Maybe it’s just me, but personally I hate growing up. I was always a big fan of the summers I spent attending every camp possible, calling my friends’ house phones to see if they wanted to run through a sprinkler in my backyard, and just lived a carefree and simple life. Fast-forward to the present where our summers are full of internships, jobs, trying to make time for our family, our friends from high school, relaxation time, and planning for a new school year. Stressful, no? Don’t get me wrong, I do like to stay busy and not sit around bored every day but the older I get, it seems, the more the work begins to pile up and the more the façade of the carefree summer begins to fade away. Sometimes I wish I could be the 7 year-old version of myself for just one more summer, to have a taste of the innocence and excitement that characterized my life then but I was blissfully unaware of. Maybe it’s true what they say: you really don’t know what you had until it’s gone.
We live in such a high-tech, fast-paced society that it seems that the carefree, restful notion that characterized our childhood has now been replaced by cell phones, technology, and constant communication. It seems that everybody is just getting older, faster. Upon being introduced to a child, I always am at least 2 years off when I try to guess their grade as I am thrown off completely by the acne-free face, cell phone in hand, and perfect social skills. I must ask because maybe I missed the memo but when did it become cool to be a grown-up? To put it in perspective, for 14th birthday, I got a TracPhone (I kid you not, complete with all of 3 total contacts) and truly didn’t want it. I asked my aunt why I would ever need a cell phone. How many 14 year olds today would pass on owning a cell phone? Times have changed so much. Kids look older, act older, and dress older than ever before and it seems like everybody is trying to rush this “growing up” thing.
I crave the innocence and carefree lifestyle that characterized my childhood, so why does it seem that kids are trying to leave that area of their lives so quickly? I guess that’s the struggle of growing up, isn’t it? Wanting the independence, the maturity, and the responsibility that comes with being a grown-up but also desiring the enthusiasm, the ease, and the naivety that comes with being a child. Unfortunately we really can’t have both, can we? Maybe some people ultimately desire those grown-up qualities from the beginning; personally, I was not one of those people. Now that my life far more reflects that of a grown up than a child, I can’t help but miss the life I once led as a child.
Perhaps having kids is one way in which people regain a bit of the innocence and enthusiasm lost throughout the years of adulthood. Always described as a “rewarding experience”, raising children instills the love for our childhood that we all once had. What better reason to revive your experience as a child at Disney World than to return with your son or daughter and accompany them as they experience it for the first time? It’s a cycle of sorts, and perhaps having children is, in a way, a way to relive the childhood experiences that we so dearly treasured. So maybe there is a solution to the struggle of growing up, but I’m not planning on being a mother for quite a few years! So until then, I will struggle between my love for innocence and youth and my desire for maturity and responsibility.
Photo Sources:
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt194/Gaylor_Lamont/growing-up-is-never-easy.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wkTuYb8tncM/UDvrgUkNlWI/AAAAAAAAACE/hHPj_tJYrVQ/s1600/jbhohoknkdssd.jpg
http://37.media.tumblr.com/b76e7c528049ab695279dbb75edf8654/tumblr_n1u6i4fe0J1sfuzkjo1_1280.jpg