Ah, the baby face: both a blessing and curse. I’m 18 years young but people still look at me as if I’m much younger than this, in middle school even. It is true that I’ve never been offered a kid’s menu past the appropriate age but I’ve certainly had my share of being treated as a kid and of hearing the same tired phrases.
You see, when you’ve got a baby face, you know that the most common remark people like to make is about how young you look. I am constantly being told this and I promise you, I am well aware of my baby face.
And if someone happens upon a picture of you from five years ago? Yep, you guessed it.
“You look the same!”
Yes, thank you for telling me that I, now a college sophomore, look the same as I did in my awkward middle school days. That horrible hair part and the braces and those clothes, ugh.
Another thing you know when you’ve got a baby face is that everyone squeals about how “cute” you are. Your friends. Your family. Relatives. Complete strangers.
“Oh, you’re so cute! I just want to pinch your cheeks!”
Although this can be flattering, it gets very old and quite frustrating after some time. I don’t always want to be cute, you know. Sometimes I want to be pretty. Or beautiful. Or sometimes I want to be flat out SEXY.
Yes, I could probably pass for a Justice model – you know, that popular preteen brand girls raved about in elementary and middle school – but it would be amazing to strut my stuff and pass as an adult for once. (Going au naturel out of laziness and never applying even a hint of eyeshadow or mascara is probably not helping my case, but that’s a topic for another time.)
The look of surprise that flashes across someone’s face after you tell them how old you are also comes with looking naturally innocent.
During a tailgating session on campus, a guy running a booth for Honda was yelling out for people 18 and up to come take a survey in exchange for a pair of sunglasses. My friends and I walked up the table and the guy handed everyone a clipboard, but visibly grimaced when he came to me and said “I don’t know.”
Thanks, dude. He let me take the survey, but still.
Also, I can’t forget the time I was at a picnic before the start of senior year of high school for a school organization. A girl in my grade asked me if I was excited to start my freshman year and my friend and I stared at her in shock before my friend burst out laughing and said, “Dude, she’s in our grade!”
The other girl was embarrassed and apologized profusely but I was still secretly offended.
Looking back, though, both of these incidents were rather funny and they make good stories.
Even worse than telling someone your age is letting them guess how old you are. They’re liable to start at 14 and be taken aback when they have to keep guessing higher. I’d just tell them straightaway if I were you.
When I turn 21, I already know I’ll get carded at every bar I go to. Hopefully I’ll be able to wear a smug look of satisfaction after the bartender realizes that my ID is real and I am, in fact, 21 years of age.
Having a baby face definitely isn’t all bad, though. Being told you’re an angel or that you look like one doesn’t really get old. Neither does pulling off that sweet, friendly face whenever you’re in trouble.
The best part? The cliché directed towards baby faces about how “it’ll pay off when you’re older.”
Man, oh man, I hope this is true so that, while the rest of you are wrinkly and scowling about it, my fellow baby faces and I will be relishing our perfect, moisturized skin and hopefully looking 20 when we’re 40!
