Growing up means a whole world of changes. Of course there's that whole puberty and adolescence thing, but there are also less noticeable evolutions. One of these sudden but seemingly inevitable changes involves the way you relate to younger people. One day, you look up and realize there has been a paradigm shift. You will be talking to someone younger than you are and notice the relationship has changed. In my life, the shift happened this summer.
For the past five summers I have been the babysitter for a family with two girls, Elise and Jenna. When I first started working for the family, the girls were both in elementary school and I was in high school. They were children, but really I was an older child rather than an adult. Of course, I carried the mantle of righteous authority that only an older child can assume, but the difference in experience was not vast.
For a long time, such was the status quo. I made sure the kids were safe and were behaving, I drove them around, and we shared companionable but completely meaningless small talk. Any real disciplining or advice giving was left firmly in the hands of their responsible adult parents. This past summer, something changed. The gap between the girls and me widened in a whole new way.
I think everyone has had an older person in his life, be it a grandfather or someone else, who loves to reminisce at length about his own experiences growing up. You know the story, the old, "When I was a boy we had to walk 10 miles in the snow/rain/melting heat/meteor shower to get to school!" Sometimes these people take the opposite tack; instead of talking about how they soldiered through such tough times, they will say things like, "Remember when you could get a bottle of coke for a nickel? Boy howdy were those the good 'ole days." Whenever a young person tries to say something, older people immediately commandeer the conversation
Read More
An ode to running
By Malone Morchower | 10 hours agoIn addition to providing me with opportunities to connect with others around Grounds, I really value the way that running immerses me in time and place.
Khul Ke Nacho — a celebration of free-spirited dancing
By Malaika Rehman | YesterdayThe sea of attendees wearing desi attire and dancing joyfully throughout the night was a reflection of the thriving Pakistani community in and outside of PSA.
Holding onto every grain in the hourglass
By Mai Hukuoka | 2 days agoNow that I’m back at school, I have made it my mission to take note of the sneaky passage of time.
