I'M A GROWN-UP? WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?

"When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things."

 I Cor. xiii. 11.

Many thanks to Jenners for a post that was both funny, bemusing and kind of depressing (but in a nostalgic kind of way) all at the same time.

Yes, I'm talking about her GROWN-UP MOMENTS post in which she chronicles the moments in which she realised the time had come to put away childish things - yeah, right!!!!!! - and become an adult. Times like when she ........

• ate cookies and ice cream for dinner … and no one stopped her.
•  realized she could set her own bedtime.
• smiled to herself at the antics of younger folks—in exactly the same way that used to annoy her when she was one of the younger folks.

 Sound familiar?

I thought so.

So here's my list of the moments that made me realise I was (gulp) a grown-up.

• When I realised that pulling a 'pet-lip' and stamping my feet didn't look cute any more and certainly didn't get me what I wanted.
• When people began to look at me strangely if I had chocolate/ice-cream smeared all across my face.
• When I realised I could sleep without Snowball, my beloved stuffed toy rabbit.
• When my shoes no longer had to have velcro, buckles OR even laces.
• When the cute puppy/kitten posters on my wall were replaced with Leif Garet posters.
• When I stopped getting the lecture about men with dogs/sweets who were around every corner waiting for little girls like me AND began to get the lecture about boys who were hanging around street corners waiting for a not so little girl like me.
• When the candles on my birthday cake became a serious fire hazard.
• When I began to see the appeal (namely firemen) of my cake candles setting fire to the house.
• When I realised I was old enough to go on an 18 To 30 Holiday.
• When I became a Mrs.

Still, its not all bad ......

When it comes to the big stuff, grown-up, ok then, middle-aged brains outperform the rest.

In her book, THE SECRET LIFE OF THE GROWN UP BRAIN, Barbara Strauch argues that 

 on a range of cognitive skills, the middle-aged brain (roughly aged 40-68) outperforms all other age groups. There are a few tricks we lose – for example, retrieval of information such as names and a slight slowing down – but that is more than compensated by the huge gains in many of the most important forms of brain performance.

The middle-aged brain has developed "powerful systems that cut through the intricacies of complex problems to find concrete answers. It more calmly manages emotions and information. It is more nimble, more flexible, even cheerier." On four of six key mental abilities, the peak comes in mid-life. It can size up situations better, draw the connections and see the wider context; this enables better judgment. It appreciates subtlety and ambivalence. In research on wisdom – what it is and who has it – one study concluded it peaks at about 65 after a sustained accumulation through mid-life. - Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian (11/04/2011) READ FULL ARTICLE.