A local Generation X father has been accused of looking back on his youth through rose-coloured glasses, especially when comparing his upbringing with that of the current crop of children. Lewis Carnegie fielded the accusation from his own mother last night during a wide-ranging phone conversation where he openly bemoaned the lack of imaginative and outdoor play undertaken by his own children.

Speaking exclusively to The Watsonia Bugle earlier this morning, Carnegie’s mother said, “Poor Lewis, he’s stuck in fantasy land again. He keeps going on about how he used to play in the street all afternoon and only came in when it got dark. That’s complete baloney! He used to sit on his fat butt most nights watching cartoons and yelling at me from the couch to make him snacks. If his kids are doing that to him now, I call that a good old-fashioned dose of karma. Suck it up princess, it’s your turn to serve.”

Reflecting on the initially unwanted dose of reality provided by his mother, Carnegie said, “Look, she had a few decent points. I mean, our generation did introduce gaming consoles and computers into the mix. Maybe I wasn’t as much of an outdoors kid as I thought I was. But, you know, I still faced challenges that this new generation will never face. The TV we had when I was a kid didn’t have a remote control, so I had to get off the couch every time I wanted to change the channel or volume. That’s a struggle that my kids will never endure. They don’t realise how good they’ve got it.”