It was the great Hoodie Allen that once said “I don’t ever really want to act my age." The lead singer of blink-182 supplemented this statement by conveniently forgetting his age around the time he was 23. Greater still are all the songs that reminisce about the "age of innocence" and remind the listener to live in this age as long as he or she can or how horrible it is now that they have grown too old to live in the glory days any longer.
But what is the so-called "golden age" of innocence? Why can't we be innocent forever? In my mind, you can. Truthfully, as long as you remember what it means to enjoy your life for every good thing that you have in it, you’ll never have to really grow up.
The word "innocent" is a loose term, but it doesn’t have to mean we’re ignorant about things. Some people peg innocence as a lack of knowledge rather than an admiration for the less serious things in life. It is true that as we grow older, our responsibilities build and the serious affairs we deal with every day grow in number. However, this is when people begin to think the age of innocence “ends,” simply because they don’t have time to appreciate the little things. Innocence comes with remembering that there will always be something to smile about, and that it is always worth smiling for, no matter how small.
Being a nanny this summer for a family of three took me back to my childhood glory days. The three-year-old, soon-to-be-best friend that I watched over would marvel in the days that I let him watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for 15 more minutes, or when I would let him have two cookies after lunch instead of one. As adults, we forget the simple luxuries that are afforded to us, because we’re old enough to watch over ourselves, where what we really need to do is take a step back, breathe and remember that there is nothing wrong with having a couple more cookies every once in awhile.
Our trip to Skyzone indoor trampoline park at the end of the summer, however, was what inspired me to write this article. For those unfamiliar, Skyzone is ultimately a big playhouse of trampolines where kids and adults alike can bounce and participate in different activities like trampoline dodge ball and basketball. I was watching the three children bounce, when the five-year-old came up to me and asked me why I wasn’t bouncing with them. And in that moment, I could not give her a good answer. I guess it was a mix of my fear of embarrassment as a 19-year-old college sophomore bouncing on trampolines in her spare time, along with the sense of responsibility that I felt by needing to watch over the kids from the sidelines. But it wasn’t until I started jumping around with the three of them that I realized responsibility is relative, and fun for all ages is an extremely important aspect of life.
You can still be responsible while having fun, and you can still jump on trampolines regardless of your age. Fun knows no limits, and doing the things now that you loved as a kid will only make you appreciate what innocence means, and how it is never truly lost in any of us.
So, readers, this is your reminder. A reminder that innocence is not lost when the workload gets tough, being a kid does not have an age limit, and there is always a way to find a balance between adulthood and living like you did as a kid. We, as humans, are all kids at heart, and that is something that should be cherished and remembered, rather than swept under the rug when the responsibilities begin to pile up. Fun and a love of life do not have age boundaries, and I hope you all remember that as long as you can be mindful of your responsibilities to your work and the people around you. There is nothing that says you can’t act and play like a kid.
