Is it safe to say that with a child, us (meaning parents) are welcoming the idea of being young again? Reflecting on our pasts and the way we once were. Sharing the things we once loved and cherished, the things that were special to us, and instilling that in our children. Are we forced to think young, pretend young, love young, and be young again? Are we reconnecting with something that was once so familiar to us, yet because of this crazy world and that whole “growing up” thing, we’ve lost touch with the child within?

Besides the excitement of having a child, I’m excited to open them to all the things I think a child would love, along with the things I loved when I was young. To stay young, you must think young, pretend young. Something I’ve been open to throughout my life. Though some may find it juvenile and immature, I find it refreshing to think I’m tapping into my young creative conscious and forcing me to think differently. 

Though we must act as parents and role models and the mature adults that we are, I think it is equally important to show our children that we aren’t all  that far off from one another in the things we dream and inspire to do. Our children are the ones that keep us young, though some may have the tendencies to turn us old (or prematurely gray from all that worrying). For the same reason our children look to us for guidance, we look to them for the simple joys of life. Because a child is so innocent without the worries and struggles of life, those joys are within everything a child does. 

Not sure what I’m trying to say, but I’m excited to pretend like a kid again, even though I’m physically not. Though my body has grown old, my mindset has stayed young. I look forward to the idea of watching children’s cartoons, reading children’s books, coloring in coloring books, getting dirty, building a fort, climbing a tree, or anything else my kid may force me to do. For those of you who have lost that innocent feeling, hopefully you’ve been able to reconnect with it or will soon find it again through the kids you have or plan on having.