Would you want to stay young forever?

As a child, that was the one thing I wanted most, to never grow up.

[deleted]

I think that is a VERY tough question... so many positives and negatives on both sides...

On the one hand, right now I am absolutely sick of all the uncertainty of the adult life, constantly having to worry about stressful nightmares like debt, finding a job, and the dilemma of having to give up on a lot of things that I really dream of because I simply don't have the free time. Yeah, there are a lot of days where I wish I could go back to 3rd or 4th grade forever, when all I had to worry about was whether or not I was going to get to play Wizardry on the computer in school, and whether I was going to be able to have my friends over, and when life was made of a bunch of simple "do this" and "don't do this" instructions rather than all the uncertainty. And oh, the imagination! Nothing was impossible, and I could dream of anything and become anyone in an instant. And in school, every possibility was open to me. I didn't have to be limited to one job path, and one singular life focus. I could still imagine myself going anywhere and doing anything. The future was like an open book ready to be written rather than a single line that never seems to deviate anywhere. I could be a writer, an engineer, a teacher, anything. I really, really miss that.

But on the other hand, I would really miss love. That is definitely one element missing from childhood. You know it exists, but you don't understand it, and that it is such an amazing thing to realize that there is someone you would run into a burning building to save, and that they would do the same thing for you. And I would also miss the sense of fulfillment that I get being able to teach others and have legitimate debates with people about issues like faith and the meaning of life. As a kid, I was always sick of people telling me "oh, you're just a kid, you'll learn some day." And also never being able to have kids of my own would stink. I love kids, which is why I'm an education major, and I'm really looking forward to having my own family one day. Then there are things like being able to drive, and eat whatever I want, and basically do whatever I want without having to worry about a parental figure's transportation willingness. Having your own money is a liberating experience, and I would definitely not want to have to beg for everything, and be stuck only doing what my parents say I can do. It's a trade-off. As a kid, you're completely free from worry and responsibility, but not free to make your own decisions. While as an adult you are indeed free to make your own decisions, but you are constantly a slave to uncertainty and responsibility.

So, yeah, I really can't decide. I really wish that I could just switch back and forth at will. There are some days that I definitely just want to experience being a kid again, and being liberated from the burdens of adult life, but I also wouldn't want to permanently switch back. There is too much that I would miss, and too much that I still want to experience.

[deleted]

i totally would! but yeah id wanna be post puberty, because it'd just be awesome (get with the mermaids and tiger lily)id wanna see every thing, id explore all of neverland! and id better be able to fly too, so i could go back to the real world and back