December 9, 2008
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What do you want to be when you grow up?
I was reading someone’s site, and they said that this question was geared to youngun’s.
It’s interesting, because I am 34 and I don’t necessarily consider myself “grown up”. I’m married, but I still rent an apartment and have no kids. Plus I read comic books and wear flipflops to work in the summer.
There was an interesting article in NY Magazine that touched on this:
Let’s start with a question. A few questions, actually: When did it become normal for your average 35-year-old New Yorker to (a) walk around with an iPod plugged into his ears at all times, listening to the latest from Bloc Party; (b) regularly buy his clothes at Urban Outfitters; (c) take her toddler to a Mommy’s Happy Hour at a Brooklyn bar; (d) stay out till 4 A.M. because he just can’t miss the latest New Pornographers show, because who knows when Neko Case will decide to stop touring with them, and everyone knows she’s the heart of the band; (e) spend $250 on a pair of jeans that are artfully shredded to look like they just fell through a wheat thresher and are designed, eventually, to artfully fall totally apart; (f) decide that Sufjan Stevens is the perfect music to play for her 2-year-old, because, let’s face it, 2-year-olds have lousy taste in music, and we will not listen to the Wiggles in this house; (g) wear sneakers as a fashion statement; (h) wear the same vintage New Balance sneakers that he wore on his first day of school in the seventh grade as a fashion statement; (i) wear said sneakers to the office; (j) quit the office job because—you know what?—screw the office and screw jockeying for that promotion to VP, because isn’t promotion just another word for “slavery”?; (k) and besides, now that she’s a freelancer, working on her own projects, on her own terms, it’s that much easier to kick off in the middle of the week for a quick snowboarding trip to Sugarbush, because she’s got to have some balance, right? And she can write it off, too, because who knows? She might bump into Spike Jonze on the slopes; (l) wear a Misfits T-shirt; (m) make his 2-year-old wear a Misfits T-shirt; (n) never shave; (o) take pride in never shaving; (p) take pride in never shaving while spending $200 on a bedhead haircut and $600 on a messenger bag, because, seriously, only his grandfather or some frat-boy Wall Street flunky still carries a briefcase; or (q) all of the above?Sadly, I am not nearly as cool as the example given. But I think it’s true that a whole generation of 30 and 40 year olds consider themselves to be much younger than they actually are.
Do you consider yourself a grownup?
I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!
Comments (36)
I’m married with kids but in many aspects I still don’t feel like a grown up. I don’t have a driver’s license. And I still get carded now and then when buying booze
Oooooh, I just wrote a blog about this!! I think I’ve figured it out: maybe being a grown-up is simply admitting that you’re not one.
No… in fact most of the time I still feel like I’m twelve.
“(c) take her toddler to a Mommy’s Happy Hour at a Brooklyn bar;” WTHeck?! That sounds like defnite imaturity to me… and maybe a little negligence. I suppose that depends on how trashed she gets.
I’m only 24 – I’ve got a long way to go, I think. Plus I don’t want to grow up (though I’ve always thought Toys ‘R Us is pretty overpriced), I have a lot of ideas and I’m not sure which of them is where I want to go with things… too many decisions and too many options. I figure I’ll get it right some day.
I’m against growing up. I think that you have more fun as a kid than as an adult. And since everyone still thinks that I’m in high school and on occasion junior high, (I’m 23) I’ll just live with not wanting to grow up.
I’m 39, and it’s only within the past couple of years that I’ve started to feel I might possibly have become a grown-up when I wasn’t looking. I think it was owning a house that did it.
I think until you reach like 70 and you can’t avoid it, people in general tend to think of themselves as younger than they are
At 18? Hardly. I don’t think I’ll ever be truly mature, either.
I kind of have to. The first digit of my age has changed too many times (& going to do it again in a few months, darn it) to not be a grownup. Heck, the first digit of my child’s age has changed too many times! I’ll be a grownup until the great nieces and nephews and possibly future grandchildren are adults, then I get to be a kid again.
Grown-up doesn’t have to mean boring, or old, or outdated. I’m an adult, not a kid sitting around going “I wanna be a fireman when I grow up.” Sure, we have hopes & dreams (like Natalia mentioned) but, that doesn’t mean we’re still kids.
P.S. The good news is that being a grownup doesn’t mean you don’t still get to have fun or enjoy your favorite bands. I have a ton of 70s rock bands on my iPod, I love a good, mean game of MarioKart, and wear sneakers with almost everything. Granted, they have orthotics in them now, but at least I don’t wear the horrible SAS shoes people my age were wearing when I was my daughter’s age.
@radicalramblings - I definitely don’t consider myself to be a kid. Just commenting on the social phenomenon of how youth (as a state of mind) is being extended far beyond where it used to be…
no i i dont even have a diver license. i cant drink and i cant go to clubs so i dont think i am grown.
I know what you mean. I’m an adult and I’m almost at that age… but I don’t feel grown up. At some point, I guess I will, and that will be OK when it comes, too. Like radicalramblings says, it doesn’t have to mean boring. But you are right, there is something to be said for remaining young at heart.
lol, you do realize you never actually answered the question?
I’m 21, and 1 semester away from graduating college. And seeing as I still don’t know what I want to do after that semester, I’d say I’m pretty darn not grown up yet.
Dear John,
I’m 55, a member of the “baby boom” of the late 40s-early 50s, and pretty much thought of myself as “young” for many years. I’m facing my second hip replacement, I have a pinched nerve in my back, take more (prescription) drugs now than I ever did in my youth as a “druggie”, and cringe every time I look in the mirror.
However, when I don’t think about it much, I still “feel” young, and don’t consider myself “grown up” at all. I think this is partly because I never married, or sired children, so I can afford my “toys” (although that’s getting more difficult, but that’s another story.) and most of my free time is spent “playing” with them.
I consider people in their 30s to be toddlers.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
Ha! What a great article. I love Sufjan Stevens, and my kids ARE totally going to listen to him, when I have some.
I know I’m still pretty young (at 20), but I feel, what, 10 years old?
60 is the new 50! 50 is the new 40! 40 is the new 30! 30 is the new 20! 20 is the new 10! 10 is the newborn!
It’s the hipster generation. Although, that may be a bit too hipster-ish for me. But i certainly still feel like I am about….23-24 mentally/emotionally.
nope, although i’m a college student, so my family still considers me their child
If I grow up, I want to be like Chuck Norris.
Or my dad. Or you. You’re almost as rad as my dad.
but im a toys r us kid
This featured question made me want to blog the lyrics to the Peter Pan song. “I don’t wanna grow up! I just wanna be a…”
And then I realized, I don’t want people to think I want to be a boy!
Funny how throwing around hundreds of dollars can make anyone feel younger…
That is so cool you can work flipflops to work. :envious:
Eh, I’m 23 and I have my own place and pay my own bills. I have a job but I don’t really feel like a grown-up. It’s very strange…
I just turned 38 years of age on the first of this month and don’t feel anywhere near my age. I get told all the time that I don’t look any older than 25 years of age by the teens and early 20′s crowd and those older than me say I don’t look a day over 30 years of age. So I guess I have it pretty good in looking younger because I feel and act younger. I don’t consider myself to be a grown up until I get perturbed with someone younger for doing something absolutely idiotic and stupid in a public place such as a movie theatre or mall…but only if it directly effects me.
I still feel young, I don’t feel like a kid but what age qualifies “kid?” I still feel like I’m about 24 years old most of the time.
John, I cannot log into my account. it says the webpage cannot be displayed. When I try to log in from another computer it does the same. PLEASE HELP ME! Can you email me please
I hate doofus hipsters with a passion. While I’m not a grownup, I am a cantankerous old man.
in a few years I’ll be 30 and yet for some reason I still feel much younger than I guess how someone my age would feel like. but I do believe people should mature as they age though and be responsible…being immature when you’re 35 yrs old is just sad.
@Trigger821 - thank heavens i’m only 34!
Not during this time of year. Having the ability to feel like a kid sometimes is something I hope to never lose.
Very interesting indeed. I’m not a grown up, nope, whether it’s age or how I feel (I know a feel ‘grown’ 19 year olds), but this is a really interesting take on the whole grown up issue.
“When do we stop ‘growing’?”
yeah, we’re living in a pretty crazy time period… we have a group of 30-40 year olds who don’t want to grow up paired with the largest group of aging/retiring (the baby boomers)
we’re missing the levelheaded, mature middle-aged haha
i want to be a mom when i grow up. haha. thats a full time proffession!
No I think 30 – 40 year old have established themselves enough that they can start having a good time again.
Provided they have anough dozal for the kids to stay out all night
I’m forever frozen at about 25 in my head and I’m 39. I’m married with two kids, but still follow around my fave singer, take random road trips, and eat the frosting first (or only the frosting). When we age we don’t have to be boring. I’d love to stay child-like as long as I’m not childish.