grown-ups: getting older

I used to believe that grownups were born grownups and children would always be children and that grandmas and grandpas were just people who cared for you that were old and I never realized that they were your parents parents and I never realized there was such thing as "growing"

My dad told me that when he was little, he looked up at his own dad and asked, "When I'm grown up like you, will my feet still reach the ground?"

When I was little, I was told that people become shorter when they are old. My goal was to live to be 300 years old so I could fit into my doll house and go down water pipes like waterslides.

When I was little I used to be scared of growing up. This was because I thought that at a certain age you would be kicked out of home and you would have to find a family. I thought you would have to ask random people on the streets if they would like to be the Aunty, Dad or Mum e.t.c in your family. Growing up sounded really scary!

I had never noticed kids younger than me or pregenant women until I was 13 or 14. So I thought my friends and I were always the youngest of the whole population. When we die, there would be no people on earth.

When I was around 5, I used to think age was based only on the month and day of your birthday. Therefore if your birthday was July 6th, then anyone born after that day July 7 - December 31 obviously had to be younger than you.

I used to believe that people changed completely as they got older.

First, I would begin to hate cartoons, comics, toys, video games, etc. because I didn't know of any adults who liked them. The process would take about a week, during which my childish interests would be replaced by boys, make-up, clothing, shopping, etc. I would also develop a heavy valley-girl accent and, because of puberty, I would act very air-headed until my hormones had settled. (Thanks, cartoons.)

Later on I would become very dull and work-oriented, but I would be organized, neat, and well-mannered. Still, I was not looking forward to finding pleasure in political talk shows and gardening. (Though, for some reason, I really wanted to learn how to sew.)

About when I was 14 I realized this was absolutely not the case. Unfortunately, that also meant that people had to LEARN how to become orderly and mature.

When I was a kid, my friends and I all had kid-sounding first names, like "Billy", "Chris", or "Steve". Grown-ups had names like "Frederick", "Sherman", or "Franklin". So I thought that once you become a grown-up, you have to change your name. This really upset me, because I liked my name so much.

I used to believe that when you got old (elderly age), all of your teeth fell out and you had to get dentures. It didn't occur to me that maybe people didn't take good care of their teeth and had to have them pulled.

i used to ask when my birthday was, every year, cos i thought everyones changed and maybe i would be a year older quicker some years than others. she would tel me the same date and i would b like 'again?' but then far-too-later on i clicked and asked 'is that why its called birthdays? :)

I used to believe that when I turned 6 I would turn into a boy! My brother and sister had me convinced their baby pictures were each others. I think I was more nervous the day before my 6th birthday then any other day in my life.

I used to believe that when you were a grownup you knew everything there was to know and you never had problems like kids do. I can remember being so happy when I didn't fall down and hurt myself anymore.

When I was a kid, I was convinced that everyone in the world lived to be 100 years old. I even rationalized that when people were angry with me, it was "because they were upset that they only had 64 years left to live, and they were jealous that I had 95." Hmmm, must have been a parent? :)

I used to believe that when you grew up there was a magic age, that when you turned 25, you would magically know everything there was to know and life would make complete sense.

I used to think that when you were an adult you never slept because as you got older you got to stay up later and later, so i thought that eventually you just didn't sleep.

As child when ever I did something I wasn't necesarily supposed to do, all i heard my parents say about it was "it's a phase...phase this and phase that...etc."

One day I over heard my parents and my aunt talking about one of their cousins, and how he was gay. So I asked "What's gay?" and they said "Oh nothing son, it's just a phase he's going through" after I found out what "gay" was I thought "Oh shit I have to go through a GAY phase too?!?!" Needless to say that up until I was 11 I used to believe that being gay was a phase we HAD to go through and I was NOT looking forward to that phase.