Hi readers, it’s Emily and William here, remembering our childhood entertainment!

My childhood (William) was spent playing games like Connect 4, dominoes, hopscotch and monopoly. I loved tanks and matchbox cars too. When I was a bit older, I enjoyed x-box and later would play games like solitaire on my iPad.

For me, Emily, I loved playfood – plastic food we’d velcro together. I had plastic cutlery and pretend to serve food for dinner. I also have a recollection of playing an embarrassing game – I was the daddy and my brother was the baby. My Mum said we could play this for ages. I remember feeling close to my brother when playing it, but can’t remember if he was a good baby, or if he gave me a hard time!

Mum and I would play other games like cats cradle, snakes and ladders and ludo. I don’t remember playing with dolls though.

What we see today is so different. Although some families do still play these games, most toys are now interactive, instead of children using their imagination. We see many children glued to gadgets, oblivious to what’s going on around them. It’s hard for parents as they plead to use them. Are these gadgets scrambling their minds? Do kids spend too much time in their bedrooms playing on these rather than being outside and interacting with others?

We think it’s good that some families ban phones from mealtimes, as it’s important to spend time talking and sitting together.

We’d both love to go back to our childhoods, and have things simple again. As much as we like technology for keeping in contact with people, we think it’s stopping a lot of people from quality time interacting with each other. If only!

The writers of the Our View column are supported in their editing by The Friendship Club– a project for adults with learning disabilities, run by People First Dorset