Remember when we were kids and we thought grown-ups got to do all the cool things? They got to stay up late. Eat whatever they wanted. Go wherever they wanted. Do whatever they wanted.
Wait…whaddya mean I have to go to bed?
Or so it seemed to us at the time.
And now that we are grown-ups (mostly anyway), we know the truth. Sometimes is way better to be a kid. I want someone to do all my laundry, fix my meals, tucked me in at night and pay all the bills for me. I want to push a shopping cart. And I want nap time, darnit!
Oh crap. It’s wash day again.
What about you? When you were a kid, did you think it would be awesome to be a grown-up? Did the reality live up to your expectations? And what you wish you could do the kids get to do?
Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Wait… (mine)
Wash day by katybird, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Ha! I just had this convcersatio with my 16 y.o. daughter.
She was going on and on about how much school sucks. I said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll go to school today and come home at three to take a nap then hang out with my friends. You can go to my thankless job, come home, make me dinner, do my laundry, drive me to the mall all while I tell you how much everything sucks.”
Needless to say, haven’t heard much since..
What I would give to be a kid again!
Great post, Sonia!!
Bwahahaha. I have similar conversations with my 9 yo daughter. I even offered to let her be the mom and take care of me. Strangely, she never goes for it.
Yes, I was so bored as a child, and couldn’t wait to be able to touch the floor with my toes (when driving in a car with the whole family), to buy a candy bar whenever I wanted (my mom was a ‘no sugar’ kinda mom), to read all day long if I wanted (forget about having to ‘go outside and play!). Honestly, I wouldn’t trade being an adult for anything – much too busy with laundry and cooking and bill paying (and working and writing and reading blogs) to ever be bored.
Oh yeah, the candy bars. LOL I love being a grown-up too but sometimes…
Oh ,man, Sonia; don’t get me started. I could go on for days on this subject, and many of my stories deal with childhood and growing up. Your the second person today who’s inspired me to write more stories! (Darlene was first!)
Great post!
Thanks!
Awesome! That something else I love about the blogosphere. Our creativity tends to ping off each other.
Yes! I just posted a poem this morning that was inspired while I was commenting on one of Kellie Elmore’s poems. That happens a lot–inspiration while I’m commenting. Love it! http://charleslmashburn.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/this-silence-was-not-golden/
Oooh. Thanks! Gonna go check it out.
Yeah, I definitely thought life would be easier when I grew up and had control. LOL. As if we ever have real control – always someone to answer to. Great post!
This is true. I like to point out to the kiddos that grown-ups usually have to answer to somebody too. That does actually help them be more agreeable to the house rules.
LOL everything you said! Except I was also bored, and now I almost never am. I guess it’s better to be an adult after all!
Yep, pretty much never bored now. Sometimes I wish I could be LOL
Lol – I think I was always a little adult in a child’s body anyway – I’ve had to learn to be a kid and lighten up as a grownup
One of the things I love about being a parent is that I get to play with all the kids’ toys and act goofy with them.
Yeah, there’s a lot more responsibility and stuff, but I’m happier to be an adult. I’m happier, I have control of my life, and since I got rid of my car I have a lot less to get stressed about
Granted, the one thing I *really* wanted to do when I was a kid was eat all the sweets I wanted without taking any crap from Mom (I even had dreams about it), but now I realize that will buy me into an early heart attack (and when I was younger, it went all to my waistline. It just isn’t FAAAAAAAIR!)
Yet, we still can’t eat all the goodies we want. So much for the dream LOL.
I must have been the only teenager who didn’t want to learn how to drive because I knew it would mean car maintenance, gas, insurance and car payments. Ok, so maybe I wasn’t much of a kid as a kid.
I finally got my drivers license at 19 and I think I loved driving for around two months. Now I want someone to drive me around again.
Kids have it best even when they don’t know it. Give me a chance and I would be one again.
That’s why it’s our job to remind them how good they have it at every minute. And we should probably also tell him stories about when we were kids and how much better they have it now ROFL.
What I miss most about being a kid is the buggy/stroller. I take my little niece out for walks in the stroller and feel really envious
Me too! It’s like the shopping cart thing. I want to go for a nice walk and ride in the stroller. Then I want a juicebox and a nap. LOL
So very true. I watch my nieces and nephews growing up and keeping thinking “Don’t rush it kids. before you know it, you’ll be holding a day job and doing you own laundry with no naps!”
It’s funny how big a hurry they can be in. *shakes head* Youngins today. LOL
When I was a kid, I wanted to be “older” and looked forward to every birthday. I wanted the respect that seemed to go with being older and/or being an adult. I would not want to be a kid again, but do I wish I had the luxury of all that time.
I hear you on the “luxury of all that time.” I feel that way too. I don’t necessarily want to be a kid again (even if I envy some of their freedoms LOL) but I miss that sense of a huge expanse of time ahead.
I remember longing to be an adult. At the time, It seemed that my parents (and other adults) were having all the fun and hiding it from us kids. But, then as reality set in once I was out in the real world I came to an epiphany–adulthood is not all it’s cracked up to be. However, even though it can be hard at times, it can also be incredibly rewarding.
Agreed. While I do miss some of the perks of childhood there are undeniable benefits of being a grown-up. So maybe nobody bosses all my clothes or makes all my meals…but nobody tells me when to go to bed either LOL.