"What do you want to be when you grow up?" It's a question that everyone was asked as a kid. This question put so much pressure on what we were going to do once we got to that stage of "grown up." I can remember being in elementary school and hearing my teachers talk about how they had kids in their 20s and I thought that was the coolest thing ever because "Wow! You're in your twenties! You have your life together!" Update: People in their early twenties DO NOT have their lives together. There are a rare few who do, but the majority do not. We all wish we could take back parts of our childhood in order to make our young adult lives a little bit easier.
1. Naps
Can I get rollover minutes from those naps I rejected as a kid? I need a nap to make it through the day. Forget all-nighters, I'm successful if I pull an all-dayer. Naps are an essential part of the college lifestyle.
2. Being carried to your bed
Sometimes you fall asleep on the couch. Sometimes you fall asleep on the floor. Sometimes you just don't make it all the way to your bed. We've all had that day where we come home from class, fall asleep on the couch, and don't wake up until 2 am. In times like that, I wish I could count on someone to carry me to my bed like they did when I was little.
3. Not cooking
While we can all agree that eating is wonderful, the preparation that goes into the food is annoying. Cooking is great every once in a while, but not every time you want to eat. As kids, we could count on our parents to make us a snack when we got hungry and we never had to worry about whether or not we were getting dinner that night- Mom and Dad had that taken care of.
4. No homework on the weekends
Saturdays as a kid: Cartoons, fun breakfast, and an magical adventure that could only happen on Saturday.
Saturdays as a college student: Coffee, homework, and work. The only difference between Saturday and the rest of the week is that there's no class on Saturdays.
5. Not working
Ugh. Work. Is there really anyone in college who genuinely enjoys going to work? Those long hours that help diminish our student debt as much as possible, yet also contribute to our lack of sleep and social lives. Oh, how we wish we could relive the days of not working, yet still having everything we needed.
6. Lack of adulting
As kids, we didn't have to adult. No one was asking us for our credit card numbers, no one expected us to know our insurance information, we weren't expected to schedule our own appointments-- life was so much easier! While having some responsibility is nice, I am not a fan of adulting.
7. Wearing the same outfit twelve times in a row
I definitely wore the same outfit many many days in a row as a kid. Who cared? No one! While I totally wear the same outfit two days in a row (your Monday/Wednesday/Friday people don't know about your Tuesday/Thursday life!) I still feel slight judgement when my roommate asks me if I've changed since yesterday. Unfortunately, adults care about how many days it's been since you wore that outfit last.
8. Not having to do your own laundry
Laundry is expensive. $1.25 per use of machine? Not doing laundry until absolutely necessary. Shoutout to moms everywhere for taking care of our laundry until now. You're the real MVPs.
9. You didn't have to have a life direction
One of the most commonly asked questions on a college campus is "What's your major?" The answer to this question defines how people think of you. Don't have a major? "Wow, do you even know what you're going to do with your life?" Kids aren't asked these questions, and even if they are, they aren't expected to have a reasonable answer. You want to be an unicorn? Good for you! It's unfortunate that that career path is no longer a viable option.
10. The beauty of kid goggles
Now that we're entering adulthood, we're exposed to the real world. As kids, we only knew what our parents chose to tell us. Now we're in the thick of it all and it isn't always fun. While we definitely miss the beauty of not knowing the horrors of the world, we know that it's time to embrace our twenties and enter into adulthood and everything it holds.
