Unlocking Your Awesome Inner Child

Feeling like a kid again is something that we all deserve to experience. But why? Surely we are grown adults now, and the idea of spending time respecting our childhood might seem, well, childish. Could it really serve any purpose? Might you look silly in front of your family?

Well, we’d argue it does serve a purpose. Getting in touch with your childhood self is good clean fun, but it can also help you reminisce and reflect on your life. It can help you understand the journey you have been on and celebrate the things you used to love. It can help you connect with your children more and understand their viewpoint on life that little more intimately. Lastly, there is an indulgent quality here of course.

After all, why not? It’s not as if every moment of your life should be spent in deep productivity. You’re allowed a little childish fun. After all, age is just a number, and the most youthful and joyous people are those who can connect to the magic of childhood.

There are many ways of doing this, but this advice might help you get started:

YouTube Is Your Friend

Now, we’re not suggesting you enjoy subscribing to vloggers or political discussion channels on YouTube. We’re not suggesting you watch clips from the latest kids shows to feel young. However, YouTube is much more than a simple video platform. It seems that almost anything that could be provided as content has been uploaded by now. This means that old children’s shows, old video game footage and even movies from a bygone era are viewable for free.

You might have a distinct and tangible feeling of nostalgic wonder seeing a SNES game you haven’t played since you were eight years old digitized for your entertainment. This feeling is a tangible, physical one, and can flood you with feelings and memories of being that age. This is a powerful thing, as sound and visuals are often strong ties to memories we used to hold. This is a fun exercise and it only takes a matter of moments, so why not try? You might be surprised as to what you remember.

Go Retro

Now, sometimes watching things on YouTube isn’t enough. If you hope to experience the media you used to consume as a child, sometimes finding it and watching/playing that yourself is more than worthwhile. There has never been a better time to do so. For example, recent efforts to restore old consoles such as the original PlayStation and NES have been met with widespread acclaim. It can be worthwhile to purchase these inexpensive machines and spend a day showing your children the games you grew up with. It might blow their minds to see a game with such diminutive graphics, but it can be worth doing so for the novelty alone.

It can also be worthwhile to burn an old-school mixtape of the songs you used to love and make that a soundtrack of your next week. It could be that Huey Lewis & The News, Phil Collins and Paul Simon fill your ears and mind for the near future, restoring you with memories of summer days lazily moving around the house and enjoying bike rides with your friends. If music is the soundtrack to our lives, then transporting ourselves back only takes this small effort to truly experience this time once more. Dancing on the sofa listening to ‘hip to be square’ could certainly help you feel young and silly again, and your kids are sure to love it. Just make sure you don’t actually put your hip out. Us middle aged folk do require a degree of sensibility, of course.

Visit Establishments You Used To Love

Of course, it might not be that the places you attended as a child are still around, or you may not be in any way proximal to them. However, finding a similar venue nearby could be just as promising. You’d be surprised how a day of bowling or laser rifling with your children can help you feel young and carefree – maybe even go-karting would help this too! Of course, one of the pinnacle places of our childhood was the arcade. Ah, the arcade, where the bleeps and bloops resounded through the halls and children cursed the prize claw in no uncertain terms.

Where tickets meant prizes and your friend would convince you he knew the cheat codes to games such as ‘Streets of Rage’ and ‘Street Fighter.’ These establishments still exist, and growing competition means they have doubled down on their quality to stay relevant. Places such as Rocket City Arcade not only serve as a wonderful blend of both modern and retro arcade gaming, but also functionally serve as a historical preservation museum for the most part, something that the tiring tide of on-demand services and cloud-based purchases will never replace.

Head to the local diner after a day here with a burger, some fries and a chocolate milkshake, and your transformation into your thirteen-year-old self is likely complete.

Bicycle Ride

We alluded to bicycle rides earlier. They deserve their own mention. A bicycle ride out with your friends was not just time spent riding a bicycle. It was time spent exploring, engaging in silly dialogue and trying to pull off cool tricks to impress your friends. While this last part might not be an option, it can certainly be worthwhile to see the importance in heading out to mother nature herself and exploring your local environment atop two wheels.

While a car encases you and a motorcycle brings with it it’s own dangers and terrain requirements, riding a bicycle off road brings back that accelerating feeling of freedom that you might just adore to feel once again. Heading out on the trail is also an awesome way to enjoy an intimate bonding with your family. After all, the best memories are crafted when out and doing something, as opposed to sitting in at home alone thinking of the past. This ‘active remembrance’ helps you feel like a child in more ways than just emotional. Give it a try. You might just adore it.

With these tips, your childhood might be just around the corner. Spending a couple of days reminding yourself of this wonderful period of time in your life could be just the emotional antidote you needed for ‘grown-up responsibility disease.’

This post is a collaborative effort by St. Louis Dad.

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