Grown Up

    What’s so great about growing up?? The second you hit high school EVERYTHING is about growing up. Whether it’s career, marriage, or education, it’s all based on growing up.

    Now, for you poor confused souls out there, I don’t mean “growing up” as in suddenly sprouting to be 6 feet tall OR being 18 or older. I mean it as in mentally. (Yes, I used the word “mentally”. Why does that word scare people?? Mentally. -- That third “mentally” was just to bug you. I’ll come back to the subject now.)

    First, what does it mean to grow up?? Well, we know that it DOESN’T mean being freakishly tall (I’m not trying to insult any of you people towering over us shorties so don’t get defensive just yet) or that you’ve left the teen years behind. So, we can scratch that from the list of possibilities. What’s left?? The only answer I can think of is wisdom and experience. That’s it! THAT’s the reason why everyone is in such a hurry to grow up?! They want to learn from their mistakes and have good judgment??

    As kids, we (well, some of us) can’t seem to wait to grow up. So we make up ways to be a tad older. For girls, it’s wearing make-up, bras, having cell phones, and dating the “cutest” guy in school. For guys, it’s wearing boxers, using hair gel, saying the latest slang words, and dating the “hottest” girl. Did you notice a cross in the paths?? (Hint: it’s not the underwear)
    Dating seems to be the number one way for a kid to “feel” like an adult. But it really is just a way for a girl to be (what she thinks) “heartbroken” and a boy to feel “used” before they’re even teens! What’s the result in this?? Kids not being kids. What’s the fun in becoming a “grown up” so quickly?? There is none, people! What happened to squirt gun fights, silly string, and mud??
    Here are my final words on kids trying to be adults: don’t try to grow up before you have to, guys. (When I say “guys”, I mean boys and girls) You’ll have PLENTY of time to grow up in life but you only have so long to be a kid until it starts to creep people out. Believe me, you don’t want to be fifty when you suddenly realize you want to make a magical fiery land in your front yard or use the doghouse as a “Bat mobile” so you can catch the bad guys. Talking to yourself, running around the yard, and kicking the dog out of his home probably won’t sit well with some of your neighbors.


P.S.

    Even if I only talk about the “young’uns”, there are the two extremes: kid’s wanting to be adults and adults wanting to be kids. Be content with who you are now, not with who you were or who you are going to be. A child having the one dream of being an adult worries people. And an adult wanting to be a child is creepy to some extents.