We find ourselves reminiscing about our childhood days all the time. I love looking back at old photos and seeing everyone's #tbt posts and realizing how great we had it. Ah, the good ol' days. But the more I think about it, the more I feel like I've been having more fun as a young adult than I had when I was a kid. We're essentially into the same things, it's just that now we can experience them in a different and potentially better way.
Here are 15 things we can appreciate now, a little more than we may have when we were kids.
1. Amusement parks
Hershey Park, Disney World, Six Flags, or even just the amusement parks down the shore were the highlights of my childhood. They were definitely fun but I barely remember anything more than the photos I look back on. As an adult, I can appreciate being there in a different way, especially since I have to spend my own money. I can enjoy the greater thrilling rides, lines are more tolerable, and I can freely roam without anyone worrying about me getting lost… well, sometimes.
2. Walking
3. Cleaning
I had a chore chart when I was a kid. I’m not sure how long that lasted but I know I was taught well enough to take care of business on my own. I know some kids absolutely hate it and actually need to be bribed with rewards or money. But I was the weirdo that organized my crayons by color, books by size and color and placed each item in my doll house back where they belonged when I was finished at the age of five. I cleaned the house with my grandma every single day and was happy doing it.
Chores as an adult are worse in my opinion. It’s nice being a functioning human with decent hygiene but just knowing that no one else will do it for you kind of just forces you to do it unless you want to swim in your own filth. If you have a laundry mountain and a yellow toilet bowl, it’s okay—we get it. You might be too busy or tired. You’ll make time for it.
4. Reading
Being read to is so soothing. I think I’d consider audio books to put me to bed at night for that missed feeling. Reading as an adult is cool because your imagination is all there so you don’t necessarily need pictures and you can withstand long novels. It’s unfortunate that some people lose interest in reading completely and would rather just watch movies since they’re not required to read anything, like for school. Honestly, it takes me forever to finish a book; I usually end up passing out at least 20 minutes into it. I’m not sure about anyone else, but comics better suit my ridiculous attention span.
5. Junk food
You can now eat all the junk food you want and no one would scold you for it, except for maybe your trainer or your conscience. I literally ate white cheddar popcorn as soon as I woke up this morning.
6. Veggies
I've actually always loved vegetables, even as a kid (you're welcome, Mom). But those that may have hated them before have a better relationship with them now that they are older. I’ve met people that still hate vegetables and I can’t fathom how they live without the nutritious-deliciousness.
7. Eating
It went from being forced to finish my food or I can’t leave the table to… "Is there more?" Food is precious as an adult. You hate to waste it because you paid for it and you love to learn recipes. It’s considerably your favorite activity to do alone or with a group of people.
8. Clothes for Christmas
Necessities! It was boring receiving clothes as a kid because I wanted toys. Who wouldn’t want toys over clothes? Now it's all I could ever ask for—dresses, scarves, tees, socks. For free? Oh, yes give me ALL THE SOCKS.
9. Getting sick
When I was a kid, cartoons and lying in bed all day was the life. I didn't mind making up homework if it meant soup in bed. Now, we have to do a little thing my generation likes to call "adulting". If you get paid even if you call out, you are one lucky cat. If you don't, then being sick means less money and that totally sucks. You only have so many vacation/sick days, so you want to save them for those beach days. What good are sick days if you’re actually sick?
10. Summer
A complete vacation free of work and maybe summer camp versus still working every day while you watch everyone else enjoy the weather—I’ll take the first option. Adult life means managing extra time and planning vacation days so you can travel somewhere. Summer is still an extremely important time of the year and no one wants to spend every day stuck indoors.
11. Games
We all remember the classic games we played when we were kids, like "Uno", "Monopoly", "Twister"... just to name a few out of the hundreds we knew. Once you're of drinking age (or realistically, have reached high school or college) you've learned a whole new set of games. Here's the best part: you can still play those childhood games. You may or may not want to add booze into the mix. Either way, nostalgia is in. Your friend will always be down for classic fun.
12. Learning new things
It wasn't always fun when you didn’t have any other choice but to learn what you needed to learn at school. Now it's interesting and an adventurous quality to have. You’re free to choose what you want to get into and you’re more likely to accomplish since they’ll be things that are valuable to you.
13. Nothing to do
When I was bored, I used to do something artsy and crafty or go outside and play. When I’m not busy for once, it’s a weird feeling. When you’re used to hustling and bustling, you don’t exactly know what to do with yourself when you have nothing to do. There are so many options. Odds are, you’re exhausted but somehow you’ll use the time to binge-watch on Netflix and manage to stay up for 20 hours straight.
14. Taking naps
15. Wanting to be older
