[Ballbag]

So, I'm 29 now, and a fully grown adult. I don't have homework anymore, I can stay out as long as I please, I can wear shoes in my sitting room if I like, I can legally drink beer and I can (if I wanted) bring girls home whenever I want.

BUT.... I've had to fork out £4000 on a new roof, the car's been scratched all down one side, if I'm hungry I have to cook something, mamma ballbag doesn't bring it on a plate to me anymore and I've got an appraisal today which may or may not determine my bonus this year.

I'm starting to ponder which pros outweigh which cons. Is it better to be an adult with all the freedom I could want, but with all the responsibility that comes with it. Or is child hood better, a time where you don't care what the chancellor says, or how much petrol costs or if you've got enough food in..... that sort of stuff gets sorted out by mamma ballbag.

It's a difficult one, and I aint sussed it out yet.

Discuss.

[Vivienne]

Both have their advantages:

Childhood - no responsibilities; opportunities to be covered in muck; chance to run wild; climb trees and punch all the boys.

Adulthood - responsibilities ( but that's a good thing too, because you're learning & growing, then you can pass your knowledge on to others). On-going opportunities to be covered in muck.

[Yudster]

Does it matter? Whatever you decide, you can't change your circumstances to any significant extent.

[Vivienne]

It is something I think about... sometimes when I hear certain music from the past, I'll remember something "innocent", etc., and compare then with now. That's totally normal.

[Yudster]

Absolutely, nothing wrong with nostalgia. But I'd be very wary of starting any thought process which might lead me to a place where I decided that I preferred being a child to being an adult - because if I came to that conclusion, I couldn't do a damn thing about it (well not without causing a hell of a lot of problems for a lot of people), and that would inevitably lead to unhappiness, depression, and misery. So I prefer to accept life as it is now (pretty crap at the moment), and not wish I were something else.

[Nicola_Red]

I think as long as you remain single and childfree you have more choice in the way you live. I mean obviously you need money from somewhere and you have to feed and clothe and wash yourself, but if I decided to, say, quit my job and go and live in a caravan and spend all day daydreaming and acting in what might be considered a 'childlike' way, I don't have to answer to anyone, i could just do it.

[Vivienne]

Me too, I like that: no kids, no husband, so I'm on the loose.

[Yudster]

I think as long as you remain single and childfree you have more choice in the way you live. I mean obviously you need money from somewhere and you have to feed and clothe and wash yourself, but if I decided to, say, quit my job and go and live in a caravan and spend all day daydreaming and acting in what might be considered a 'childlike' way, I don't have to answer to anyone, i could just do it.

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, not childlike at all. It would only become childlike surely if you were acting in that way but actually had the husband and the children and the dog and all of that, only then does it become irresponsible (and baggie was linking "childhood" with lack of responsibility). If you don't have responsibilities of that sort, surely you can't be irresponsible in that way?

[pjordan2000]

Well i've found the thing i've missed the most from living at home is not having any real spare money. When i lived at home, i had £200 housekeeping to pay and the rest was mine with the only real guranteed outgoing was petrol.

But now i live on my own, when i get paid i have to consider food, gas electric, water, rent, tv license, council tax...and petrol and don't really have money for me.

All in all though, i would much prefer the way my situation is now as the independance is priceless.

[Yudster]

I may print that post off, laminate it, frame it and present it to my 19 year old son........

[S4B]

Me too, I like that: no kids, no husband, so I'm on the loose.

Foots, RUN, HIDE now!

[Boboff]

There is nothing as fun sounding as a primary school playground at break time.

With age comes responsibility and freedom to decide. I think you never really believe you are an adult though, you just pretend.

However you are an Adult, and probably carrying a few issues.

If you can stop worrying about the money and the job, and try to recreate the carefree fun of the playground, you will have found a little bit of happiness, and possibly sanity. Take the contentment of a child, and stop worrying about money, we all have enough, honest.

[Yudster]

Tell that to my mortgage company.

[Vivienne]

There is nothing as fun sounding as a primary school playground at break time.

With age comes responsibility and freedom to decide. I think you never really believe you are an adult though, you just pretend.

However you are an Adult, and probably carrying a few issues.

If you can stop worrying about the money and the job, and try to recreate the carefree fun of the playground, you will have found a little bit of happiness, and possibly sanity. Take the contentment of a child, and stop worrying about money, we all have enough, honest.

That's a beautiful post.

[Zoot]

Tell that to my mortgage company.

You own a mortgage company????

[Yudster]

Of course I do Zoot. Thats obviously exactly what I meant.

[Boboff]

Well I have enough anyway, and so would you if you sold up and rented, or downsized. If the money is hurting then you can change it. We have a choice.

If you have less disposable income than a family living on benefits then there is something very wrong.

Chin up though, interest rates will fall another half before Christmas !