"Huh?"
"How many days until I'm a grown-up and turn into a kid again?"
"Um... once you're a grown-up, you don't turn into a kid again, Griffin."
::burst into tears::
And.... the crying lasted over an hour. Apparently, Griffin never wants to be a grown-up and never wants to boss his kids around the way we boss him and around and never wants me to turn into an old lady and never wants Aaron to turn into an old man and he never, ever, ever! wants! to! be! a! grown! up!
Is it the tooth? The ability to wash hands without standing on a step-stool? Going to school?
And how the hell am I suppose to respond to this? Well Griffin, you won't be a grown-up for a long time. That didn't work. Neither did that's not something you need to worry about for a long time, you know not that I want to dismiss his worries but geesh... I'm not going to promise him he'll never be a grown-up 'cause that means either he's gonna die or I'm gonna catch him smokin' the ganja in the basement one day when he's 20 and he refuses to have a job and refuses to go to college and he steals money out of my purse and I'm gonna have to kick him out of the house and then he'll be homeless and THEN WHAT, INTERNET, THEN WHAT? I can't lead him down that path with a little promise of him never turning into a grown-up.
19 comments:
Well...my folks grew up, got old, moved to Florida, hang out with their friends, play golf, go to the pool and drink margaritas every day. I'm not 100% convinced they *haven't* turned back into kids. Maybe he's on to something.
that made me smile and broke my heart all at the same time! btw - if one were to want to send you an email ... where? how?
I'm with him! I don't want to get old. I want to be a kid again. They have much more fun. Just make sure that he has the best childhood that you can give him. He might understand when he gets older that he can have a family of his own. Aren't grandchildren our reward for having kids? I want at least one from each kid!
Aw. I know the feeling -- I was the same way when I was a kid. But it all turned out OK. You get to act like a kid again when you have kids. :)
Oh, don't worry, he won't move into the basement, it's too full the crap Aarons won't get rid of.
Poor guy, my sister is still going through this line of thinking, and bursts into tears if I tell her the reason I color my hair is to hide the gray...I'm liking getting older, except for the tired a lot part, that is not as fun as one would think...the paying bills part either, for that matter...oh great, I may cry myself.
I couldn't wait to grow up, couldn't wait to be an adult, then I could do exactly as I wanted, all the time. There's your carrot...when you're a grown up you get to do whatever you want whenever you want :) ...yea, there's all those laws and mores we abide by, and bills and obligations and responsibilities, but no need to tell him that just yet!
...and why do people always think the Hard Questions are going to be about sex? Hell, those are the EASY ones...
Soo young for such dissapointment. As soon as he realises driving is in his future he won't mind growing up. At least that's my experience.
But you gotta admit, sometimes being a grown up isn't all its cracked up to be.
Keely asked me the SAME question!!!!
She said she only wanted to be 4 and always was going to stay that. She doesn't ever want to get bigger. She gave no reason why though. hmmm.
Tough stuff. I'm still not sure how to respond to it because she always brings it up. ugh.
My son has the same issue. He burst into tears one day when I asked if he would still pick flowers for me when he grew up and moved away. I finally just told him he didn't have to and hope I don't live to eat those words. He wants to, "grow up, be a dad (and work with his dad) and send email" That all there is to it, right?
I refuse to grow up, even after three kids and nearly 11 years of marriage.
when we hit this question, we started talking about all the kickass parts about being an adult (we left out the mortgage and bills. *grin*).
especially enticing? the ability to drive. and drive anywhere you damn well please. if you aren't working? and you have days off? you can freakin' drive to california! or south dakota! or canada! something along those lines.
when he's 20. that's funny.
i hear that caffeine stunts their growth.
a friend recently gestured at her teenage girl and said to me 'omg. you don't. want. this.'
i said, well...ummm...think of the alternative!!!
it took her a moment.
Ah! Griffin is slowly starting to realize his and your mortality. I remember those days when it became clear to my Gabby that part of growing up equaled dying. Not good. It is pretty depressing when you think about it, ya know. Just try to steer Griffin to all the fun stuff and try not to focus on the negative and give him a big hug.
Awareness of your own mortality sucks. Though in the long run, it probably does teach you to enjoy your life a little more as you're living it. And there's no need to tell Griffin this, but I know many adult men who have retained large chunks of their childishness. Ahem.
My almost 4 year old asked me the same question...isn't it strange that they think they grow up and then become a child again! I guess in some ways we do. At any rate, he keeps telling me he doesn't want to be a grown up, and still wants to play with his toys.
I don't blame him. Growing up is so awful! Why do we have to do it? But hey, Griffin, you have lots of cool things to look forward to, like driving a car and growing a mustache! Don't you want a mustache? I sure do.
Reminds me of the time Autumn asked me if she could give me piggy-back rides when she grows up and I grow down.
the Peter Pan complex.
It's a man thing.
I don't know why everyone wants to stay a kid. Being a kid sucks big time. I couldn't wait to grow up and have never once looked back with longing for the time in my life filled with pop quizzes, adults getting to decide what I do with my time and where I live and how I live and school, and constantly breaking up and getting back together with my BFFs. What's so great about being a kid?
The only thing I don't like about being an adult is death and taxes.
Both are inevitable. Why fight it?
Max goes back and forth on this one. Most recently he never wanted to grow up. But often he hates pretty much everything about being a kid, like I did.
My kid spends a lot of his time being inconsolable so I'm no help on how to sooth a kid while also maintaining some modicum of truth.
Max announced recently that he plans on living with us forever. I've tried to scare him out of this idea but so far he's adamant.
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