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Child Item

Little things you didn't expect about being an adult

Gwen Cooper

Most of children spend a lot of time wondering what their life will look like when they're all grown up. They dream not only about their future jobs, but also about their future home, holidays, partners.

Then the time comes and they find out that things are a little bit different than they planned.

For me it was when I was 20 years old and I moved into a little studio apartment and I realised how quickly toilet paper is used and how often it needs to be bought.

It also took me a few weeks to stop walking to the empty fridge every few minutes in hopes that it was magically refilled with food.

What were the little things that surprised you about being an adult?

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bauney

Birthdays comes around very quickly when Older. As a child, a year seemed to take ages. Now it fly's by.

jimmycrackcorm

When I was young I thought you grow up, get married and live happily ever after. I now realise that marriage is a life sentence of bringing out the bins on Tuesdays.

[Deleted User]

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

When I was young I thought you grow up, get married and live happily ever after. I now realise that marriage is a life sentence of bringing out the bins on Tuesdays.

And early gray hair. It's amazing how many men seem to get gray hair a few years after marriage/kids.

I'm single (never married), older than most of my friends and only a few gray hairs in my beard. My friends are all with plenty of gray and some of them haven't even reached 40 yet.

missmatty

When I was a kid I used to think that when you grew up you got to choose your house. Not buy it, choose it, as in get it for free. I was going to get one of those old converted railway station cottages. Can't describe how devastated I was when I found out the truth.

Badly Drunk Boy

Gwen Cooper wrote: »

For me it was when I was 20 years old and I moved into a little studio apartment and I realised how quickly toilet paper is used and how often it needs to be bought.

I only realised this when I had my house-warming party when I invited a few of the women from work. It's only women who use it very freely so hadn't noticed before (being male). About an hour into it, one of them asked if I had anymore toilet roll but I thought I had left a couple of rolls out. I had more but they just wasn't obvious to see.

Gwen Cooper

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

I only realised this when I had my house-warming party when I invited a few of the women from work. It's only women who use it very freely so hadn't noticed before (being male). About an hour into it, one of them asked if I had anymore toilet roll but I thought I had left a couple of rolls out. I had more but they just wasn't obvious to see.

My problem was that I thought I'm being smart and was buying the cheapest toilet paper possible. I mean that stuff was transparent. And since us girls need to use toilet paper every single time they go to the toilet, I made it through one roll a day, and I was barely at home. It was an eye-opener. Expensive toilet rolls forever!

ILikeBoats

- Many insurances
- Bills
- Kids are messy. I clean up the same things every. single. day. sometimes more than once.
- Getting out with friends becomes complicated and something you need to plan a good bit in advance.
- Getting fat
- Grocery shopping
- Laundry
- House maintenance
- I find I now get up early at the weekend so "not to waste the day"

Grayson

Deleted User wrote: »

And early gray hair. It's amazing how many men seem to get gray hair a few years after marriage/kids.

I'm single (never married), older than most of my friends and only a few gray hairs in my beard. My friends are all with plenty of gray and some of them haven't even reached 40 yet.

And grey hair appears everywhere.

I was in my early thirties, lying on a beach and saw one on my chest.

With me it's genetics though. I started going grey in my 20's. My sister started in her teens.

Minderbinder

missmatty wrote: »

When I was a kid I used to think that when you grew up you got to choose your house. Not buy it, choose it, as in get it for free.

Some people do. If you don’t work hard enough anything is possible.

Mutant z

How quickly time passes it truly does seem to accelerate more and more with each passing year i can remember the millennium as a pre teen and now I'm scratching my head wondering where the hell all that time has gone as my youthful days are rapidly dissapearing and getting ever so closer to middle aged.

Knex*

You really weren't as smart as you thought yourself to be.

Also, the sense of being invincible gets kicked down a notch by a heightened awareness of vulnerability when you're around 22. This former diminishes and the latter increases with every year.

[Deleted User]

Knex. wrote: »

You really weren't as smart as you thought yourself to be..

Actually, I'm far more intelligent now.

School and later University fooled me into thinking I wasn't smart. I was wrong. I just didn't learn the same way as other people, and needed to learn how to learn. I've since discovered I'm far smarter than my teachers ever were... which is what I thought when I was a kid

Boom_Bap

That you'd forget how old you are at least 20 times a year.

.......

This post has been deleted.

Rented Mule

I was convinced that I would be fit for the rest of my life.

I now find myself halfway through losing the 4.5 stone that I promised my kids that I would lose.

Slowly but surely getting there.

minikin

Gwen Cooper wrote: »

My problem was that I thought I'm being smart and was buying the cheapest toilet paper possible. I mean that stuff was transparent. And since us girls need to use toilet paper every single time they go to the toilet, I made it through one roll a day, and I was barely at home. It was an eye-opener. Expensive toilet rolls forever!

I learned how easy it is to steal toilet roll, as a guest.
Haven’t had to buy toothbrushes since the 1990’s either!

NoviGlitzko

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Oh, here's another one. When you have kids you will turn into your parents.

You will actually be able to hear yourself repeat bullsht they used to say to you.

It is very spooky.

Ah of course but I mean in a general sense like remembering to push my child to learn an instrument (or attempt too) as I never had the opportunity when I was young and I'm only learning something now as an example.

Agricola

Being made to go to bed early as a kid was terrible. I'm sure we all said "when im all grown up, im gonna stay up as late as I like!"

Now as an adult, you often find yourself nodding off and instead of staying up to watch a film or a game of pes/fifa online, you find yourself thinking an early night would be really nice.

#fúckedB440

Boom_Bap

I should have actually ate my veg all those times I kicked and screamed about them as a child.

Dial Hard

That I'd spend the rest of my life missing the quite frankly mind-boggling amount of days off you get in school.

That even people who didn't find the Leaving Cert remotely traumatic still sometimes dream they're sitting it again.

Just how hard my Dad had to work to give us (five kids) the lifestyle we had. We had two weeks in Portugal followed by two weeks in Wexford every single summer from when I was 5. I have no kids to support and I haven't been on a foreign holiday in five years.

[Deleted User]

Boom_Bap wrote: »

I should have actually ate my veg all those times I kicked and screamed about them as a child.

And actually loving good tasty vegetables now...

[Deleted User]

Boom_Bap wrote: »

That you'd forget how old you are at least 20 times a year.

Really? That must be something for later.

irishguitarlad

That all your dreams don't mean **** and you can't be everything you want to be.

endacl

Dial Hard wrote: »

That I'd spend the rest of my life missing the quite frankly mind-boggling amount of days off you get in school.

I'm only a month into the summer, and my mind still boggles.

I get paid for this?!? It's no wonder I'll need a week off in October after the shock to the system of going back to work in September...

Gwen Cooper

Deleted User wrote: »

Really? That must be something for later.

God yes.

I was 27 and it was about two weeks until my 28th birthday. I was editing my profile on one of the dating apps, and I noticed that the age field says that I'm 28. I laughed and thought that I must have messed up the date of birth when I registered. Then it hit me. I counted on my fingers, I counted on the calculator. And again. And then once more. I was actually 28, going on 29.

Somewhere, and I'm still not sure how it happened, I lost one year of my life.:D

5rtytry56

In Ireland:

Others easily have a problem with you if they feel you are being 'overly - serious'. You are not lighthearted enough in your attitude or position in some context or another.

A 'Hail fellow - well met' adult with zero creativity will get more notice than somebody who is very creative BUT with AVERAGE social skills, like me I suppose

Electric Sheep

So many posters shocked by the need to do laundry, iron, cook and clean, food shop. It must be a generational thing. Did your parents never make you help with the house work or food shopping? If so they did you a disservice.

Gwen Cooper

Electric Sheep wrote: »

So many posters shocked by the need to do laundry, iron, cook and clean, food shop. It must be a generational thing. Did your parents never make you help with the house work or food shopping? If so they did you a disservice.

They did. We helped out when there was nothing else for us to do. Suddenly when you're grown up you have so much to do and it fully hits you how much time these things take.

[Deleted User]

Gwen Cooper wrote: »

God yes.

I was 27 and it was about two weeks until my 28th birthday. I was editing my profile on one of the dating apps, and I noticed that the age field says that I'm 28. I laughed and thought that I must have messed up the date of birth when I registered. Then it hit me. I counted on my fingers, I counted on the calculator. And again. And then once more. I was actually 28, going on 29.

Somewhere, and I'm still not sure how it happened, I lost one year of my life.:D

I'm 41, and have never had this problem. I figured you were talking about being in your 70s or 80s :pac:

Losing a day here or there to being stoned... sure, been there. but a year?

DaeryssaOne

Gwen Cooper wrote: »

Somewhere, and I'm still not sure how it happened, I lost one year of my life.:D

I have done exactly the same thing this past year. I've told multiple people my age only to remember later on that I'm actually a year older, I think it must be a subconscious denial to ageing!

I think my one is struggling with not having as much time off as I'd like. The school holidays made me think I'd always have endless summers stretching out in front of me when in reality I'm trying to figure out how much I'll have to work over Christmas so I can take more time off during this good weather!