To think that the best thing about being grown up

[WallaceWindsock]

Is that you can behave like a child without getting told off?

Today I've bounced on the bed, eaten a whole bag of sweets and got my shoes muddy. I love the quiet glee at knowing that my mum isn't going to come home and do her stern "WALLACE!"

So AIBU and what things that you weren't allowed to do as a child do you now do with a quiet chuckle of satisfaction?

I remember childhood as being mostly crushingly boring and time lasting for ever, so:

• not having to wait outside a pub for 3 hours with a bottle of pop
• not having to wait in a busy shopping centre / market place for what seems like hours whilst my Dad talks to people I don't know and couldn't care less about (Can we go now?)
• not having to sit in the car all day whilst my Dad visits building sites (my childhood version of a holiday club)
• not having to sit in some of the most boring lessons in the world

Also:
-I don't have to play hockey and lacrosse in -2 degrees in a short skirt and polo shirt

• I will never eat trifle again
• If I want a pet, I can just go and get one (although I will also be responsible for its welfare forever, which makes me think twice)
• I can eat as much food as I like and don't have to feel hungry
• I can surround myself with people I actually like.

My parents were actually pretty good, willing to listen and let me have a say. But having a say was never going to be good enough for me:

I like it now because I'm in charge

I've just had 2 slices of chocolate brioche with a cup of coffee and painted my toe nails bright blue. lt's been a lovely hour and I would never have been able to do any of those things as a child!

Being a grown up is great. The lack of autonomy that came with childhood never sat easily with me.

Being able to get a dog.

Yes Wasabipeanut I hated that about childhood. My DM had a thing about me having to "sit and" all the time. I couldn't run around, couldn't dance about. I was always being told to "sit and ... Draw/read/colour/make" and I hated it. I now dance about all the time at home, I think I will always rebel in that way now.

Interestingly though are we the same with our own DCs or do we also subject them to no autonomy? I know I give DD choices about things and wince if I hear myself sounding like my mother. I can't imagine forcing her to have hair she hates etc when she's a teen.

That should say to a lack of autonomy

They probably get a bit more room than I did Wallace. I know what you mean about "sit and" and I try to be a bit more relaxed - especially about mess as my Mum was a clean freak and couldn't bear so much as a cushion out of place.

I have 3 DC's aged 5,3 and 1 though so have run a fairly tight ship or chaos will out.

One day they wil get to be grown ups and do what they want too - there's no rush :)

And yes I can't imagine forcing things like hair styles as a teen but would have to put my foot down on certain things like revealing clothing.

I remember the rows with my Mum over kitten heels and split skirts for school....

When I go on holiday now I can go wherever I like and do whatever I want. My childhood summer holidays were spent trailing after my parents in some cold, rainy part of the world looking at old churches for hours at a time. Now, if I want to spend an entire week laying around on a sun lounger sipping cocktails and reading trashy chick lit, I can do.

Gin. Tried a sip of my mum's g&t when she wasn't looking, aged 10 - thought it tasted like nail varnish remover. Tried again as an adult and realised its the most delicious thing ever.

When I make cakes I sometimes eat ALL the mixture!

I don't have to play hockey and lacrosse in -2 degrees in a short skirt and polo shirt

Urgh, school sports :( I didn't realise how deeply they'd affected me until, in my thirties, I agreed to join a park baseball team. As soon as I reached the square, I felt like the awkward schoolgirl me: terrible at any activity involving teams & balls. I tried to rise above it, went in once to bat, ended up leaving the game as I needed to cry!

Grown-ups never have to hit or catch a ball

Having pancakes not just on pancake day but whenever we fancy! And on the odd child free weekend staying in bed all day, and ordering takeaway pizza at 1pm and cracking open a bottle of fizz...

Being able to drive anywhere I want at anytime and not have to ask to borrow the car, or cadge a lift off mum and dad. I have had some very very skint times in the last 15 years, but have always clung to my (often really crappy) car like a limpet and gone without lots of other things to maintain it. It signifies independence to me like nothing else.

Being able to choose a variety of holidays, eg sometimes go to France and look at churches, sometimes go to Vegas, sometimes go to Pontins. My lovely parents have been doing exactly the same holidays for the last 35 years!

Never having to sit in the crappy middle seat of the back of the car ever again. (Youngest of three emoticon..)

Watching telly in the daytime, whilst stuffing my face with leftover pizza and staying there as long as I feel like it, thanks very much

I wasn't even allowed daytime telly when I was ill FGS.

And beer. Lovely lovely beer.

When I was little I used to think that the most brilliantist thing about being a grown up would be being able to buy sweets from the Woolies pick n mix without having to worry about how much they would weigh

Now of course, there is no Woolies and you don't have to worry about weight, because you pay two quid for as many sweets as you can cram into one of those cups and still jam the lid on...

The best thing about leaving home was not having to eat wholemeal spaghetti or brown rice any more. Although my parents still put a teaspoon of swede on my plate with my roast dinner "to try it"

God forbid that I, a grown adult with a mortgage and a responsible job, might have reached my own perfectly acceptable conclusions about the tastiness or otherwise of swede