Growing Up: The Trouble with Getting Older

As a little kid, I thought my life was horrible. I could not wait to be an adult, so I could make my own decisions, and be my own boss. My parents, like so many others, encouraged me to not grow up too fast. Scoffing at them, I dismissed this sentiment as stupid adult talk intending to keep me under their power for as long as possible. I was wrong. Now that I am expected to be able to fill out an application to a job, earn my own money for Christmas presents, pay for insurance, maintain my grades, and help watch my younger siblings, I understand why my parents told me to slow down.

If I could go back to when I was ten years old with the knowledge that I have now, I would see what my parents meant about growing up too fast.

Ever since I got younger siblings, I have started to feel a lot older. This is especially true on their birthdays, which has made me contemplate the things my parents had been telling me for years. Kaylee just turned seven a couple of weeks ago. On her birthday, she got a Game Boy Advance from my dad, who had gotten it almost new from a person at his work. He told me that he was planning on getting her new games for it, and was shocked when I told him that Game Boy Advances were released between 2001 and 2004, and that it was rather unlikely that he would find any new games for sale.

After this conversation, I went upstairs and opened my desk drawer so I could pull out my Game Boy Advance that I had received when it was still “the next big thing”. The back case was missing, the screen was scratched up, and the Pokemon game that I had been playing years ago was still stuck in the cartridge holder. Turning it on, I wished that I could sit for hours and level up my favorite Pidgey so he could defeat Brock’s Onix in the first gym. I could not, however. I had to put it away and focus instead on completing my AP Calculus test corrections, which were now so advanced I could not even ask my dad to help me.

Kaylee also got a bead kit from our Uncle that day, and opened it up that night eager to play with it. I sat down and made a bracelet for myself, letting her pick out the big charm that would sit in the middle. Again, I got that funny feeling I sometimes get when I am doing something I haven’t done for a long time. When I was around seven, I too got a big kit full of beads and colored thread, and would sit down for hours making bracelets and necklaces for my friends and family. But this time, it was Kaylee who was doing these things. I finished the bracelet, and promised Kaylee that I would wear it every day, because it was important to her. At that moment, she was concerned only with knowing that I would keep my promise. On the other hand, I was too busy worrying about my latest college deadline to be worried about a bracelet made from cheap plastic beads.

“She was concerned only with knowing that I would keep my promise… I was too busy worrying about my latest college deadline to be worried about a bracelet made from cheap plastic beads.”

When it comes to realizing how much I have had to grow up, I have the benefit of watching my brother and sister go through the same things. I watch them play and pretend to be animals, and everything else that I used to do when I was their age. I have the opportunity to go through these things again, to be there to guide them so that when they are where I am today, it does not come as such a surprise.

Being an older sibling has taught me to slow down and actually listen to my parent’s advice. Come next fall, I will be off doing my own thing at a college campus far from home. It scares me to think that in just another ten years, Kyle and Kaylee will be doing the same thing. If there was one piece of advice that I could pass on to them about growing up, it would be to listen to mom and dad. It is true what they say about growing up: you do not realize how nice it is to be a kid until it is too late.

Featured Image: “Kyle and Kaylee” by Kristen Panzino