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You Don’t Need to Grow Up
Rediscover the power you had as a child
It never fails. It’s Monday morning and I’m trying to wrangle my two-year-old into his clothes for daycare while I mentally obsess about leaving on time. All my kid wants to do is pull out his favorite toys and play. It’s maddening–but any frustration I have with my kid isn’t his fault–it’s mine. I’m the real problem.
Kids don’t have a very good concept of time, they live more by their instincts and interests. Whatever frustrations I have with my kiddo have nothing to do with him, and everything to do with my inability to remember what it’s like to be a kid. See, society force-feeds you a lie from the time you’re in pre-school. The lie is that you need to grow up and stop being a kid. Get yourself together. Make perfect choices for your life. Do the responsible thing (according to your family and culture). In short, conform and be like everyone else who lives slightly disappointed and stifled lives. I call BS on that one.
I read a quote by Nietzsche that slapped me in the face: “A man’s maturity–consists in having found again the seriousness one had as a child at play.” Today, we can substitute “person” for “man” because everyone falls into this trap. Being childlike doesn’t mean shirking responsibility and being self-centered–that’s childish. Children are more open and playful than…
