What I Wish I Had Learned in School

Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week 16 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.



Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

http://www.BakingInATornado.com                 Baking In A Tornado
http://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com           The Bergham’s Life Chronicles
http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com             Spatulas on Parade
http://dinoheromommy.com                           Dinosaur Superhero Mommy
http://themomisodes.com                               The Momisodes
http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com        Stacy Sews and Schools
http://sparklyjenn.blogspot.com                      Sparkly Poetic Weirdo
http://thelieberfamily.com                               The Lieber Family
http://batteredhope.blogspot.com                    Battered Hope
http://www.southernbellecharm.com                Southern Belle Charm
http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com               Someone Else’s Genius
http://www.silenceofthemom.blogspot.com       Silence of the Mom
http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch                   Confessions of a Part-Time Working Mom
http://www.smalltalkmama.com                       Small Talk Mama
http://singlemumplusone.blogspot.com             Searching for Sanity
http://climaxedtheblog.blogspot.com                Climaxed

My subject is “I wish I had taken a/an                      class in high school so I could be better prepared for                      .”. It was submitted by http://dinoheromommy.com. Here goes:

I wish I had taken a 'Life as a Grown-Up' class in high school so I could be better prepared for adulthood. As a kid I couldn't wait to grow up. All I could think of was how wonderful it would be to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I wouldn't have to go to school. I could spend my money buying all the things my parents wouldn't let me have as a kid. I could live on my own and stay up as late as I wanted, eat as much candy as I wanted and wouldn't have to go to school!

What I didn't realize was that all that freedom comes at a price.

If I wanted to live alone and buy all the things I would have to have a job. I would most likely have to wake up just as early every morning as I did as a kid (there goes staying up as late as I wanted) and, instead of sitting in a classroom all day, I would be in a cubicle. Only I would bet there for 9 hours instead of 6 and I wouldn't get recess.

To live on my own I would have to have an apartment, or house. Those things cost money. I would have to budget that money I made at my cubicle job and pay bills. Rent, electric, water, cable, phone, car, insurance. There goes all that money I was going to use to buy all the things. 

At least I would be able to eat all the candy I wanted, right? Nope, wrong again. Sure, I could eat all the candy I wanted, if I didn't care about my weight, and skin and overall health. Call me vain, but I care about those things. I didn't realize that the metabolism I had as a kid would slow down more and more every year, and that I wouldn't actually be able to eat anything I wanted for the rest of my life.

Oh, and all those eye-rolls I used to give my parents when they would demand to know who I was going out with, or make me do my homework, or fold my laundry or clean my room? No one prepared me for the fact that I would be on the other side of those looks once I had kids of my own. 

Now I find myself telling my kids not to wish their childhood away. To enjoy being carefree and having someone else there to look after them. To play and have fun and not wish to grow up too soon.

Of course I tell them those things as they walk away rolling their eyes so hard, I'm convinced they can see their own brains.