everytime there’s a thread like the above, there would invariably be a surprising amount of posts opposing the idea of starting all over again as a child, even with the provision of retained memory or the assurance that it would be you as far as the hypothetical is concerned. to me it seems people are rejecting the chance to drink at the fountain of youth and return to the world as a child. i would think that extending your life would be a choice of the majority even if not a universal one.
rather than hijacking that thread i’ll ask my own question here to those who would not take it: given the chance to drink at the fountain of youth and be transformed to your 5 year old self. *why wouldn’t you? * * the world, the people you know and the things you used to own are still there. only you have changed. as an option, you can be hiked off to an orphanage to expect new parents soon, to lead an anonymous life if you so choose.
5 year old doesn’t sound that bad, you can walk, talk etc. given what you have learnt thus far in life, is it really so intimidating to return back and start over? isn’t the chance to have a second go at life worth the obstacles you would have to face as a child?
*if you have found your one True Love, this question isn’t for you. [sub]lucky bastard[/sub]
Are you talking about re-living the same life, or starting over at age 5?
Re-living it, knowing what you know now, well - that might be something to consider - and yes, I have met the love of my life so I know where to go and when to be there. And yes, I would make a few changes here and there, appreciate more of what my parents did, and perhaps study a little harder and perhaps buy some silly stock called Microsoft when it first came up for sale.
But starting over now? Nope.
I do not envy kids today - and I teach them!
You know how “old people” recall the good old days? Well trust me when I say I wouldn’t go to an American public school - especially a middle school - now for anything! If I had children, I would get a second and third mortgage on the house to send them to private schools. The education system in this country has gone to hell in a handbasket, and going through that would be torture.
I have never voted against a school bill referendum in all my years of voting (despite being Gay and never intending to be a parent) but have seen how bad things have gotten over the years.
Starting over at age 5, in this country, with this school system? No way.
Do we mean going back in time or starting now? If it meant missing out on marrying my wife (or even the chance of that happening), then no amount of money in the world.
Mostly as DMark says, if it meant I could invest in microsoft, write a book predicting the Internet, but still be me, I would do it. But childhood is overrated in my opinion, no control over your life (and don’t get me started on my parents), plus it would be sheer hell having to listen to all these adults all over againt that you now know were full of shit.
Mostly being five again would mean waiting until I was old enough to get a job at McDonald’s, investing those checks in Amazon and Microsoft stock and then using those profits to buy real estate in DC and selling off everything before the bust in 2007. I’d try to sleep with some women where I missed some opportunities, but I’d still have to be in the exact write place when my wife entered the picture. So for me, being five would mean ammassing a fortune and waiting for adulthood to kick in again.
the OP starts over at age five right now. drink and poof, you’re five. oversized clothes and all that. however, feel free to answer the OP and your own adjusted hypothetical. i am mainly interested to hear why people wouldn’t want to be young again.
the environment or the education? because you retain your memories and education, so you can daydream and still ace everything. would you elaborate a little on what is so bad about the public school system? hmm i did a quick search, does this thread: Public Schools, reflect your sentiment?
wouldn’t it be fun to have a five year old rebutt them speechless?
Childhood is fine, but I’ve already done it once. Even if the people I know are still around, my relationship with them still changes. Some of the things I have really couldn’t be mine anymore, because I’d be a small child.
I wouldn’t want to wake up in 1987 and start again knowing what I know now either. There are things that I wish could be changed, but for all I know, things have worked out for the best, and making a different decision the second time around could cause a chain reaction that would make everything unravel in the end.
Well, it wasn’t so bad, but I can’t imagine how frustrating it would be to be five again, with my memories intact, and then be constantly realizing things like I can’t drive, I can’t pick where I go on vacation, I can’t have a beer, I don’t have control over what I watch on TV, I suddenly have a whopping budget of $1 per week, all sorts of things.
Even with the opportunity to make better choices, and believe me, I could have used some better choices, I’d be a neurotic, paranoid walking mess wondering if some choice was going to have an unforeseen impact on my life. Looking back, I wish I had been more dedicated to art classes. So in my 2nd childhood, perhaps I will work harder in art class, and even get to the advanced class. But what if we are driving to advanced class (which I didn’t take in my 1st childhood) and there is a snow storm and our car is hit by a truck that skids over from the other lane, and my mother is dead? I killed my mother! (She is currently alive and well, it seems risky to drag her back through time.)
If I were five years old now, in 2007, that would suck for my family who would probably (I should hope) be tormented about why the adult me mysteriously disappeared.
If I don’t have my memories, it’s like asking “Would you want to have your memory wiped out?” and ummm let me think … no thanks.
Being five years old for one week would be much more tempting (and although there’s no real reason, it feels less risky in terms of the random choices) – a week would be like a vacation, and then I could do things like see my grandmother again. That’s only for the Going Back In Time scenario … what could I possibly do as a 5 year old now in 2007 that I can’t do now at my present age, and do better? Now, Adult Me could take off work for a week, but if I was five, I’d probably have to go to school.
I don’t understand what’s wrong with growing up. I am going to be a bit controversial and say this is part of what’s wrong with Western society - everyone’s rushing to look, act, be young and not being the age they are! Not that I think you should act old either, but I like being 31. I liked being 25. I’ll probably like being 40.
No, I don’t want the Fountain of Youth. Fountain of Long-Lasting Youth, maybe - meaning I live to 200 years or so in relatively good health. I don’t want to go backwards for anything.
Five again I could handle, but not the stretch from about eleven to fifteen. So I’d take the money. I don’t think I’d survive (literally, I mean) middle school if I had to do it again while remembering the first time, or even if I didn’t remember the first time.
My life, from age 5 or 6, right up to my early 20’s possessed a major amount of suckage. I wouldn’t take a do-over even if someone was going to give me 5M to do it!
The good thing is that I am now in the process of trying to make sure my kids have a much happier childhood than I did.
Oh, yeah, and I definitely couldn’t stand the thought that my hubby would be married to someone else! (I’m sure he would; he’s the marrying kind).
Hypothetically, I can think of a few. Abusive parents, school bullying, dislike of childhood environment/academic environment, frustration due to inability to function as an adult (can’t form contracts, buy a car, travel alone, vote etc).
Also the issue of if you were five now would you a) be going back to relive your childhood from the start (in which case you aren’t gaining any life expectancy anyway)
b) starting over at age 5 now, in which case who gets stuck with the job of raising you?
If you had said deaging to age 18-20, remaining in the now, retaining all memories and legal identity on the other hand, I’d be suprised if anyone said no.
How many of them would listen to a five year old, no matter how much sense they made?
The other day at work I said I wouldn’t even want to be 21 again. Or 22.
I’m 29.
I think the youth you lose is worth the knowledge you gain. I think it would take some truly horrendous mistakes for anyone to even consider undergoing extreme youth again. I can’t think of any memory I have, regardless of how good or bad it was, that I’d like to “do over.”
And if I had my current consciousness in the body of a five-year-old, that sounds like a peculiar kind of torture.
Am I legally 5, or am I a legal adult? (And who the heck enforces that?)
If I’m mentally still me with access to all my experiences and skills, and I’m legally still an adult and don’t have to go through grade school or deal with childhood and so forth, then I’m not 5 years old to my way of thinking, I’m a nearly 50 year old guy in a tiny body with a ludicously stratospheric life expectancy.
There are things I don’t like about my current body, but I would like the body of a five year old less, I think. Admittedly, it would get better. Current bod probably won’t.
Naah, I’d still pass. What the hell would a middle-aged guy in the body of a 5 year old do for companionship and fun?
The hormones would be fine, now that I have the maturity needed to rein them in. They come in handy sometimes. I would love to have certain abilities I had as a teenager that I have lost over the years, without losing the techniques I’ve learned in the meantime, if you get my drift.
My parents are good people - intelligent, caring, protective, loving, and dependable. Compared to many others on this board, my childhood was idyllic. I still wouldn’t go through it again, at least, not without the knowledge and skills I have now.
I was bullied from third grade through ninth. I was told or shown over and over that I was a freak for being intelligent and creative. From the age of twelve on, my parents were disappointed in me because I had a weight problem. I was lonely, stressed, and despondent, and I lacked the power to change one damned thing.
I wouldn’t wish those experiences on another person, let alone myself.
As an adult, I get to choose who I live with and what I do every day. I can read; I can drive; I can have sex; I can earn my own money. Why on earth would I give any of that up?
Being an adult entails more responsibility, but it also gives you so much more freedom than being a kid. As a kid, you’re always at someone else’s mercy: parents, teachers, peers. I had a fine childhood, but you couldn’t pay me enough to do it again.
Ditto. I had a great childhood (except for some rough patches from 12 to 14, very common in adolescent American girls). But children are clueless and powerless. As fun as my childhood was, it’s way more fun to be a grown-up.
The conditions would have to be much less adventurous, and less risky.
I think it would be better to not remember anything. Then life’s tragedies would come and go, without knowledge that we might have caused them.
The time-traveler knowledge sounds useful, but would probably get you in trouble sooner or later, and might end you up less then sane. Imagine trying to recall just how you have this clear knowledge of MS stock prices after many years of being a kid.
And don’t even think about having an adult brain in a kid’s body. That would suck truly. As others have said, who would want that?
The parts of the brain that like children’s games and like 5-year-old playing and like to watch children’s TV shows have moved on, and that would make for a totally boring child.
Maybe a few retained skills would be interesting. I would like to still speak Portuguese, but just how would I explain that one to my folks?
I guess it would have to be a simple guarantee of being tossed back into the 70s, to relive the same life, as a true child, assured that nothing terrible will happen.
Can’t we ask that an envelope be delivered to us at 18 with a letter to ourselves?
