You know, I realized something sitting here in front of my computer. I’ll tell you what the realization is and then I’ll try my best to defend my point. Here goes:
I am my own child
Hear me out, try and follow my thinking on this one:
- I am responsible for my well-being
- I have to get myself up in the morning
- I am the one who has to get myself cleaned up and fed in the morning
- Did I have homework? If so, did I get a chance to check it?
- Who else is going to bring me to work but me?
- I am the one who has to feed myself at lunch time
- You see where I’m going here…
Isn’t that what we are for kids? We are basically responsible for everything in their lives. We tend to their livelihoods and make sure they get what they need to be well-meaning members of society.
That’s what I do for myself. I make sure I am a functioning cog in this great big wheel of life. There should be some playtime in there. There should also be some creative time.
If this is the case, then I am my own child. I have to do all these things for myself. Let’s face it, there are some things I do for myself that you would NEVER do for your child. Let’s call those “the perks”.
I’d like to think of myself as child-like. My nieces and nephews certainly think so. I have a nephew who is 7 that thinks nothing of me playing Hot Wheels or Batman with him (you know, those little plastic characters – he loves those things). At that point, he sees me just like one of his school friends his own age. He doesn’t see me as an adult who is responsible for paying the bills and driving myself to work.
The problem comes when some pressure is involved. Children are not paid wages for doing something they don’t want to do. They have to go to school and learn so that they can be function adults when they get older. We’re basically grooming taxpayers. Sure, we might give them allowance for doing things around the house or buy them things when it’s not their birthday or Christmas – a generic reward system. But that’s what makes the economy go around and not what I’m trying to get at here.
My thinking is that at some point we need to be paid to do whatever it is “the man” wants us to do. There’s a tipping point in our independence where we need the keys to the car. Basically, I’m at that point but I own the car. “The man” still has to pay me to do my job but I get to spend the money on what I want (after the bills are paid – another thing kids don’t have to worry about).
Okay, so I’m not my own child. There’s a sense of responsibility about my life. I live on my own (but let’s not get bogged down in the ‘loneliness’ aspect of living alone) and I pay my way through life. There are things I’d like to afford that I just can’t. There are other things I can afford so I go ahead and buy them. There are a lot of other things that I wish I didn’t have to buy that I just need (I hate going grocery shopping but… gotta do it!)
I was once quoted as saying “money is just something I owe someone else”. Isn’t that the truth? I hate having things over my head. I wish my house was paid off, I wish I could pay off the car. Having no bills hanging over my head would be SWEET! And that’s how I’m not a child. Children always have someone to fall back on when they get in trouble. As adults, we only have ourselves.
So, in conclusion, I am either my own child or am NOT my own child. I think the answer is both – sometimes I AM my own child and sometimes not. I am a walking contradiction.
I am my own child
Hear me out, try and follow my thinking on this one:
- I am responsible for my well-being
- I have to get myself up in the morning
- I am the one who has to get myself cleaned up and fed in the morning
- Did I have homework? If so, did I get a chance to check it?
- Who else is going to bring me to work but me?
- I am the one who has to feed myself at lunch time
- You see where I’m going here…
Isn’t that what we are for kids? We are basically responsible for everything in their lives. We tend to their livelihoods and make sure they get what they need to be well-meaning members of society.
That’s what I do for myself. I make sure I am a functioning cog in this great big wheel of life. There should be some playtime in there. There should also be some creative time.
If this is the case, then I am my own child. I have to do all these things for myself. Let’s face it, there are some things I do for myself that you would NEVER do for your child. Let’s call those “the perks”.
I’d like to think of myself as child-like. My nieces and nephews certainly think so. I have a nephew who is 7 that thinks nothing of me playing Hot Wheels or Batman with him (you know, those little plastic characters – he loves those things). At that point, he sees me just like one of his school friends his own age. He doesn’t see me as an adult who is responsible for paying the bills and driving myself to work.
The problem comes when some pressure is involved. Children are not paid wages for doing something they don’t want to do. They have to go to school and learn so that they can be function adults when they get older. We’re basically grooming taxpayers. Sure, we might give them allowance for doing things around the house or buy them things when it’s not their birthday or Christmas – a generic reward system. But that’s what makes the economy go around and not what I’m trying to get at here.
My thinking is that at some point we need to be paid to do whatever it is “the man” wants us to do. There’s a tipping point in our independence where we need the keys to the car. Basically, I’m at that point but I own the car. “The man” still has to pay me to do my job but I get to spend the money on what I want (after the bills are paid – another thing kids don’t have to worry about).
Okay, so I’m not my own child. There’s a sense of responsibility about my life. I live on my own (but let’s not get bogged down in the ‘loneliness’ aspect of living alone) and I pay my way through life. There are things I’d like to afford that I just can’t. There are other things I can afford so I go ahead and buy them. There are a lot of other things that I wish I didn’t have to buy that I just need (I hate going grocery shopping but… gotta do it!)
I was once quoted as saying “money is just something I owe someone else”. Isn’t that the truth? I hate having things over my head. I wish my house was paid off, I wish I could pay off the car. Having no bills hanging over my head would be SWEET! And that’s how I’m not a child. Children always have someone to fall back on when they get in trouble. As adults, we only have ourselves.
So, in conclusion, I am either my own child or am NOT my own child. I think the answer is both – sometimes I AM my own child and sometimes not. I am a walking contradiction.