Peter Pan Wisdom

To close out the school year I have been doing a vocational unit with my class. Today one of my students made the comment that being an adult "sounds really hard." In response to this, one of my quietest, most well-mannered students raised his hand and said, "Actually, I would just like to be a kid forever."

I had the students do a quick show of hands to see just how many of them shared this sentiment. Every single hand shot into the air immediately. And aside from one student who wanted to be 21 so he could "go to all the clubs, but still be young," all of them wanted to be 12 or younger. (My students range in age from 12-14.) One student actually said he would prefer to be four months old, because then he wouldn't have to do anything.

We discussed the ways in which being a child or a teenager can be hard, but not one of them budged from their original position. In my head, I can just hear Peter Pan: Come with me where you'll never, never have to worry about grown up things.