How to Grow Up to Become Like a Child

Rediscover your inner child and find joy in life again

Be happy — a photo of the author's daughter

When I grow up, I want to be just like my 7-year-old daughter. She’s happy, full of joy and wonder, and she sees the world as a place filled with infinite possibilities.

As I watch her play every day and explore the world around her without a care, I’m reminded of my childhood, when everything was fun and exciting and anything seemed possible. Somewhere along the way, I lost touch with that fun and exciting part of myself.

I became an adult.

I grew up and became jaded and cynical. I stopped believing in the magic of life. I’m always too tired to be fun.

But as I look at my daughter enjoying her life, I miss the child that I used to be. I miss who I was before the world got to me.

I want that little girl back.

As we grow older, we lose the sense of wonder and joy that we had as children. We become too tired, too skeptical, and less open to new experiences.

I realize that it’s never too late to rediscover and connect with my inner child.

There are three qualities that I observe in my daughter that I believe can help me connect with my inner child and become more childlike, just like her:

1. Curiosity

Curiosity kills the cat, but my daughter gets away with it. She is curious about everything. She’s curious about herself and the world around her. She asks a thousand questions and then at night when I tuck her in; she asks one more question. Her nighttime questions are always so deep it makes me wonder, too.

My daughter realizes she knows nothing at all and wants to learn something every day. She wants to know everything and understand what she doesn’t.

I used to be just like that when I was a child. I asked a thousand and one questions. Now that I’m older, I want to embrace life with the same sense of wonder and curiosity that my daughter does, and as I did when I was a child.

Children are naturally curious. They ask many questions, explore their environment, and seek out new experiences, but as we grow older, we become set in our ways…