I don't want to grow up

So in a tear filled conversation that I recently had with Jayne, she began by voicing all these different in-the-future fears that she had, ending with, "...so I don't ever want to grow up, sob!" 

I think sometimes we discuss our grown up problems in such a way that we make "growing up" sound like a terrible thing! We don't always realize that our kids are catching so much from just a couple of spoken sentences.

And I will admit that there are times when I've felt each of these (all found through Pinterest):

Growing up means hard work and life is not always fun and "happy, happy, joy, joy," but there are a lot of wonderful things about growing up too: driving a car, living in a dorm, getting married, raising a family (because as difficult as it is to raise kids, it is totally worth all the effort), picking out your own food at the grocery store, wearing whatever outfit you want to church (because seriously: I hated wearing dresses and skirts as a kid), getting whatever pet you want in your own home...

And there's so much more! Being able to rent a car (ok, not super exciting, but still kinda cool), being able to skydive (which you will never catch me doing in this lifetime), decorating your house in the decór you like, creating deep and valuable friendships, growing in a relationship with God beyond what you thought possible, traveling to see His creation all over the world, finding fulfillment in having a career, doing it well, and making a difference in other people's lives.

But sometimes we get stuck in the yuck of being an adult. And it's difficult to keep that from our kids. But they are affected, they hear us moan and complain, and suddenly being an adult looks like something they'd rather not do. 

Unfortunately, they are going to be doing this adulting thing longer that the being a kid thing, so we might as well try to portray the joys of being and adult. Who knows? We might find out that it's not so bad afterall...

KC