Don't You Dare Grow Up On Me!

In a scant eight months I will have one high school senior and one high school freshman. Clearly they did not listen to me all these years I have been ordering them to stop growing up so fast. Since they are such a sore disappointment in that area, I have turned to the youngest two as my salvation.

They better never, ever grow up. I'm serious this time.

Actually, I'm on opposite ends of the spectrum with the youngest boys right now. On one hand, I want the baby to hurry up and get a little bigger so that he can come home and be with the rest of his loud, crazy and boisterous family. (But that's it! No more growing up after that! I mean it!) On the other hand, I want my six year old (oops, I mean my six and a half year old) to stay six forever. I think he's great the age that he is now.

Remember when you were a kid and all the adults told you not to be in such a hurry to grow up? "You'll look back on these years and wish you could be a kid again." Remember secretly scoffing at the idea that you'd ever not want to be anything other than a cool grown up who can drive, eat all the junk food they want, AND get to have a job so you can make money to buy things? Well, now I'm the grown up telling my kids that same old crap. (I don't think they're buying it either.)

Why do we gain all this "wisdom with age" if no one listens to us when we're all prophetic and knowledgeable? What good is the experience doing for us when our hard headed kids have to make their own mistakes before they realize their parents might actually have a clue about something? (And why can't we just skip that phase where our kids think we don't know a single thing about anything? Wouldn't that be nice?)

Here is a perfect example of why my kids need to stay little: Yesterday I bought the six year old a watch. It wasn't expensive, just a small trinket of a digital watch that will probably get washed in the shower (because he won't want to take it off) or lost under a bed. But do you know what? I was the greatest mom ever for buying him that watch. He said, no less than 4 times last night, "This is great. I always wonder what time it is and now I'll know." When's the last time you were excited about knowing what time it is? Um, how about never? Because adults always have a complaint about time. Not enough time. Already time to go to work. Too little weekend time. We're just never happy. A six year old doesn't have that problem. He's thrilled to know it's 3:30 in the afternoon.

So to my "baby" boys, please listen to your Mama. Don't be in a hurry to grow up. Stay in cozy jammies as long as you can. Continue to think that farts are the most hilarious thing ever, even when it's just the ketchup bottle making that same noise at the dinner table. Most of all, never outgrow the size of a hug or a snuggle with your Mom.

Aw, can't I get mine super sized?