Peter Pan syndrome is a deep-seated belief that one will never, and must never, grow up. It is named after the legendary character of the same name who lived in Neverland, a place where kids are immune to aging.
Continue reading "What Is Peter Pan Syndrome?" ›Children are urged to act like adults from the moment they are conscious enough to do household chores. Many people consider childhood to be an inferior version of adulthood, an awkward younger phase that culminates with “growing up.” In this view, childhood is merely a passing state, a transient period on the way to a finished product, like food cooking in an oven.
Continue reading "Is It Really Necessary To Grow Up?" ›People tend to talk about childhood and adulthood like they are completely distinct phases of life. One is supposed to be an early period of growth, where a person undergoes great physical and psychological changes. The other is supposed to be a time when a person goes about achieving his long-term goals, which usually includes working and starting a family. Between childhood and adulthood is adolescence, a time when one’s decisions and experiences determine the type of adult one will become. It is interesting to thing about where exactly in that hazy time of life one officialy becomes an adult. Is it when you get the keys to your first car? Is it when you take your first job? Is it when you finally leave your parent’s home? Does this point even occur during so-called adolesence, or does adulthood actually arrive when you are in your early thirties?
Continue reading "When Does A Child Become An Adult?" ›Childhood is a term used to denote a patchwork of memories, fabricated and designed wholly by a single mind, and imbued with a magical wistfulness known as nostalgia. The brain creates childhood by recalling and interpreting its memories, sometimes honestly and sometimes not. It forges childhood with a protective instinct, conforming it to the emotional needs of the individual. Although childhood is not a neat construction, the mind automatically organizes it into a treelike structure, with central themes branching off into events and moments, the smallest of which make up the jagged outer edges of the leaves. Few people truly examine their childhood, but all are guided by it. It is the least tangible, but the most powerful, influence in a person’s life.
Continue reading "My Definition Of Childhood" ›"Our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.” We know nothing of what happened before our birth, and we certainly know nothing of what will happen after we die. Movies, slide shows, and accounts of what life was like in other times are all fascinating to contemplate, but we cannot ever truly know what it is like to exist outside of our lifespan. The only period of time over which we have any influence is our own, and that is why life should be enjoyed as heartily as possible.
Continue reading "Why Is Childhood Important?" ›Here are some of the more important benchmarks of sexuality that occur in childhood. I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible.
Continue reading "Timeline Of Sexuality" ›Coming from a divorced family, I do not have the privilege of being able to take marriage for granted. The expectation many children have of getting married in their twenties, starting a life with their spouse, and growing old together is not as firmly implanted in my mind. Rather, it is a romantic possibility - something I hope to attain. But I also have many questions about it.
Continue reading "Understanding Marriage" ›Romance was a whole lot better when we were eleven. Back then, there was so much more to hope for, so much more to wonder and worry about. In the end, all of the hype basically boiled down to one essential question: whether or not someone liked you. If a girl liked you, you were consumed with elation. You were sparkling with specialness. Liking a girl was exciting and mischievious; it meant you thought she was pretty, that you wanted to kiss her - about as bold a declaration as you could make in sixth grade.
Continue reading "How Has Romance Changed Since We Were Eleven Years Old?" ›I have wavered on the question of whether true love really exists since the first time I told a girl I loved her nine years ago. Up until recently, I thought love was an elusive feeling, more of an ideal than a reality, something that could be felt in fragments during a beginning-of-relationship fascination but never achieved in the way shown in novels and movies. With all of my long-term girlfriends, I thought I was in love during the relationship, but then questioned the feeling afterwards. I wasn’t able to say with certainty that I had experienced love. In retrospect, I think the “love” I felt in the past was actually a sum of physical attraction, a strong fondness for the girl’s personality, and a desire to be within the security of a relationship. What I have learned is that true love requires one ingredient more powerful than any of those factors: vulnerability.
Continue reading "Vulnerability In Love" ›The feeling of being tucked away in a tiny, remote niche is one of ultimate security. Apart from the coziness factor, knowing that you are in a place where you can’t be found has a certain excitement to it. When I build a house one day, I’d like to have a secret door in one of the walls that leads to my own private lair - a place with the coolness of a treehouse and the secrecy of an underground headquarters. I can’t remember the last time I found an intimate little nook like that, although I can easily picture the recessed rock or hollow oak that I would like to lay in and just think for hours, away from the eyes of the world.
Continue reading "Being In A Small, Cozy Niche" ›
