents who now refuse to have their children immunised are putting the lives of those children at risk…It really is almost a crime to allow your child to go unimmunised."

one of Roald Dahl's drawings of the Big Friendly Giant holding a little girl. Tech, Science, & Innovationwww.facebook.com

Dahl wrote his letter to parents in the United Kingdom in 1988, but it's just as relevant today. While some parents worry about the side effects of vaccines and rumors about the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine being linked to autism, studies have shown that there is no evidence that the MMR vaccine causes autism and according to Johns Hopkins, "Measles is a dangerous disease and the vaccine is very safe. The risks of severe illness, death, or lifelong complications from measles infection far outweigh the generally mild side effects some people experience following vaccination. Serious reactions to the MMR vaccine are rare." There is still no cure for measles or measles encephalitis.

Dahl dedicated two of his books to Olivia: James and the Giant Peach when she was still alive and The BFG after her death. Though his books have long been controversial and his legacy has been marred by antisemitism and racism that his family felt the need to formally apologize for, Dahl was right about vaccines. His experience losing his daughter serves as a cautionary tale for those who may be tempted to take the drastic reduction in infectious diseases due to vaccines for granted.

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