(3)  I'm Not a Child Anymore          1   2   3   4   5   6   7   ...More >>>   

You will never, never, never persuade your parents you are growing up.  It won't happen.  Why?  Another short story:

A farmer summons a neighbor over. "Come look at the new brown cow I just bought," he calls.

The neighbor saunters over to the fence.  His jaw drops.  In the middle of the field is one ugly purple cow!  He doesn't want to upset his neighbor, so he asks, "Where is the brown cow?"

"Right there," says the farmer, gesturing towards the purple cow.

"I don't see it. I only see a purple cow."

"No, that cow isn't purple.  That cow is brown."

This could go on forever, but if a cow is purple, guess what?  It ain't brown!

What am I trying to say?  You can't convince parents, teachers or even your friends that you are growing up.  They have to be shown; they only see a "purple cow", and that you're growing up physically, the smallest part of being an adult.  Believe me, they will know when you're there, you won't have to tell them!

Actually, many "adults" haven't really grown up.  They do things that aren't adult at all: having temper tantrums, calling people names, feeling jealous or possessive, being sarcastic, being unreasonable for the sake of standing their ground - you get the idea, right?  You've seen it in action!  We all have childish moments, but some adults have so many, you can see that they left their own childhood behind.  You must keep reminding yourself of this when you're exposed to that kind of behavior.  You don't have to like it, but it helps you to understand what's going on.  Important: you can learn as much by bad examples as by good ones!

So your life sucks?  Be glad you don't have "perfect" parents, that you don't have everything you want, can't do everything you want to do.

"What?" you may say.  "Are you serious, or have you finally flipped your lid?"  I'm serious.  Kids who have "perfect" lives aren't prepared for life's knocks and bruises.  They're less able to deal with problems in adult life, less able to get along with others, and generally are miserable.  It's a proven fact; they suffer from the "princess" syndrome, sometimes all their lives and never get over it.

Try to look on the problems and shortcomings in your life as "life lessons"; the better you learn to work through them and learn from them, the happier you will be later on.  Rear up on your hind legs and deal with it!

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