Okay, not to sound like my parents, or worse yet my grandparents, but what is going on with kids these days? I get the preteen attitude and the "supposedly" hating their parents thing, but why do kids want to grow up so fast? Don't get me wrong, it's not the maturity of children nowadays that concerns me, but rather the mix of irresponsibility and the need to act way beyond their years.

I walk around my hometown and see young girls and boys acting less like 12 and more like 25. Maybe it's just me, but when I was 12, I looked 12. I'm talking frizzy hair, retainer and those horrible 80's neon Limited Too and Justice t-shirts with god-awful sayings like "peace, love, french fries" or "glitter, sparkle, and shine". It may not have been anything close to cool or stylish but I loved rocking those t-shirts every day. I can truthfully tell you I didn't worry about what to post for my Facebook status or what clever caption I could attach to the artsy picture I took for my Instagram. I jammed out to Hillary Duff and Hannah Montana and dreamed I'd marry one of the Jonas Brothers (preferably Nick if you were wondering).

I didn't watch PG-13 rated movies until I was 13 and I'd be caught dead listening to any music that had a glaring red EXPLICIT label on its album cover. Maybe it's that my parents so desperately tried to keep me away from adult problems and situations before I was old enough to understand them and to be completely honest I don't see much wrong with that. I was a kid, so I acted like a kid. You know, run around outside, skin your knee, be afraid of the dark because of scary monsters kind-of-kid. Not worrying about how I follow more people than who follow me, or omg did you see Kylie Jenner's new lip kit? Childhood is already such a fleeting time, and a period we will all reminisce about in our older years. Do you really want to think back and all you remember is you striving for social media popularity and likes?

Just like that Kenny Chesney song, "Don't Blink", life passes us by a lot faster than we think. Growing up is a truly beautiful journey that we are lucky to experience; it's filled with milestones, heartbreak, closure, failure and success. It is a journey that we take without even realizing it. When I was 10 years old running around the background, I did not have a thought in the back of my mind that in 7 years I'd be applying to colleges. Now 19 going on 20, I still hate the thought of growing up sometimes. It's exciting and filled with new possibilities, but it's also terrifying. When I'm home from college, I look around and realize that there are only so many more times I'll be able to just be with my family. No one ever knows how many moments we have left, until they're gone. How many more Just Dance competitions do my little sister and I have? How many more times can I just be my dad's little girl? I know I will always wish for more than I'll be given but I shall cherish the times I have left.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have goals, dreams or aspirations, all I'm trying to get at is sometimes you just need to be a kid. This doesn't just apply to preteens, but to any person under the age of 30 whose frantically trying to wish their youth away. One day you'll be sitting in a chair maybe watching your grandchildren rip over their Christmas presents or flipping through an old album chuckling to yourself about the wild times you had in college. The thing is you can't go back, so don't try to fast forward or skip it, because sadly there is no rewind button.