To ask how is adulthood different from what you thought it would be like as a child?

[Cordroy]

I never thought grown adults would have friendship issues.

How wrong I was 😭

I thought that when you "became a grown up" you were given a house and a car by someone.

Far fewer encounters with quicksand and gun runners. Enid Blyton may not have been a good representation of life...

🤣🤣 I wish the laughing emoji was still here

If I ever become PM that’ll be my policy 🙌

I also imagined I'd still have lots of friends and would regularly socialise at any age. I didn't envisage constantly needing to reach for more achievements at work, as adults around me as a child just seemed to do a job and maybe progress a bit but it wasn't a focus of their lives. And of course, didn't imagine the internet taking over so many services which means spending a lot more time at home (e.g. not having to go to the shops, bank, post office etc).

I actually find adulthood MUCH easier than childhood because you don’t have to do social things you don’t want to eg Sunday school trips

I didn't realise I'd be so tired.

I thought I'd be way more sophisticated.

I thought I’d eat a lot more sweets

I used to wonder why mum didn't just go to the cinema everyday , l couldn't wait to be an adult and go whenever l wanted. Of course now l realise she had a part time job, 2 kids and a house to clean, and not much money. I hardly ever go to cinema , even though l could everyday if l wanted..

I didn't realise til later on in the day, that just because someone marries you, they don't necessarily love you.

I thought that you could get every item in every colour and style that you could imagine, so I thought it would be no bother at all to get a yellow TV or a turquoise whistling kettle. I didn't know styles and colours were dictated by what factories made and what was liked by some random buyer in a shop somewhere.

I also thought I'd be able to wear princess dresses (I wasn't allowed one as a child) and that I would just have a horse to ride around on because I didn't fancy sitting in a car for hours turning the ignition and pulling the choke out endlessly waiting for the engine to catch (when my parents finally got a car, it was a truly shit one). I thought you could ride a horse to the supermarket and just tie it up like a dog until you came back (people don't even do that anymore).

Oh gosh. I know what you mean about friendship issues. I thought I’d feel a lot more comfortable and sorted than I do.
As a child I thought most adults were really sensible and had everything under control

Oh and I thought all houses cost the same which is why I never understood why we lived in a grey concrete ex council house instead of a castle.

That one day I would be like my parents or any other adult I knew,

I didn’t realise how much of a slog it would be. That 90% of what you is because you have to do it. And that having kids was so stressful! Gosh I just never considered my parents feelings and how anxious they must have been when I decided to go to uni abroad - a pay phone call once in a blue moon and letters was all the communication there was.
Also how those wonderful Christmases and holidays take a hell of a lot of planning and work.

I thought domestic sitcoms like Terry announce would ALWAYS be on TV

I also thought programs like Saturday Suoerstore, Swap Shop and Top of the Pops would be on

I thought British football would always remain like it was in 1986

I thought I’d always read magazines like Jackie and Smash Hits

I never thought that I would have two terrible husbands.

I thought it would be my turn for children to respect me, as I'd been expected to respect adults.

Me too.

I thought we’d always have rotary phones and huge telephone directories

I imagined my sister and I would go round each others’ adult houses for coffee -which we do! Although I always pictured us in head to toe Laura Ashley as my mother was for much of the 80s which we definitely are not.

I imagined a village like my mum had.
Little did I know that my mum had a village made of other bored army wives and that’s how she did it.

I thought EVERY adult was emotionally mature 😊

I used to look forward to being able to buy myself as much chocolate as I wanted and eat it all myself and not have to share any of it with anyone.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realise that doing that makes you very fat very quickly. So now that I can buy as much chocolate as I want, I don’t. Life’s not fair.