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Original poster

As a child what did you think being an adult would be like?

46 replies

bettydaviseyes1 · 23/07/2019 00:16

When I was a child I'd often think about what being an adult would be like. I think most of my ideas came from American films! Some of the silly/small things I thought I'd do or what being an adult would be like are:

I thought id wear nice nighties with matching dressing gown instead of mismatched comfy pyjamas

Dinner parties, thought I'd be having loads more dinner parties!

I thought my DH and I would sit up in bed side by side and read before going to sleep

Errands, I thought I'd have full days dedicated to these instead of random rushed ones during my lunch break

Thought I'd have to bake more to bring home baked goods with me to places such as coffee mornings or friends houses

What are some of the random things you thought being an adult would involve?

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HopeClearwater · 23/07/2019 00:19

I thought I’d have a lovely house filled with nice things from John Lewis. I also thought I’d never again have to worry about money (this was a feature of my childhood) or do a single thing I didn’t want to do and certainly nothing out of ‘duty’. How wrong I was...

PersonaNonGarter · 23/07/2019 00:20

I thought my friends and I would discuss politics, art and literature til the small hours.

We don’t. We WhatsApp clothing links and occasionally critique Love Island. Much better.

Spongeface · 23/07/2019 00:51

I agree! Having time to read by a window overlooking the sea while looking all wistful.

Spongeface · 23/07/2019 00:58

Or even getting to read a book.
I also thought I would have hobbies. And a tidy house.

Coop14 · 23/07/2019 01:12

I used to think I would wear clothes and makeup like Madonna and hit the clubs. And work in a catalogue factory 😂

namechanged2000 · 23/07/2019 01:23

I was a terrible worrier as a child. I thought when I was an adult I wouldn't worry anymore because my parents never seemed worried. They were, they just hid it from us kids.

MagicSeeker · 23/07/2019 06:50

As a child, I loved a book called Maisie Middleton’s breakfast. She gets up in the morning and puts together an absolute banquet of a breakfast with all the things kids love to eat but aren’t often allowed. I thought when I got to be an adult I could do that whenever I liked. I can. But the shape of my body fully reflects it!

hidinginthenightgarden · 23/07/2019 06:58

I thought I would have nice clothes and lots of friends and that we would go for drinks after work before heading home for a nice meal.
I thought life would be full of freedome and choice.
It really isn't!

wanderings · 23/07/2019 07:46

I used to long for independence... mostly adulthood hasn't disappointed me in that respect. I'd decide that I would always wear trainers without socks, and nobody would stop me. I often do. Wink I also used to dream of having an automated house, but now I don't like any complication like that at all, such as Alexa.

AyahuascaTrip · 23/07/2019 07:50

It absolutely terrified me for some reason. From maybe the age of ten or eleven I panicked internally at the thought of getting to the final years at school and what to do after exams, and then what and then what. Not sure I’m fully over the Fear yet even though I’m almost fifty!

IWouldPreferNotTo · 23/07/2019 07:54

I was clearly influenced by my parents as u thought you spent huge amounts of time working on cars, gardening and doing DIY.

Roll on 30 years and I'm working on the car, picking and pickling cucumbers and rehanging doors.

Clearly I was a child with a practical imagination

progestermoan · 23/07/2019 07:56

Basically I longed for a life without school (hated it). Was told that I was ‘wishing away the best days of my life’ and being an adult was ‘boring and all about hard work and paying bills’

Totally wrong. The day I never had to go to school again was the best day ever no more being bullied by kids OR teachers...... and I don’t mind one bit about paying bills and I certainly dont miss my childhood ! Tbh I don’t actually feel any different I just don’t have to be told what to do by anyone as far as I’m concerned there is no childhood and adulthood......just stage 1 where those older than you tell you what to do and stage 2 where you are in charge of yourself (subject to laws obviously) and you dont feel any different so there’s just as much enjoyment to be had, if not more despite what I was told about childhood being ‘the best time of your life’

Original poster
bettydaviseyes1 · 23/07/2019 08:01

These are brilliant!! :)

@Spongeface I totally thought I'd read and look wistfully out at the sea Haha! I thought I'd have a house by the sea and stare out while wrapping my long cardigan round me, I do wear a lot of long cardigans but the rest didnt happen!

@wanderings I had cake for breakfast the other day and no one could stop me, I also like to not wear a vest/cami under my tops in winter (that was my equivalent of must wear socks) our young selves would be proud at such independence ;)

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Pipandmum · 23/07/2019 08:02

I thought I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and no one would tell me what to do. Except I forgot about having to earn money to pay for things! So my first time being an adult I was working ten hours a day for a boss I didn’t respect and worrying about paying my bills. That didn’t stop til I got married.

Original poster
bettydaviseyes1 · 23/07/2019 08:04

@PersonaNonGarter I thought I'd be cultured too!! And that I'd buy art Haha definitely didnt foresee love island!

@MagicSeeker can I come to yours for breakfast please??

@hidinginthenightgarden yes! I thought there would be much more swanky drinks and cocktails and less drank too much white wine in front of the tele!

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Original poster
bettydaviseyes1 · 23/07/2019 08:06

@IWouldPreferNotTo I thought I'd be more practical and I'd spend a lot of time painting and decorating, the decorating bit turned out to be true! I dont wear dungarees and splodge paint on my husbands nose though Hmm

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Original poster
bettydaviseyes1 · 23/07/2019 08:09

I strangely never have much thought to what job I'd be doing and that certainly shows in my adult life!

Was always about friends/house/husband and never bills but I know I was a real worrier as a child!

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PetrichorRain · 23/07/2019 08:12

I thought my DH and I would sit up in bed side by side and read before going to sleep

We actually do this! We do have sex too, I should add. And we read in the mornings too, before we have to get up.

I thought I'd have a really big house, full of nice things. I have a medium house (four beds but only 20 years old, not a sprawling country estate) and I do have lots of nice things. I was determined to be rich, and while we're not, we're comfortable - I grew up in a family that was quite short of money.

I thought I'd be married with at least two children, and I have just one DS but I am married - I expected to meet my husband-to-be at uni though, rather than when we were both in our mid-thirties and he was divorced. I thought I'd have a "very important" job such as a politician or top QC rather than the rather bogstandard middle management job I have now.

In many ways, my grown-up life isn't hugely different to how I imagined it, though I came to it by a very different route than I imagined I would. Except I also had no idea how much more stressful it is to be an adult.

EskewedBeef · 23/07/2019 08:13

I thought it was going to be awful, based on my parents' miserable existence - they hated each other and the house they lived in, weren't keen on their children, thought they were better than everyone...

It's been so much better than I imagined Smile

Longdistance · 23/07/2019 08:16

I thought I’d travel lots (which I did), and work in an office (I do now).

I had visions of owning my own house with a cat ✅
I didn’t really have a vision of getting married and having kids, but I did. This didn’t happen until I was 32.

Original poster
bettydaviseyes1 · 23/07/2019 08:36

@eskewedbeef

I'm glad it's better than you imagined :)

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Original poster
bettydaviseyes1 · 23/07/2019 08:37

I didnt foresee mental health problems or having to work at being happy, I thought that once I'd grown up and everything became my choice I'd be effortlessly happy! I wasnt the happiest child so I dint know why I didnt see it coming!!

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Original poster
bettydaviseyes1 · 23/07/2019 08:40

@PetrichorRain do yous also take off your glasses after reading and set them on a bedside table with an extravagant lamp?? Lol that was also in my inaginings!

I thought I'd have a big old victorian/Georgian house with a massive garden, nope, fairly new build medium sized 4 bed detached with a tiny garden! I do have an open fire and a dog but he refuses to lie by the open fire as I had dreamed Haha

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EatingBreadAndHoney · 23/07/2019 08:40

I thought I would "know" things. You know when you were a child and you asked Grandad or your uncle something and they always knew the best way to do something.

Now I'm an adult I realise they were mostly just winging it.

Original poster
bettydaviseyes1 · 23/07/2019 08:43

I thought I'd be slimmer and taller! I'm not massively overweight but was always a chubby child who was told I had "puppy fat" - nope just fat I'd never get rid of!

I had thought I'd me tall slim and have the need to wear cocktail dresses at least once a week!

I also thought I'd get chatted up at bars and be given their business card but instead got married quite young (early 20s) to a man that never gave me his business card and doesnt drink whiskey on the rocks

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