I’d like to go back to age 5 again so long as I had the same parents. I wouldn’t trade my parents for anyone else’s. I’d like to use this as an opportunity to avoid the mistakes I made growing up (yes, I realize that diverting my path in life could lead me to making other mistakes that I didn’t make). I’d certainly like having another chance at being more ambitious with my career pursuits and maybe trying to develop myself better socially.
I’d also like to be able to forewarn the world about 9/11, Oklahoma City and other major tragedies, and take big winning lottery numbers back with me to use when that day finally comes, but I know that isn’t what this thread is really about.
Even if you don’t suffer any of these bad things as a child, it still sucks in my opinion. Your life is always controlled and managed, and I imagine it must be worse for kids now than it was when I was growing up. Instead of hanging out with friends after school, as we did, now kids have organized activities, with coaches, directors, leaders, managers, or whatever.
Meanwhile, a lot of the things we imagined would be horrible about adult life, like full time jobs, turn out not to be nearly so bad. I’d take a day of work over a day of high school any day.
One of the things I’m very careful about is not over-scheduling my kids’ time. My 7-year-old has Read to Succeed two nights a week, but on those nights, she does her homework there, so has plenty of free time after school on Monday and Thursday afternoons. The only day in her week that’s really kind of “crazy” is Wednesdays, when she has dance class at 4:15PM, then immediately have to go home, do homework and hurry and eat dinner so she can go to Sparky’s with a friend of hers (totally her choice; she doesn’t have to do dance or Sparky’s).
Oh, you sorry fool. I think you underestimate the power of hormones. I remember my late teens/early 20s as being a period in which every guy I knew was a horny, rage-filled psychopath, and every girl was a horny manic-depressive—and those same people are none of those things now, and I think maturity has little to do with it, any more than maturity has anything to do with people who are chemically depressed.
I had fun in childhood, but I also had miserable moments that I wouldn’t want to relive. Yeah, I have miserable moments now, but I have control some over their resolution. I also have the perspective to know that it’s not the end of the world.
If I could go back to specific moments of childhood for a “visit” and then go back to adulthood, I would do it. I would choose to go back to age 10. At ten, I was at the top of the world. Not old enough to be burdened with puberty and major responsibilties, but not too young to enjoy some freedom and have knowledge of both person and world. At ten, I was going to be an astronaut/artist/writer. I wasn’t conscious of my weakness or insecurities, nor was I cognizant of the unfairness of the world. I could do anything I wanted to do. That’s what I would want to experience again. Besides being cute and believing in Santa, five really doesn’t have much to offer. I couldn’t even ride a bike or tie my shoes when I was five. What kind of friggin’ life is that?
Yes, yes, yes to avoiding dealing with childhood again - just because even though mine wasn’t all bad, it was rough enough. And having to deal with the worries of screwing up what I did like about my future would be such a headache, especially because as a kid you have little control over your life. I wouldn’t mind restarting from the beginning of college, though.
I’d definitely still go after the guy who ended up being my husband - except this time around I’d dump my previous boyfriend earlier, and hopefully not do the stuff that hurt my now-husband back then.
If I were told I had go back to the same circumstances I grew up in, I really can’t say if I wouldn’t just kill myself instead. I did it once, and don’t have the energy to go it again.
I don’t know about going back into a family without a psycho father. All the shit I went through has gotten has contributed to who I am, loose nuts and all.
Of course, I really love my wife, and would never want to lose her, so this thread exclused me anyway.
It depends - would it be the same as before, or would it be different? I mean, would I be a kid now, maybe with different parents, or would it be 1982 again, and I’ve got the same folks? The former has appeal, the latter not so much.
Being a middle class kid now might be fun. Sometimes I do wish I was born later, since the world got a heck of a lot more interesting in the mid-90s. It might also be interesting to have parents who didn’t have the same, um, issues, as mine do. I love my parents, but I think they’ve made me kind of neurotic. I’d really miss my brother, though. Can I have a copy of him with my new family?
I’d only go back to 1982 if I retained the knowledge of what has come since then. The only reason I’d ever want to relive things would be to make different choices. But if the option was to go back blindly, no way. I’d just make the same wrong choices all over again, I’m sure of it.
There is no way in hell I would want to start over again and go back to being a kid. Even retaining the knowledge I have now. Childhood was pure hell. The social aspects of it alone were enough to make me never want to repeat it. I was mercilessly teased from the time I started school til I finished. When I finished high school, I was so glad to be DONE with it finally. I have never seen any of those people since, and I have no desire to see them ever again.
Now if you asked me if I would like to go back to being 18 and repeat the last 18 years or so, I might say yes. There are some things I wish I could do over again, now that I know what I want to do with my life.
Old Peanuts strip: Lucy asks Charlie Brown what he would say if someone offered him his life to live over. Charlie Brown asks: You mean, exactly as it was? No changes? Yup, answers Lucy, what would you say?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
I’m with Charlie Brown on this one. I got out of there alive and I’m not going back in.
This really sums up how I feel about it. I wouldn’t live my life over either way. Life gets annoying sometimes, and sometimes I think back to awkward moments in middle school or mistakes I’ve made and cringe, but overall, I’m happy now. If I kept my current knowledge, I would miss my current life too much if I suddenly became 5 years old, whether everyone else stayed the same or reverted with me. Not to mention the sheer frustration of having my current knowledge and freedom suddenly scoffed at and curtailed because I’m physically a child.
If I didn’t keep my current knowledge…what’s the point? Life might turn out differently, but I could make worse mistakes, I could avoid some, but in balance it would probably turn out all right. And then there’s the risk that I’d never form the current relationships I have, which I value quite a bit. But money? Hell yes, hand it over, pleasure doing business with you. Any amount. I’d honestly rather have $0.75 for a pack of gum than return to my childhood.
This, however:
is something that I’ve always dreamed about. I’d love to have a longer life and have more experiences, but I want them to be in the future, starting with my life as the way it is now. I’ve seen the past–it’s the future I’m curious about.
Childhood is an endless parade of dashed expectations as reality collides with the platitudes hopeful parents teach their kids. “Just be yourself” is terrible advice unless you are perpetually cheerful and upbeat. “Just do your best” assures a letdown when kids learn their best is frequently just not good enough. And don’t get me started on “You can be anything you put your mind to”; I’m sure anyone within earshot of my trumpet lessons regrets ever putting that notion in my head.
Wow, I see alot of bitter memories for some folks.
I had a kickass childhood. And I would do it again if given the chance. Why ride a roller coaster just once if you can get right back into line again? Sure, there a couple dips, but the highs are worth it.
Oh man you could not pay me to be five years old again.
I spent my entire childhood dodging crap that other kids threw at me. I was afraid to show my face at school because I knew it’d be six hours of mocking against which I was defenseless. Now, if people throw stuff at me I can have them arrested for assault. The psychological pain that children go through is just as real as that of adults, but for some reason it is completely dismissed as “kids will be kids”.
I also greatly relish being in control of my life. Here in Cameroon I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, and I don’t think they would have let me come here at five years old. I go where I want to go, I do what I want to do, I eat what I want to eat. I can have ice cream for dinner if I want (and i often do!). It’s great.
The idea that it would be easier, or that we can “daydream” through class because we would still have our ‘same’ mind seems suspicious to me.
My daughter plays the violin, and I try to learn as she learns, as is the Suzuki method. Well, it aint quite that easy. She picks up all the lessons easily, and I struggle and get lost.
I have heard it said that each generation is born with the ability to solve the problems of their own time. It is that idea that makes me hesitant to go back to childhood if I could.
As for people who are saying , “why would I give up the chance to live as an adult and make my own choices?”, I didn’t understand the OP to mean that you wouldn’t be able to do that. You would still get the chance to be an adult, eventually, and also get the chance to live out childhood again. I wonder if I would be able to resist that.
