Children Essay

We were all young, back in the day. Those valued days when we played outside from sun rise to sun set; the days when we didn't care about anything but enjoying every minute and having fun. Then something happened, and life changed drastically. Days began to revolve around priorities and responsibilities; we grew up. Everybody grows up, it seems inevitable. The question is, what makes us different as adults from when we are children? What does it mean to be a child?
You can't break the spirit of a child, however, it is possible to breakdown a child's spirit into all its fragments to understand what exactly it means to be a kid. A child has a body-obviously; hands, feet, arms and legs, but not always. The pieces that make up a child go beyond just having a 'child's body', it's an intangible element hidden inside. Firstly, a child has an imagination like no other. When we were children, we were able to create worlds in our head out of thin air. Our imagination was powerful and a large part of what made us children because we allowed it to be important. Children don't let common sense take up much space in their minds. Secondly, a large part of being a child is the eagerness and the motivation to explore and experience. As children we all used to set out looking for great adventures where ever we could. This sense of journey is lost when we grow up, we push it aside to make room for investments and career choices. Thirdly, the best part of being a child is being naive and unknowing. Ignorance is bliss. The biggest curse is to know too much, because when you know a lot there is little left to discover. Also, knowing certain things can really bring a person down, especially a child. Knowing about the horrible things that happen in this world would rip the 'child' out of children. The biggest part of being a child, the main part is having an enormous heart. When we are children we care about the forgotten things pushed aside for vehicles and income tax. Children have the ability to love blindly because they have open hearts.
There are many things that a child is definitely not. For one thing, children are not judgemental or prejudice, these traits are not natural but are acquired later on if life. Children are not cruel, bitter, close minded, busy unimaginative, controlling, mean or practical. Children are not adults.
A child could really be called anything. 'Child' is only a word placed to make the meaning recognizable. Innocence, young, wild, magical, imaginative, empathetic, pure, new, fresh, any of these words work to describe what a child is. Being a child is more than being young, it's a state of mind, a feeling and a lifestyle. To be a child is to be the good of the world.
Everyone has to be a child at some time in their life. They have to be able to experience life through a carefree existence, where the world isn't bad, it's just big. Being a child is about enjoyment and getting the most out of every experience. As a child, everything is a great adventure, like the time you went on went tobogganing on a medium hill, the memory exists in your mind as an intense ride. The joy of being a child comes from the effects of experiences.
There are too many interpretations of what it means to be a child. Suggestions have been made that a child is merely an early existence. Youthfulness is not what it takes to be a child (botox made it inaccurate). There is more to it than a simple number. Truly, there is only one way to define a child, the only way that should be used to define. A child is a person who views life with an open heart and mind, who is able to take strong feelings away from every experience.
It's easy to grow up, time will even do it for you, but who really wants to? Childhood is an age of complete freedom, the only instance where time is kind. Childhood and its glory don't have to be swept away so quickly if people learn to believe in it and understand its definition. If everyone could live their life with an open mind and an open heart, we could remain being children, and the world could be...magical.
Childhood is magic, everything just seems right even if it doesn't always make sense. That is the beauty of being a kid. Life doesn't have to be explained for it to be beautiful, it can just be great just because.