Love help: Throughout our life, we are forced to conform to societal standards, rules and etiquette. - Help.com

It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. :)

Because that is the society we live. We are all just products of the society we grew up in. As the post above shows, our current view of social acceptability means such things are frowned upon. Right or wrong that is what we live in.

But lets not forget that it is us who have created it. peer pressure, for lack of a better term, is why is will be continued. We want to be accepted and the view of what is socially acceptable do change over time, quicker with drastic protest and actions. We want to distinguish ourselves from children and think we are above it, but all of us still have our inner child. i use the example of adult covered harry potter books as evidence. However, i can’t see this trend ending. Conform to society or don’t be accepted.

Okay I don’t know which adults you’re talking about but my imagination is still as active as ever. And only immature people regard themselves as “too mature”. As for the curiousity and playfulness that comes with childhood, no one forces that out, it naturally fades away as you hit puberty and different hormones are released and others stopped. You can see it in most species…cats are never as playful as kittens… horses will not examine every little thing like a foal would. Its sad but completely natural. To young animals everything is new and they need to find and string together pieces of the world. It is curiousity that enables young animals to be taught, and as we get older there is less of a need for it. As for innocence, it is impossible to maintain. And although now some of us are lucky enough to act like children if we so choose, years ago it would have been immpossible. You need to have structure and discipline to make soceity work and someone needs to be adult and responsible enough to enforce that. You could see it as one of lifes great tragedies or to quote douglas adams “Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it?”….funny he wrote books that needed one heck of an imagination!

Also no one is stopping you from playing anything, no one decided only children can have that luxury…no one decided anything. I’m sure if people wanted to play red indians that they would just play, not matter how much they were frowned upon…. people smoke pot, it is not accepted, frowned uponand illegal(which playing games is not) yet people still do it. Its not a conspiracy headed by a group of conservative elders who invent plots and use propaganda to stop adults playing!:) Haha just got mental image of that. If you wanna play, play. And stop worrying about others being stolen of this. They can look after themselves and do what they want!:) Worry instead about women’s rights in Saudi Arabia! Thats a real societal problem!!

People smoke pot for numerous reasons. However, teenagers (sorry to stereotype) who do drugs and the people they socialize with probably don’t frown upon such things. There are many sections are society who have different views of social acceptability. However, i agree that our loss child like behavior is a natural development although it is not complete. If people act like an adult all the time then they will inevitably act less and less like a child. It is just a development of our lives, although influenced by our society.

i think premature growing up depends not just on society as a whole. sometimes it depends on the predilection of the person himself. or on family. etc. surely, people in war torn areas are forced to grow up pretty fast. in my case, i am lucky enough to have a family and be in a society that let me take my own pace. :)

don’t lose hope though. there are a lot of ‘adults’ in highly imaginative work! have you thought of people working in Pixar or Disneyland? how about people at the zoo? they seem to have highly imaginative and fun jobs to me. :)

You’re right different sections view things differently and no matter what you do someone will always admire you for it while another will disapprove (even within the same sections)…thats why like minds usually seek out like minds and if stoners can find other stoners then people who wanna play red indians should also be able to find other aspiring red indians! No one is stopping them! Perhaps pot wasn’t the best analogy! Oh well! Most of us are not completely crippled with the fear of somewhere someone os disapproving of us. Having said that we are always going to be effected by society and other peoples opinions. Humans are social animals, thats just how it works. If we were more like pandas things might be different, but we’re not!

Growing up is a good thing. It allows you to get what you need in life. Can you imagine a child supporting a family? Buying a house? Holding down a job for years and years at a time? How about a child who instructs their offspring?

However, there is nothing wrong with keeping your innocence or imagination alive…that is what authors/painters/builders/and any number of ppl do….

One of the best ways to keep your imagination alive is to be a parent….and then PARTICIPATE in your child’s life

Pepper Jelly wrote:
However, there is nothing wrong with keeping your innocence or imagination alive…that is what authors/painters/builders/and any number of ppl do….

One of the best ways to keep your imagination alive is to be a parent….and then PARTICIPATE in your child’s life

Exactly my point. I’m a pretty successful adult. I own several homes; I am working on a master’s degree; and I have three children and live relatively comfortably. It’s because I made certain sacrifices in life in order to make sure that I had what I need/want as I get older.

HOWEVER, I have been known, on regular occasions, to roll down a grassy hill with my kids. I went on a bike ride yesterday with my kids and made a point of going through all the puddles I could find just as fast as I could. My kids, of course, followed suit…we all went home with mud up our shirt backs, but a memorable bike riding experience.

I definitely PLAY in this life. I KNOW it’s not an “either/or”