Thursday, July 24, 2008

Adult Children

My older brother has been home for the summer and we have been doing quite a few outings as a whole family. Just for clarification I will define the dynamics of my family.

Current Family Dynamics:
Mom & Dad --> still happily married to each other
Brother --> 28, single, no kids, never been married, still in college, unemployed
Me --> 25, single, no kids, never been married, still in college (grad school), unemployed

So the point of this post is to talk about how you feel like you are still a child when your whole family is riding together in a car. I guess because neither my brother or I are married and when we are in the car it is just the 4 of us, its like we instantly revert back to being kids. My brother and I fight about who gets shot gun. Or we complain about leg room. Then we fight about being hot and the other one of us is cold. I have to fight the urge to poke him or yell that "Stuart is touching me"! My parents still say the same things to make us shut up that they said when we were kids.

It is really odd, but strangely familiar. It is so natural for us to act like we are kids. I wonder if my parents think it is strange or is it just as familiar for them? It also makes me wonder how the dynamics are going to change when one of us brings home a spouse. Will the days of family of 4 be over? Is getting married the end of being a child forever? I kind of feel like it is easy for my brother and I to remain acting like children around my parents because we are single and largely supported financially by our parents. But when I am married, I am really an adult. So I can't fight and poke with my brother, and I can't ask my parents to do silly things for me.

Growing up is hard. Yes I know that I am 25 and pretty much grown. But it is still weird.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is a little strange to have adult children home. I don't know if parents really want their children to grow up.