21 Going on 40

Headline: 21 Going on 40
Christina Arzapalo
Project # 2
Audience: Teenagers, college students, parents of children
Why should they care? This issue is something many kids and parents are dealing with recently
Word Count: 800

When I was six, I loved walking around in my mother’s black pumps, sporting her pearl earrings and diamonds and wearing bright red lipstick. And by wearing, I mean smearing it across the bottom half of my face. I would take my mom’s Clinique loose powder and use the applicator puff to make myself look like a geisha. Even as a child, I wanted to look older and more sophisticated, although I didn’t know it at the time. I would tell my dad that I was getting ready for a ‘night on the town’, which probably meant a trip to McDonald’s for a happy meal.

The other day I was browsing my Facebook, and I came across quite a few of my friends that have gotten married since high school. The thought of being 21 and married just blows my mind. I can’t even decide what shoes to wear day to day, and the thought of being mature enough to plan a wedding just seems incomprehensible. I wonder if I’m just on a different level than my friends, but marriage and kids is something I don’t even want to think about until I finish graduate school.

It’s kind of like what little kids do when someone teases them about cooties in elementary school. My natural first reaction is, “Ewwwwww!”.

Alyssa McMillan, senior at the Miami International University of Art and Design is planning her wedding for next year. She wants to celebrate it at Disney World.

McMillan turns 22 next week.

“I definitely think that I grew up too quickly,” McMillan said. “I never imagined myself in a position to be getting married so young. My mom warned me against it because she felt like getting married young herself was a mistake.”

Although McMillan is happily in love with her fiancé, she wishes she would have enjoyed being a young adult for longer.

“I just hope I’m not making the same mistake as my mom,” she said.

Erin Coley, owner of Standing Ovation Performing Arts, has two teenage children, and she is doing her best to keep them young while she still can.

“I’m really good at keeping my kids busy. They help out at the studio, and don’t have too much time for surfing the internet or going on Facebook,” Coley said.

She also limits the amount of texting on her children’s cell phones.

As a kid, my parents tried to keep me busy as well. I took dance classes 6 days a week, and competitions on the weekends. I also wasn’t allowed to have a cell phone until I entered high school, and couldn’t text until I was in college.

Yesterday I was in the supermarket and saw a child, who could have been no older than 5, with an iPod Touch swinging from his arm. What could a 5-year-old possibly be doing with an iPod Touch, besides swinging it around and cracking the screen? Is there a new Barney app that I don’t know about yet?

Besides growing up too fast when it comes to romantic relationships and technology, sometimes children who have siblings have no choice but to act a little older and help out their parents

“Because I have two siblings that are significantly younger than me, my parents expected me to help out around the house a lot more,” said Meredith Rhein, a sophomore at Flagler College.

“I was still able to be a normal kid and have fun, but I also had to act mature most of the time, to set a good example for my siblings,” Rhein said.

Just when I thought I was done being weirded out by how much my friends have grown up since high school, I discovered a close friend of mine who is seven months pregnant.

Having a baby at my age is another thing that I cannot possibly comprehend. If I can’t even properly take care of myself, how on earth would I be able to take care of a human being? Waking up on time for my classes each day is a huge accomplishment for me, and I couldn’t imagine giving birth.

I admire my friends who have the strength to show such maturity levels at young ages, but I don’t know how they do it. I love being able to come and go as I please, and not have to worry about satisfying others or taking care of them. I’m sure that when I get a little older my motherly instincts will come into play, but for right now my big decisions are the little things.

I still like to play dress up, though.