From age 11 up to 16/17, I rebelled against the thought of being a kid.  I tried hard to be "grown".

But now that I'm 18 I find myself increasingly looking back ony my childhood in a positive light, and now I'm not caught up in being adult.  Infact I've found myself going back to things from my childhood I've previously set aside, such as my love for heros like Batman, Superman, X-men, Spider-man etc.

I remember Marty mentioning a similar experience, I want to see just how common this is.

I didn't really rebel against being a kid, thankfully.  I just grew out of it.  I never purposefully cast aside childhood things for the sake of acting "grown".  When I did cast away childhood things, it was because I grew out of them, not because I rebelled against being a kid, unless it's a subconscious thing or something.  I did start getting nostalgic for my childhood around age 16 (I'm 17 now) and I still look at it as the "best times of my life".

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It's probably because you're going to puberty and are truly growing up.  This probably triggers the attitude.  As stated, I never really rebelled against my childhood, but I did feel that I was "too old" to enjoy certain things.  I never outright rejected some childhood thing because I wanted to be more grown up, but I do think it was sort of in my subconscious.  For example, I would've loved Shrek when I was younger, but when I saw, I tried so hard not to laugh cause I thought, being a 13 year old in audience of 8 year olds, that I was too old for it.  Now, I love the movie, even if I do find it overrated.

Also, is it just me or does this rebellion against childhood mainly apply to guys?  I remember seeing 13 year old girls at school openly liking Spongebob and Disney, but no guy would openly admit to liking those things.

^ Very good point.

We're all different so I don't want to generalize, but yeah, I think it is more common for guys to feel that way. I did -- although strangely, I never had alot of other "typical guy traits", like doing stunts or other stuff just to show off for some girl (okay, I've done that a little ;D, but still not that frequently).

While I'm sure some girls don't feel the same "growing up" pressures we did, I have known some who equally wouldn't want to be in a movie filled with 8 year olds when they were 13. In fact, some would probably be even more embarrased about it than we were (i.e. "Uggh, I don't want my friends seeing me here!"). ;)

Well.. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable enough yet to go to the theater to see one(kids movie), but I'd feel comfortable going to the store and buying the DVD now.

From age 11 up to 16/17, I rebelled against the thought of being a kid.  I tried hard to be "grown".

But now that I'm 18 I find myself increasingly looking back ony my childhood in a positive light, and now I'm not caught up in being adult.  Infact I've found myself going back to things from my childhood I've previously set aside, such as my love for heros like Batman, Superman, X-men, Spider-man etc.

I remember Marty mentioning a similar experience, I want to see just how common this is.



Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm 18 too and for about the past year I've started to feel the same way about my childhood. About 2 or so years ago I wouldn't have been caught dead watching a cartoon for fear that I'd be caught. I felt like I had to act "grown-up" to be considered "grown-up". But now that I'm officially an adult it seems like I dont care anymore. I'd imagine this is pretty common though.

is it just me or does this rebellion against childhood mainly apply to guys?


Nah I think it's about the same.  I have a friend who is 14 (and I'm almost 17) so a lot of times a couple years ago I would see movies like "Brother Bear" with her.  While I enjoyed the movie, in the back of my mind I'd also be thinking "Oh my gosh I can't believe I'm in the theater watching BROTHER BEAR"  But now, the last time I talked to her, we've been sharing the same "nostalgic memories of childhood" stuff so I'm not really that embarrassed anymore.  I think from 10-14 I had that "wanting to be an adult" feeling, and then not long after I turned 15 I got really depressed and wondered "What the hell happened to my childhood?"

I had a talk like that with my mom and she said "I remember late teens being really tough because people aren't sure if they're supposed to treat you like a kid or an adult, and so some do one way and others do the opposite", which is very true.  Then she added "It doesn't matter if you're grown up you can still do the things you did in your childhood and enjoy them".  I think it pretty much applies to everyone.

Yes....when I was younger, I never really rebelled...but I always wanted to be older. I never liked the things that my parents did, but now that I am an adult..I find myself liking nearly everything that my parents liked, and I tend to flock to things that remind me constantly of my past/childhood.

I never felt that inexplicable, supposedly universal urge to discard my childish ways and 'grow up.' I guess I was a smart and perceptive kid, and knew how valuable and fleeting one's childhood is. I guess I was quite a morbid child. I always thought that since life was so short, I'd want to hold on to every minute, every hour of every day to get the most out of life.

Nah I think it's about the same.  I have a friend who is 14 (and I'm almost 17) so a lot of times a couple years ago I would see movies like "Brother Bear" with her.  While I enjoyed the movie, in the back of my mind I'd also be thinking "Oh my gosh I can't believe I'm in the theater watching BROTHER BEAR"  But now, the last time I talked to her, we've been sharing the same "nostalgic memories of childhood" stuff so I'm not really that embarrassed anymore.  I think from 10-14 I had that "wanting to be an adult" feeling, and then not long after I turned 15 I got really depressed and wondered "What the hell happened to my childhood?"

I had a talk like that with my mom and she said "I remember late teens being really tough because people aren't sure if they're supposed to treat you like a kid or an adult, and so some do one way and others do the opposite", which is very true.  Then she added "It doesn't matter if you're grown up you can still do the things you did in your childhood and enjoy them".  I think it pretty much applies to everyone.


Yeah...that definitely happened to me around the time I was 15...I had a mid-teens crisis or something. Or even 14 and 1/2.

Yeah...that definitely happened to me around the time I was 15...I had a mid-teens crisis or something. Or even 14 and 1/2.


I was too busy living in my own little world to care.  ::)

Yeah...that definitely happened to me around the time I was 15...I had a mid-teens crisis or something. Or even 14 and 1/2.


Mid-teens crisis at 14 1/2? I was just starting to become a real teen then, and you were having a mid-teens crisis?

Yeah...that definitely happened to me around the time I was 15...I had a mid-teens crisis or something. Or even 14 and 1/2.


Yeah, most adolescents tend to have crises around the 14 1/2 to 14 and 9 months mark, it's a common thing.

Don't mind me, just being stupid... ::)

Yeah, most adolescents tend to have crises around the 14 1/2 to 14 and 9 months mark, it's a common thing.

Don't mind me, just being stupid... ::)


Yeah, it's definitely common. I think your "mid-teens crisis" where you transition from a "young teenager" to an "older teenager", and it usually happens from people around the time they're 14 and 1/2 to 16...like in 9th or the beginning of 10th grade.

Yeah, it's definitely common. I think your "mid-teens crisis" where you transition from a "young teenager" to an "older teenager", and it usually happens from people around the time they're 14 and 1/2 to 16...like in 9th or the beginning of 10th grade.


I think my development was very stunted in comparison to normal teens - I was pretty mature compared to my peers, yet in many ways still felt like a 12yo throughout high school because I hadn't done many of the things which I thought most teens should have done. I didn't go to all their parties, never really indulged in alcohol.etc throughout high school, and while I never really cared too much about those, few teens growing up in that environment are really immune to feeling this way.