At my mother’s daycare two of the most popular games among the little girls are “house” and “grown-ups”.
The innocent cuties dress up in tiny princess high-heels, decorate their hair with small pink clips, accessorize themselves with costume jewelry of all colors, grab their mini purses, and chat with each other while pushing their baby dolls in miniature strollers around the room. “How adorable,” I think to myself. “How innocent.” The girls always say that they can not wait to grow up and be adults–something I hear a lot from my peers as well. Oh, how I wish the dreams and easy-going expectations of a younger version of myself were reality today.
High school is probably the last time anyone is “babied” before going out to college or employment. It’s the time period during which adolescents transition into adults and begin to understand that they are accountable for more, and have more responsibilities. This is the time period in which many teenagers get their first taste of the real world.
When school let out after my sophomore year I decided that in order to afford college and a car, I needed to get a job. It’s been said that flipping burgers isn’t beneath the man on the street, so I began to work at a local burger joint. I worked after school about four days a week, and most of those nights didn’t end until eleven. With school work piling up due to advanced placement classes and other commitments in community sports, the strain of work had already begun to affect my health and my grades.
I realized that I would no longer be able to procrastinate the way I had before; essays would have to be written in intervals, not just the night before. I realized that some commitments, such as sports, would have to take a seat on the back burner. Unfortunately, one large part of becoming an adult and assuming more responsibilities is that many of your favorite past-times will have to be pushed aside because there is simply not enough time in a day.
By the time I was a junior I had my permit, and was eagerly awaiting the day I would purchase my own car. The freedom was all I had dreamt of for months. I saved up every paycheck, skipping out on movies with friends or junior prom, and finally, I got my license; it was time for a car.
Let me be the first to tell you, a car may sound dandy and fun, but it’s the biggest financial burden a high schooler will carry until college. Not only do you have to pay for the car itself, you then owe sales tax! Before driving the car, it needs to be registered (100 dollars), inspected (35 dollars), and insured (which will be about 3000 dollars per year for a new driver). Don’t even get me started on the price of gas these days.
In the beginning of this past summer, I was quite proud of myself: I had a car; I had a job; I planned on joining a gym, going out with friends, and being able to go on a few shopping sprees since I wasn’t saving for a car anymore. However, the adult world smacked me in the face when I got into my first car accident.
Yes, the accident was my fault. Of course, due to the new accountability and responsibilities of becoming an adult, I told the owner, who, thankfully, was a coworker and friend. The damage was minimal and estimated of 450 dollars. Okay, not so bad, I thought to myself. However, that’s not how the adults play. In order to not report this to the insurance companies, since we were shopping for new car insurance and an accident in my first year would make my rates skyrocket — a girl can only sell so many burgers and fries — the father, and car owner, made me pay 1000 dollars.
With the payment of 1000 dollars I quickly said goodbye to my summer, my friends and my hopes of shopping sprees.
Through the past two years I’ve learned that the real world is sometimes unwelcoming and difficult to adjust to. It may have seemed like a dream to become an adult, have a car, and some money, but it is also a time in your life jam-packed with new responsibilities, financially and morally.
If you’re handed a car or money by your parents or anyone else, take it and run, because in the future that will surely not be the case. Treasure the fact that you are still “babied” rather than resent it. Yes, the freedom of driving is fun and thrilling, but everything has a trade-off, and assuming the responsibilities of a driver and an adult is an exceptionally expensive one.
If my grown-up responsibilities consisted of taking a pretend baby doll on a walk around my living room, this would be a different article; however, the real, adult world is a gigantic step which many of us are too willing and unprepared to take. Childhood is a time of levity, so live it up while you can. The world of employment and accountability will bring much greater tests.