Growing Up Young

The Peter Pan syndrome is now a generational movement. Meet the folks that New York magazine refers to as "Grups", but I like to call "half the people I used to work with in New York". It's a great article, because I always love seeing some writer try to pigeonhole an entire generation in 1,200 words.

However, I will admit there was quite a bit of self-recognition happening as I read this piece. The idea of adults refusing to grow up, embracing the dress-down movement as cultural rebellion and obliterating any sort of generation gap between them and their younger siblings and children is not news to anyone who's been within 50 miles of a major urban area in the past 5 years. It's just that the media is finally getting around to giving a name to the 40-something moms who still want to be Natalie Portman in Garden State and the (ahem) men in their early 30s who are wearing larger sizes of the same sneakers they wore in 5th grade to work every day. There's no doubt I fall into this category, and I'm not really ashamed to admit it. (Except that I think pre-ripped jeans is one of the stupider ideas the fashion world has come up with, and I'd never buy a pair. Besides, I've never spent more than $68 for a pair of jeans and don't plan on ever breaking that record if I can help it. Also, I don't have any kids yet, so I haven't tried to mold them into little versions of me. Yet.)

To me, it comes down to this: the media can try to create whatever labels they like, although hopefully it's something better than "Grups", which came from an old Star Trek episode. Lame. Whatever the term, there's only one way that I see this whole issue becoming a problem. I've had a job where I had a wear a jacket and tie, and you know what? It sucked. I sit in front of a computer all day. What the hell do I need to be wearing a tie for? So that I can spend the whole day hating my job while feeling like I'm slowly suffocating? No thanks. As long as someone will keep paying me even if I show up in head-to-toe Adidas, I'll keep dressing in clothes that make me feel comfortable, and young, and yeah, I'll say it, hip. My parents played their Beatles albums just as often as they played my Sesame Street records, and 30 years later we still enjoy each other's music. So there's no reason why my kids can't listen to Sufjan Stevens and Bloc Party. I have friends whose daughter loves to dance around the house to The Apples in Stereo, and she's one of the smartest children I know. So what? I don't see anything wrong with wanting to stay current on the latest music, or wear trendy clothes, or aspiring to a job that you actually enjoy instead of just doing it for the money. We can still be "adults" without becoming our parents and grandparents. But the lesson we should take from their generations is, they knew when it was time to put aside their lives and act like a parent. When attempting to stay young and hip becomes more important than raising your child and being a parent, that's when it becomes a problem. If it ever comes to that for me, I'll be happy to trade in my Gazelles and Ben Sherman bag for a sensible pair of Rockports and some pleated Dockers. But I don't plan on letting that happen, so don't hold your breath.

Chromewaves also posted about this article, as well as gathering a few links of responses, some embracing the label fully, and some wishing those darn overgrown kids would just grow up!