I recently turned 20 and have been considering what separates me from children? How is my adulthood defined? What separates the men from the boys?

Then it all made sense. What separates the men from the boys and women from the girls is not the development of certain attitudes, but rather the repression of others.

While I can do without the unabashed fulfillment of various necessities like nose picking and toots, there are some wonderful attitudes that deserve a good old throwback.

1. A little thing called R-E-S-P-E-C-T

While what is #trending is temporarily in the spotlight, respect never goes out of style. During the bloom of adulthood, it is easy to attempt to define yourself by ignoring opinions that do not fall in line with this idea you have of who you are and who you will become. The reality is, if your opinions are valid, they can stand acknowledging a differing one. It educates you, and is more likely to mark you as an equal rather than one than finds themselves superior.

2. Emotional Honesty

When I was a child, I was known to say, "I am madmadmad" and on just one occasion, "You're making me pissed." I did not know that was a bad word... until just after I said it, and then I preceded to cry from some mixture of embarrassment and guilt. Children's feelings are not a mystery. Not the good ones, not the bad ones. Children don't play coy games like adults; we have no idea how to verbalize our feelings. That is why in every single sit-com there is the dreaded "what are we doing?"or "what are we?"or "how do you feel about me?" talk. WHAT IS THAT? There is no reason to be afraid or embarrassed of your feelings. They are valid.

3. Innocent Pride

In high school, there was a boy who was interested in me, and no matter the day or time he "just got back from the gym." Charming. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about the desire to share an accomplishment with someone (i.e. your first job, crushing that final, running a mile without stopping). I am convinced I make the greatest brownies on the face of the earth, but not because I had someone else's brownies and decided they were trash. If I tell you I make great brownies, it is because I like you and would like to make them for you.

*If your "accomplishment" was preceded by someone sharing their accomplishment and an unbiased third party would say your's is "better", you are bragging. Stop that. Don't be the rain on someone's parade.

4. Elsa said it best: Let It Go!

Aren't your arms tired? You know from holding onto that grudge...

Recently, I was with some family friends. Their children are 4, 7, and 10. I was tickling the 4-year-old on the couch and throughout the wiggles he hit his head on the laptop in the nearby cushion. I checked out the injury, told him he was fine and he came back for more tickles. In no realm did I hurt him on purpose so we moved on; that doesn't mean he did not experience pain, but we weren't going to allow this accident to ruin our fun. Not everything has to hurt forever. Roll with the punches (and the couch laptops).

5. Sweet Child O' Mine

Children are sweet. This may not seem different than kindness, but it is. Kindness is something we should treat all individuals with, but sweetness is tender. It is not love of the human race, but rather just the one human. I was sitting with the same 4-year-old from my prior point at a congregation park gathering. He hurt his foot, and I was cheering him up until he felt ready to get back in the volleyball game. I said, "Don't tell your sister, but you're the cutest." He replied with, "Nathan is the cutest." Nathan is his 7-year-old brother. He didn't say it with jealousy or sass. He spoke it like fact because he genuinely believes it. He adores his brother; how could he not be the cutest?

Try to adopt anyone of these attitudes before #flashbackfriday and leave a comment sharing an trait you think I missed!