Why it's really cool to be an adult

Why it's really cool to be an adult
1 September 2012

Being an adult sucks a lot of the time.  There’s bills and responsibilities.  Acting relatively mature – a real challenge for me.  Making a worthwhile contribution to society in that you’re trying to not raise mass murderers and delinquents.  Meals to cook, dishes to wash, kids to be dropped off, admin to be done, decisions to be made, etc.

But luckily it’s not all doom and gloom.  There are actually some major perks.

·         First and foremost – I never, ever have to eat Brussel Sprouts again – for the rest of my life. 

·         I get to go to bed when I want to, not when someone tells me to.

·         I don’t have to study for tests – woohooo – beat that!!!  I am however currently doing Gr 8, Gr 4 and Gr2, so maybe I shouldn’t celebrate that achievement just yet.

·         I get to pick my own clothes and am not forced to put a sweater on because my mom is cold.

·         I can each chocolates in bed, never mind just before bedtime.

·         Nobody limits my computer and cell phone time.

·         My movie choices are not dictated by age restrictions.

·         I can go into any bar and club, should I wish – unless they have a policy on letting people over a certain age in.  Which would be age-ism if you ask me and is not very PC.

·         I get grown-up jokes.

·         I can tell grown-up jokes.

·         Instead of asking “Are we there yet?” at 5 minute intervals on a long car journey, I can work the answer out for myself.

·         I understand way more acronyms than when I was younger – words like the ANC, DA, GDP, KFC, ROFL, WTF.

·         Should piercings and tattoos be my thing, I can get as many as I like, wherever I like – though this is not my bag at all.  However, should I feel like getting one…

·         I can drive to where I want to go and don’t have to ask another adult for a lift.

·         I’ve stopped growing, so when I buy clothes that I really like, chances are, that if I don’t get too fat, they’ll fit me for years and years to come.

·         I don’t outgrow shoes anymore.  I think my feet stopped growing when I was still in Primary School.

·         I never have to wear pantyhose again – they made us wear those evil contraptions in school.  There’s nothing quite like the feel of nylon, is there.

·         I can drink coffee, alcohol and smoke cigarettes – if I chose.  I’m a bit of a dud though, so I don’t do the alcohol and smoking thing and only recently started drinking coffee again, after years and years of abstaining.

·         I can say things like “Because I said so” to my children.

·         I have excellent bladder control on long car journeys.

·         I can wear make-up every day of the week.

·         I’ve developed a more adult pallet and now willingly eat food which children fear – like mushrooms, curries and prawns.

·         If I see something I really like and I have enough money for it, I can buy it.  I don’t need to get permission first.

·         Because I paid for the beds in my house, I can jump on them if I like.

·         I can drink gassy cool drink whenever I want too.

·         I can eat as much chewing gum and bubble gum as I like – blowing humongous big bubbles.

·         I can walk around on my socks.

·         I can get my kids to do stuff for me, like wash the dishes – he-he-he-he-he!!!  Nothing quite like child labour, is there?

·         I don’t have to wash behind my ears, unless I really want to.  It’s not like it gets dirty there in the first place.  Parents have an odd obsession with ears.

·         I can listen to my own taste in music.

·         I’m not forced to do school sports – you have nooo idea how huge this is for me.

·         I earn my own money – no more pocket money days for me.  Ironically though, I was better off financially in the days when I still earned pocket money.

·         I finally get some stuff that I never got when I as a kid – like when my folks nagged us to switch lights off to save on electricity, or when they told us how lucky we were to not have adults responsibilities, or how it really hurt them more to discipline us that it hurt us being disciplined.

·         My toys are way cooler now than when I was little – now I get to play on a BlackBerry, a cool camera, a magnificent video camera, etc.

·         I don’t need to ask for permission if I want to go to a party.

·         Sometimes when I’m very lucky I get to hold the remote control, when I can wrestle it away from Grant.

·         I can swim straight after I’ve eaten – no waiting for half an hour so that my food can settle first.

·         I don’t have a curfew when I’ve gone out.

·         If I felt like being selfish, I can use all of the hot water in the house.

·         Technically, after I’ve dropped my kids off at school, I can climb back into bed again and watch DVD’s for the rest of the day – and one day soon, I might just try doing it.

·         I don’t have to make seemingly endless cups of coffee for my folks – jeez, if only they’d gotten a percolator when we were little.

I remember my childhood with much fondness and gratitude to my parents and family for the awesome memories.  But if it means that I have to take on a ‘little’ adult responsibility just so that I don’t have to eat Brussel Sprouts again, it’s a winning deal for me.  On the other hand, how fun was it not, when my biggest worry in life was whether I’d be able to have a second bowl of ice-cream, be allowed to go to a party or extend my curfew…..And when the spending possibilities with my pocket money seemed endless.