Never Act Your Age!

by Rhiannon Hardin

I had a fantabulous 12th birthday this year!

One of my favorite recipes (in a cookbook Mama Loba let’s me borrow) is called Cloud cake.  It has no flour so I don’t have to worry about the gluten problem. I made a double batch, and layered the cake… very fun!  In a much loved Redwall book entitled Pearls of Lutra there are six rosy pearls, so I made six marzipan balls covered in rose petals and stuck them on the top. I put 12 cherries in each layer, adding 4 cherries as bonus around the cake. It was pretty fancy, and I was very proud of myself for pretty much making it all on my own. My friend Cassandra was here and was quite helpful with the cake. She had a very good time. ☺ We danced, played, sang, cooked, and altogether had a wonderful time!

It seems very sad to me that so many people act only the way that they’re expected to at a certain age. An old man is expected to act like an old man, to be grouchy and do nothing but sit around complaining with his friends. A 14 year old is often expected to act snooty and slump around, a 6 year old girl expected to like pink and purple and play with dolls. We needn’t act according to people’s silly stereotypes, we should be us, be fully ourselves and like whatever we happen to like!

For example, me: I’m 12 years old, and 12 year old girls are expected to be obsessing with boys, to have abandoned dolls and pretend friends, to “hang out” with their friends and such and such. However, the things I like often have little to do with how old I am. I still love playing with dolls and making up complex stories to go with playing with them. I like purple, cleaning my room, decorating, Russian history. I love horses like other girls my age, but I am truly myself, not liking things based on how old I am. I think that if anyone has an interest that doesn’t fit in with how old they are, they should still nourish that interest.

I am very excited! I have a wonderful new room that our much appreciated WOOFer volunteers have help build  with Danny’s guidance. It is a beautiful room and I spend lots of time playing with dolls ☺ and playing pretend in there. I am very thankful to all the hard work that has gone into my room!  And for the donation I heard came in to help with it!  It is a beautiful room facing the sacred cliffs, a wonderful view! With how tall I’m getting I no longer fit into my beloved treehouse. So we’re working on converting the porch into this large and amazing room I’ll be able to fit in even when I’m a grownup.

Thank you all for listening!
Rhiannon

Share This

Categories: The Wild Child

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012 at 11:14 am and is filed under The Wild Child. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.