Grow Down!!

How do you feel about locking children in dark cupboards? Until I had Christopher, I thought this was a pretty excellent place to store them.

I have been thinking lately that this is what we do with our own inner children. They are neglected and stuffed away out of sight, out of mind and then we wonder why we are stressed, we wonder why we are down, we wonder why we feel incomplete. We wonder where the spark in our lives has gone and where the fun went. And then we feel guilty because we should be thinking about the million and one things that we have to do...should do...must do. We are all our own Atlas- bearing the weight of our adult worlds on our shoulders. But in our case this punishment is not inflicted by some malicious gods up Mount Olympus. No- much closer to home- generally by ourselves.

I admit there are times when we do have to be very grown up. But surely not every second of every day. How often does your inner child see the light of day? Would she even know how to come out and play?

Imagine a bunch of 4 years olds...Now imagine them acting like a bunch of 40 year olds? Are they having fun? In my imagination- no.

If I think about it- some of my memories of when I was most happy- my cherised memories are generally not of times when I was acting my most adult.

Sometimes- don't we just take ourselves and it all a little too seriously? And where does it get us? So for my part- I think a lot of us need to take the time to Grow Down! (even for a little while). This should not be confused with a ho-down. If you want a giggle- go and have a look at the rather bawdy definitions of a ho-down on http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ho%20down . And yes- that is another oft neglected childhood skill- laughing at the silly- seeing the ridiculous and delighting in nonsense.

For some help for those of you who have no idea what I am cracking on about- take a look at this site : http://www.stilesdesigns.com/ . That really appealed to my inner child and my imagination. Look at a few of the pictures from the site below:

I love that- Tree Houses and Forts even you can build... License to dream. I think that's what having a child gives you. I have been dreaming of a fort for Christopher and would love to get my hands on this book. Hopefully the dream doesn't end there.

When I was younger, my Dad built my brother and I a "treehouse". I use the term loosely. It never got past its stilt foundations. I can't remember why he never finished it. I can't remember if I ever asked. We did however still play on the structure that we referred to affectionately as the bomb shelter. My Dad is incredibly good with the DIY side and I don't mean destroy-it-youself. That is my speciality and I am such a ninny when it comes to these things I am even afraid of drills. I once tried though to hang a picture myself. I managed to relieve the wall of a chunk of plaster the size of a tennis ball. Luckily, once the picture was hung- it covered up all the evidence of my drilling operation (looked more like serious shrapnel damage). Another childish delight- plasters with pictures on them. I managed to skin my toe- but I find great delight in looking down at my toes in the bath and seeing my toe neatly wrapped in a Batman Plaster. Nice to think about when I am being adult and in my work clothes. I have a batman plaster on my toe. Batman is definitely one of my favourites. Another childish delight- I love Marvel comic movies. Pure escapism and a return to childish optimism and the way the world should be- where you know the good guy is going to win in the end- even if he does have to wear a rather kinky leather get-up to achieve this. When I grow up I want to drive the Bat mobile... But given that it recently sold for $297 000, maybe not. But so good to see that someone out there is living one of my favourite bumper stickers, seen on the bumbers of obscenely expensive cars: It's never too late to have happy childhood.