Why Grow Up?
There’s yet another interesting article online today about a new book that proclaims to prove what I’ve known for years -- that it’s okay to never completely grow up.
I fully understand this concept. Why, I’m the guy who wears a Mickey Mouse tie to formal events. I’d rather go to Disneyland or WDW than just about any other place on Earth. I take great delight in new Disney DVDs and Pixar movies.
As for the naysayers, well they can go put on a sweater, yell at the neighbor kids to stay off their lawn, and complain about the weather while they slowly become prunes.
Nope. Not me. I’ll keep my youth alive and well for as long as I possibly can. And with any luck, I’ll still be in line for Splash Mountain with a chocolate-dipped frozen banana in one hand and The Lovely Mrs. G’s hand in the other, smiling away when I’m 90 on the outside.
‘Cause I’ll still be 12 on the inside.
* * * * *
Rejuveniles" reinvent meaning of adulthood
Mom is at a pajama party. Dad is organizing a rock, paper, scissors tournament. Will they ever grow up and start behaving like adults or are they part of a new breed of "rejuveniles?"
Playful adults -- those who refuse to give up fun just because they have a mortgage -- are redefining what it means to be a grown-up in the 21st century, says writer Chris Noxon.
"Once upon a time boys and girls grew up and set aside childish things. Nowadays adults buy cars marketed to consumers half their age, dress in schoolyard fashions and play with their children in ways adults of previous generations would have found ridiculous.
"Most have busy lives and adult responsibilities. They are not stunted adolescents. They are something new: rejuveniles," said Noxon.
Noxon's book "Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown Up" explores a world of skateboarding moms, judges who visit Disneyland at least once a month -- without kids -- and "playalong parents" who have as much (and sometimes more) fun than their kids at watergun tournaments, tag and dodgeball.
Cars like the VW Beetle and the Lego-shaped Honda Element have gone cute, macaroni and cheese is back on the menu, and the "Hello Kitty" cartoon cat grins on everything from toasters to vibrators.
Noxon, 37, discovered his own rejuvenile tendencies a few years ago. "I had a couple of kids, a minivan, a mortgage and a pretty high-stressed job but I didn't really feel like an adult," the Los Angeles writer told Reuters.
Asking around, he found plenty of people who felt the same. "So many of the people I talked to said there were huge parts of them that felt pretty childlike, or childish. I felt I had stumbled into a fairly dramatic shift in our understanding of what adulthood is," he said.
In two years of research, Noxon found that half of the people who visit Disneyworld are adults without kids, making the theme park the most popular adult vacation destination in the world, and more 18-34-year-olds watch Cartoon Network than CNN or any other cable news channel.
Noxon says the trend is not confined to the United States. In Britain, rejuveniles are called "grups" or "kidults" and in Japan a thriving kid culture provides a stark contrast between adult playtime and the serious job of work.
Noxon attributes much of the trend to the fact that people are having children later, living longer and have more disposable income. But youth culture along with the so-called age of anxiety have also played a part.
* * * * *
I fully understand this concept. Why, I’m the guy who wears a Mickey Mouse tie to formal events. I’d rather go to Disneyland or WDW than just about any other place on Earth. I take great delight in new Disney DVDs and Pixar movies.
As for the naysayers, well they can go put on a sweater, yell at the neighbor kids to stay off their lawn, and complain about the weather while they slowly become prunes.
Nope. Not me. I’ll keep my youth alive and well for as long as I possibly can. And with any luck, I’ll still be in line for Splash Mountain with a chocolate-dipped frozen banana in one hand and The Lovely Mrs. G’s hand in the other, smiling away when I’m 90 on the outside.
‘Cause I’ll still be 12 on the inside.
* * * * *
Rejuveniles" reinvent meaning of adulthood
Mom is at a pajama party. Dad is organizing a rock, paper, scissors tournament. Will they ever grow up and start behaving like adults or are they part of a new breed of "rejuveniles?"
Playful adults -- those who refuse to give up fun just because they have a mortgage -- are redefining what it means to be a grown-up in the 21st century, says writer Chris Noxon.
"Once upon a time boys and girls grew up and set aside childish things. Nowadays adults buy cars marketed to consumers half their age, dress in schoolyard fashions and play with their children in ways adults of previous generations would have found ridiculous.
"Most have busy lives and adult responsibilities. They are not stunted adolescents. They are something new: rejuveniles," said Noxon.
Noxon's book "Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown Up" explores a world of skateboarding moms, judges who visit Disneyland at least once a month -- without kids -- and "playalong parents" who have as much (and sometimes more) fun than their kids at watergun tournaments, tag and dodgeball.
Cars like the VW Beetle and the Lego-shaped Honda Element have gone cute, macaroni and cheese is back on the menu, and the "Hello Kitty" cartoon cat grins on everything from toasters to vibrators.
Noxon, 37, discovered his own rejuvenile tendencies a few years ago. "I had a couple of kids, a minivan, a mortgage and a pretty high-stressed job but I didn't really feel like an adult," the Los Angeles writer told Reuters.
Asking around, he found plenty of people who felt the same. "So many of the people I talked to said there were huge parts of them that felt pretty childlike, or childish. I felt I had stumbled into a fairly dramatic shift in our understanding of what adulthood is," he said.
In two years of research, Noxon found that half of the people who visit Disneyworld are adults without kids, making the theme park the most popular adult vacation destination in the world, and more 18-34-year-olds watch Cartoon Network than CNN or any other cable news channel.
Noxon says the trend is not confined to the United States. In Britain, rejuveniles are called "grups" or "kidults" and in Japan a thriving kid culture provides a stark contrast between adult playtime and the serious job of work.
Noxon attributes much of the trend to the fact that people are having children later, living longer and have more disposable income. But youth culture along with the so-called age of anxiety have also played a part.
* * * * *
posted by Tommy G at
11:24 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home