Thursday, March 24, 2016

Beyond the Books: What I Miss About Being a Kid

This week I'm linking up with KissinBlueKaren for Beyond the Books.  This is a meme where we all answer a non-bookish question.  It's always so fun to see everyone's answers and get a peak at the blogger beyond the books.  This week's topic is - What I Miss About Being a Kid.

My Grandfather and his older brother Jake around 1925
Really this topic couldn't have come at a better time.  I just found a ton of old family photos from my mother's side of the family so I'm up to my ears in old pictures and am feeling a touch nostalgic.

I am the short clown - 2nd from the left - around 1984
My Mother and me - I'll let her hair date the photo

I really don't miss being a kid.  I didn't have an unhappy childhood or anything but I like being an adult WAY better than being a child.  I like being in charge of my own time and my own decisions.  Yes, sometimes that responsibility is stressful but I'd much rather have it than not be in charge of anything like I was when I was a kid.

My Aunt and me - 1981ish
I do miss being able to spend a whole day reading but I plan on doing that again at some point when I have less small children.
Same Aunt as a little girl with her brother.  I love the old school zoo with the chain length fence!

I think the main thing I miss from being a kid is that sense of timelessness.  The feeling that my world and the people in it are going to just stay the same forever.  As time has gone on my family has shrunk and become less connected as people have passed away, moved away, or become unable to visit as often for whatever reason.

My Aunt Mary and Aunt Clara with a couple of cousins.  Aunt Mary was the most proper Southern woman you could ever meet but with a hidden rather wicked sense of humor and Aunt Clara was glamorous and mischievous and always up for an adventure.
My Grandmother with one of my uncles - early 1950s
My Grandfather with my uncle 1951

Really this post is just an excuse to show some old photos that I found.  I hope I haven't bored you too much!  What do you miss about being kid?

23 comments:

  1. I love looking through old photos!! I think I just miss not having so much stress and responsibilities. I get overwhelmed so easily and think it was just easier as a kid!

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  2. I love old photos too! I just joined Ancestry.com so I'm okay with all the nostalgia and memories. It's fun. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. I love these. Such wonderful pictures and it's nice to hear about your family and good times. Your mother's hair - yes, I can date that pretty well. So pretty - both of you. I don't really miss being a kid either, but maybe that's because my favorite thing was reading, reading, reading, and it still is. ;-)

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  4. Loving the old photos! I had such a large family that was always fighting, I think I've found more peace as an adult now that most have gone on to live their own lives. I regret not knowing more of my mom's side of the family, but thanks to Facebook I'm getting that chance, though they're now in another state.

    I too miss spending all day reading. I'm looking forward to when my LO wants to read for longer periods, because then I can too. :)

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  5. I love that you shared these photos. I feel the same way. I don't really want to be a kid again, and even though I have so much more responsibility now and as adult, it's an okay trade with me.

    But I also miss some of the family that have since passed away.

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  6. Lovely post! Not boring at all; I love to look through old photos. You resemble your mother so much in my opinion! Her face in that older photo and your face in your recent photos-- very similar.

    I can relate to that loss of the child's conception that the world stays the same and everyone stays with you forever. So melancholy, but true.

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  7. I wish I had explored everything more as a kid but oh well, late bloomer I am. Lovely post. Loved the old photos.

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  8. Love the old photos! They are so fun to look at, aren't they? I don't miss being a kid most of the time. I think it's just little things...like summers off and certain experiences.

    -Lauren
    www.letsgetbeyondtolerance.blogspot.com

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  9. I think so too about the timelessness. When you're a kid summer seems to go on forever (at least I thought so) and everything is simpler, although some of that is nostalgia I'm sure, but it's amazing how we're formed to a large extent by those experiences. Stuff that happens to us as kids stays with us! It is nice to look back... :)

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  10. I love going through old family photographs!

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  11. I love old family photos and I really love those 80's hair do's, they are so glam!

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  12. I love old family photos and how fun to find a new stash!

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  13. Those are great photos!! There are things I miss about being a kid but somethings I don't (like the peer pressure and drama).

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  14. What a beautiful post with beautiful pictures. It makes me want to go through my family photos.

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  15. I love old photos...and I recognize your mother's hairstyle...LOL.

    Like you, I prefer adulthood and making my own choices, controlling my own fate to the extent that we can control anything...

    But I do miss how connected the family was during my childhood. We saw everybody several times a week...now, not at all. Or they are gone.

    Great post!

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  16. I agree about the aspect of timelessness. I thought things would never change: all of my aunts and uncles would live within 5 miles of us always (the native residents refer to the area out near us as The Bowen Compound), and my large family would remain tight-knit, I could run off and play and let the old people tell their stories and reminisce because they'd be storytelling and reminiscing still in 20 years. You never think your family will change, and each person will remain exactly as they are (physically and in personality). My cousin committed suicide in 2011, and within two years the next male cousin passed away. We were a very close group of cousins when we were young. I could look at pictures of our childhood all day - or any pictures of our family. Recently many photos from the turn of the century surfaced. The more my family fragments, the more I have been thinking back on my childhood. The remarkable innocence of a child.

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  17. What lovely photos, Katherine. Thank you for sharing. I'm with you about the timelessness. Having a young child who is taking the world in for the first time has been such a gift for me in recent years. I don't know that I would want to go back to childhood, but I envy my daughter her innocence and unbridled joy in the world around her.

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  18. I love old photos! You were a cutie. The sense of timelessness for sure. I remember thinking how short Sebastian's summer vacation seemed. When we are children it seems to go on forever. If my photos were not packed away I would have filled my posts with old family pictures, too. :)

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  19. I agree, being an adult is (mostly) what I prefer. Also, I didn't appreciate those days when I could read away the hours. I'm almost there ;-)
    Loved the pics!

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  20. Awesome bunch of photos. My grandparents have been going through their photos like mad these past few years. So I've been seeing a lot of history too.
    I'd say I do miss a few things about being a kid; like naps. I really never appreciated them.

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  21. Lol! You didn't bore me with the photos at all! They're great pics, Katherine!! So cool that you have them. I really enjoyed this post :)

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  22. (Aargh, I wrote a whole long thing and it disappeared.)

    I love looking through old photos, of my family or anyone else's! I have a huge stack entrusted by my extended family that I need to scan and post somewhere so the whole family can enjoy them.

    What I miss about being a kid: Being able to immerse myself in imaginary play ("pretend"), whether I was pretending to be Nancy Drew or playing with my dolls or whatever. I can still lose myself in imaginary worlds through books, but somewhere along the line I became too selfconscious to use my own imaginings. I'd like to get that back somehow.

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  23. Oh I love looking at old photos. It's amazing to see how styles and things have changed over the years. I don't miss too much about being a kid either though I had a great childhood. The timeless thing though. Yeah. And just always being around the family. I live about 550 miles from them now and we don't get to see each other often so I miss that. Thank goodness for technology and getting to chat every day :)

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