I grew up seeing people my parents age looking like everything that was enjoyable was sucked right out of them while they'd say "I'm too old for x"
So I refused to do that growing up.
I'm almost 40, and I'll get excited over something for 10 year olds because I'm practically an uncle to all my friends kids.
"You got a new Lego set? Heck yeah let's go!"
Meanwhile when I was 10, I'd hear "huh, new legos? And how is that going to prepare you for life? When I was your age I was working three jobs already."
I saw something similar going up. Anytime you expressed joy or being excited about something someone would start the god damn suffering Olympics. Drove me nuts, and it still happens even now. Suffering for sufferings sake is stupid.
My Dad is a champion at this, "nail polish is for 10 year olds, at your age you should be having 3 kids already". Alright then who is going to feed the kids? You want them to all turn into criminals in this dangerous economy?
My dad is an "at your age" champion too, meanwhile i'm subtly trying to tell his ass to do something else than work his health away and watch tv on the sofa. Hhhhhhh °_• each to their own •_°
I love that human being and look up to him but ffs live a little or something, now i sound just like him in a way lol..
I love my inlaws, they're awesome! But he's the guy where you could tell him "I just got hired at XYZ place!" And his only response is "so when are they making you CEO?"
🫠 He's also the one that believes still you can walk into a place, give the manager a FIRM handshake, hand him your resume, and that will and you a job immediately.
One of my best friend's dad is like this. Shits on him for being a 30 year old gamer with a kid. He takes care of his kid just simply plays when he's asleep as he works from home and on his own schedule.
Would get told constantly growing up that games were a waste of time. Yet he sits on the couch for hours after work watching soccer all day and fails to see the irony.
I only give my kids the “at your age” thing when they complain about household chores like dishes. “At your age I had to wash, dry and out them all away by myself” as opposed to one kid drying and the other putting away while I wash.
My dad can kinda get like this too. I always just hit em back with something in jest with a little prodding like, "Yep and look at ya now! Just a crabby ol whiner. That's a hard pass there dad."
My wife describes this exact behavior as her favorite aspect of my personality. She says she loves seeing me get exited like a kid for the things which bring me joy or for which I am passionate.
I, too, refuse to have joy sucked out of me because the generations before mine had the idea that “you’re too old for x” beaten into them.
My father tells a story about being younger and enjoying to draw. Some of his peers mocked that and he stopped drawing. My father is a very creative person who was never allowed to develop that skill, because someone predetermined that that’s not what was age appropriate.
If my joy for the little things offends someone, I politely remind them that they have a choice— they don’t need to be around me, if they don’t like how I behave.
When I was in my mid 20's I got up early to line up for Grateful Dead tickets at the local record store/ticketmaster outlet. I got really good seats and came home with a huge smile on my face. My mom said something like "when are you going to grow up and get tired of these concerts?" and I said "when was the last time something made you so happy you jumped up & down? why would I stop doing that?"
And at 55, I still get happy enough to jump up & down when I score good seats for a show 😄
How do you just keep that excitement going? Anything other than walking into a bar to see a show seems like way too much work, money and annoyance to deal with just to see some aging rockers lip sync.
Yeah when I was growing up I thought you had to be an alcoholic to enjoy your life because the only time I saw adults seeming to enjoy anything is when they were drinking. Now im 33 and hardly ever drink alcohol because I learned that being hungover sucks and I dont need to drink to have fun. Life lesson learned.
I always wanted one of the Droideka lego sets around the time The phantom menace came out. I was so happy to see they made a new droideka set I bought it and have it displayed next to my other prized legos set the Dune Ornithopter.
Yeah literally a few hours ago, at the store shopping for my nephew on my wife's side and I got him a book and was trying to explain to my wife that yes, he has a ton of car toys already BUT this 69 Pontiac and the 21 tacoma trd pro are definitely needed while the switch back there would also be cool. I just kept hearing things about "budget" and "you're just shopping for yourself at this point" but I mean, who doesn't want a 69 Pontiac???
629
u/cmdr_scotty 12h ago
I grew up seeing people my parents age looking like everything that was enjoyable was sucked right out of them while they'd say "I'm too old for x"
So I refused to do that growing up.
I'm almost 40, and I'll get excited over something for 10 year olds because I'm practically an uncle to all my friends kids.
"You got a new Lego set? Heck yeah let's go!"
Meanwhile when I was 10, I'd hear "huh, new legos? And how is that going to prepare you for life? When I was your age I was working three jobs already."