If you could be a child again, would you?

[imscaredpleasehelp]

YABU- I wouldn't
YANBU- in a heartbeat

I would. I miss running to the otherwise of the playground because walking was too slow. or walking along walls because the floor was too boring. Stuff like that. I read quite a lot of books written from a child's perspective. And listen to the hits from when I was about 5-8 whereas my DH listens to music from his teens and early twenties. My parents have said they would go back to being a young adult over a child.

I am in the midst of child rearing but when this is over I suppose I would long for these years and might forget about my own childhood.

Nope because my childhood was awful and I hated it. I would go back to being 21 again when I first met my husband.

Yes, I would. Only reason I'd hesitate is that it might not be as good as I remember. Like when you try a food you loved as a kid but you don't like it anymore or rewatch an old movie and realise it's actually crap.

I've currently got young kids, and sometimes I imagine I've come back from the future to relive this day or moment. It makes holding their little hands or hearing their little voices seem so precious.

Certain parts of it no, some of it was devastating.

I'd go back to cycling and running free around the town and the countryside. Coming in from the heat and lying on the floor next to my cat. My easy going mum being around. Running out with friends.

Apart from one or two really shit things, I had a fun childhood and my mum was lovely.

For a week yes 100%. But to go back to being anything under 30, not a chance. Social media is responsible for everything about being young that’s wrong, pretty much.
But on the other hand, my DC have a great life. Is afforded every opportunity possible.

No. I do have some happy memories of childhood, but I hated school because of the constant sensory overload and fear of getting into trouble, and at home being shouted and sworn at until I cried was a daily occurrence. I never want to feel that powerless again.

(My mother would say that I had a wonderful childhood because I had lots of toys...)

I've currently got young kids, and sometimes I imagine I've come back from the future to relive this day or moment. It makes holding their little hands or hearing their little voices seem so precious.

Genius!

No, it was shit most of the time.

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba

no way

if I could go back and pick a different childhood, not that it was horrible, then maybe. but the same thing again?
no fucking way

This.

If my parents were healthier, not violent,
not abusive and more able to love, then yes, it could be quite healing.

If I could have a happy experience of school and not be bullied, ditto.

Nope. I had a perfectly normal and happy childhood but I liked my life now. I've never felt any desire to go back to previous times in my life, good or bad. I don't really get it.

I’d like to go back and do a childhood Christmas with my extended family. Many of passed away now. Still among my favourite childhood memories. I would want to go back to primary age, hated secondary school.

@imscaredpleasehelp

I don't mean go back, just to experience it again, maybe for a week?

I might go back to your childhood OP but not mine.

Absolutely not. I spend quite a bit of my life trying not to relive my childhood! Even if I could have a normal childhood I don’t think I’d go back, I enjoy my adult life far too much.

I'd happily go back for a visit - feeling so energetic, getting lost in books, dressing up and playing with my friends and spending so much time in my old house and with my family and my cats. I am happy being an adult and with my life now but I miss being irresponsible. I was lucky though and had a happy childhood on the whole, with loving parents.

Yes, I was very lucky to have a lovely childhood! It would be nice to see grandparents no longer with us, and to be carefree. It would be nice to experience birthdays and Christmas as a child again.

I have a whole inner narrative where I go back to the beginning of Y8 (so aged 12) with the knowledge I have as an adult, and relive my teen years, but better. Any younger than that and the lack of independence and autonomy would be stifling, I think.

Only worth doing if you could go back with your adult consciousness, though; otherwise you'd just end up fucking things up twice over!

No

But I would go back to my DC being little again.
In a heartbeat!!!!

Depends if you mean go back in time to my childhood, or be a child now in 2021. If the former, yes. The latter, no way. The world went to shit in about 2016 and has gone downhill from there. The less remaining time I spend in it the better.

Yes please! Can I choose which week? I'd like a week in August 1967; specifically the week when we were on holiday at the seaside, flying kites and building sandcastles, catching shrimps and eating fish and chips out of old newspapers.

Nope. Hated being a child. Didn't like children and always felt more comfortable with adults. Hated having no control over my life and having to suffer boarding school. Hated it all. the day I turned 18 was the best day of my life.

No way!
I read the thread the other day about which day in your childhood would you go back to and wouldn’t even want to do that. I need the control of adulthood, the thought of HAVING to go to school, do as I’m told, eat the food put in front of me, go to bed at a certain time, basically have my entire social life dictated to me, gives me palpitations.

No, not me as a child. I’d quite like to swap with either of my children though.

I would definitely. But only before age 11. I had a lovely childhood. I remember running wild, cycling all over, building dens, playing with all the kids on the estate and laughing with my siblings. Christmas was magical ; we received very little compared to today, but that feeling of excitement, amazing. Caravan holidays, the sun was always shining and we just spent those holidays laughing. I loved primary school. Really enjoyed learning and was a very gifted child. My dad taught me Italian from a very young age and this made learning languages easy for me.
Aged 11, I was the first in my family to pass the 11 plus and the first to go to grammar school. I hated it. Pretty much downhill from there.

Not in today's world, no 🙁

You couldn't pay me to go back.

No, absolutely not. I really hated the powerlessness of it and the lack of independence.