Do you ever feel like you can't possibly be as old as you are?
I often have a sort of flashback to high school feeling, where, even though I'm an adult, I feel like I'm not in control of my life. Like I still have a bunch of people older than me telling me what to do.
Do any of you ever feel that way, or am I just weird?
I'm not sure what it is. It could just be normal, but I wonder if that feeling is part of why I write for teens. In a way, I still kind of feel like one.
For example, the other day I had a friend telling me about problems she was having with her teen. Now, this person is close to my age, and I'm a parent, too (though my kids aren't teens yet), so I should have sympathized with her. I did, a little, but I mostly found myself feeling bad for the teen. Now, I don't know this teen personally, and I don't know the whole story. But it was weird.
So I wonder, is it just me, or is this normal, or is this what makes us successful at writing for teens/children? A sort of eternally youthful outlook, or something.
Are you young at heart?
heck yeah -- I'm still in shock that my oldest starts Kindergarten this week... or that the kids going to college this year were born while I was in high school. *gulp* And it still takes me back when someone calls me ma'am. How did this happen??
ReplyDeleteDefinitely young at heart. I laugh at Phineas and Ferb, my husband and I talk potty talk at the dinner table, and I headbang with teens at concerts.
ReplyDeleteBut even with that, I still am an overprotective mom that worries about her kids and makes them eat their vegetables.
Jessie - My middle one started Kindergarten! Ack! Two more years, and all three will be in elementary. Unreal.
ReplyDeleteKelly - I'm so bad I don't really worry about vegetables (cuz I don't like 'em). LOL. Phineas and Ferb is HILARIOUS. I love iCarly, too. :)
Nope, not just you. I still sometimes feel like I have people older than me telling me what to do...although I have to say it's getting less. Haha, the day will come when my kids tell me what to do, as I now mostly tell my mom what to do. And I do often sympathize with the child even when a mom WAY YOUNGER than me is being all mom-like. Some parents/adults lose their ability to put themselves in a child's place and others don't, and I do think writers belong to the second group.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on this one. In fact I wrote a similar blog post this week about feeling like a little kid sometimes, while everyone else is 'growing up'. I think it's great that you're young at heart :-)
ReplyDeleteI feel that I'm young at heart, but that I'm in control of my life.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to feel in control, though. Throughout my twenties I had older people steering me around, but then I figured I'm their peer and at their level, so they have no rights over me.