Are You Sometimes Childlike In Your Behavior?

[Evelyne Schoenmann 264]

My today's question has something to do with our last weeks discussion. Some of your responses, and some of my recent experiences, made me think. We said that we should let children be and stay curious, to not always tell them "don't do this - don't do that". That I got a few rebukes from different persons recently, just because I'am still a curious "child" sometimes, made me a bit angry. Why should we always behave like well programmed robots? Don't we want sometimes just yell, laugh out loud, jump around, hug people, touch things (I didn't forget!), express joy or just be funny?

 

I myself got the most recent rebuke on the night flight from J.F.K. to Zurich/Switzerland: I couldn't sleep, so I scanned the movies and found - tataaa!- FLUBBER, starring Robin Williams. Boy, I was laughing so hard that the flight attendant told me to let other people, pleeeease, sleep.....

 

So come on, tell us a story where you were feeling and acting like a child and enjoyed it!

If it has to do with clay, so much the better...

 

Evelyne

[Amy Eberhardt 56]

I do my best every day, not to let my inner child die. I suppose that's part of why I took up pottery. While I can comport myself in an adult manner if it's absolutely necessary, I find those types of settings to be rather dull and tedious. I suppose that's why I'm not all that comfortable in a museum or gallery setting. I'm like you, Evelyne. I want to touch everything! While I respect the rules, there are times that I think they can be a bit over the top. What good is just looking at something when it begs to be handled!?!

 

My best example would be the time my mother and I attended an antiques and collectibles show. I'm a fiend for antique and depression era glass. I want to fondle all of it! One of the pieces I've always wanted to pick up and relish in its design has been a Fostoria Glass Company Series 5000 pitcher. They're just too beautiful for words!

 

Well, one of the booths at the show had just such a pitcher. My eyes went straight to it. My hands, with a will of their own, picked it up and caressed every line, and every curve of it's glorious beauty. My mother just about had a fit! "Amy! Put that down! You can't afford it and I'm sure the seller would appreciate you not touching it if you're not going to buy it!" my mother fussed at me.

 

Much to my delight and her chagrin, the seller said touch away. She understood that not everyone could afford one of those pitchers [to the tune of around $1,200] but that everyone, so long as they are careful with it, should have the chance to touch one. I may never own one, but at least I got the chance to hold one. I went home from that show a very happy camper!

[TJR 361]

I Sunday mornings I listen to the "Sunday Morning Resurrection with Howard Manshine, on 92 City FM.

They played Urgent by Foreigner. There is a great sax solo in there. Had to stop pulling handles and dance around the entire studio. Great song.

I tried to put a link from youtube, but don't know how.

If some kind soul could put it up here, we could all be dancing.

Tom

[bciskepottery 959]

Dance, Tom, Dance . . .

 

 

[High Bridge Pottery 681]

I tried to put a link from youtube, but don't know how.

 

It's easy, just copy and paste the URL and the rest is done for you.

[Mark C. 3,714]

I have never grown up so I cannot grasp the question?

Mark

[oldlady 2,335]

this is where someone needs to post the darling french bulldog who cannot do adult anymore.  puglover, you?

[Babs 899]

I Sunday mornings I listen to the "Sunday Morning Resurrection with Howard Manshine, on 92 City FM.

They played Urgent by Foreigner. There is a great sax solo in there. Had to stop pulling handles and dance around the entire studio. Great song.

I tried to put a link from youtube, but don't know how.

If some kind soul could put it up here, we could all be dancing.

Tom

Well, I thought the lead guitarist was a much older version of you, after your recent photo posted here.

Benzine, what do you think?

Better getthe guitar out, or the air one at leasst!

[Evelyne Schoenmann 264]

Thanks for your responses so far!

 

Amy: I love your story. Especially the part where the shopseller told you to touch the pitcher. That is exceptionell. Do you happen to have a picture of such a pitcher? I'am glad to have found another "serial toucher" in you.

 

Tom: I know the feeling when a music piece is getting into your bones and you just have to dance away. And I can just imagine you doing this. Keep dancing! Thank you, and bciske, for the youtube link! That's some sound!

 

Mark: big grin here! Love your answer!

 

Hey bciske, High Bridge, oldlady, Babs and others, do you have an "inner child" story for us too? Don't be shy!

 

Evelyne

[ChenowethArts 462]

Me? On the floor or in the yard with grandchildren ages 11 months, 2 years, 3 years, & 5 years...no video cameras allowed.  Goofiness abounds and giggles are mandatory...and that's just ME (think Robin Williams in the movie Hook).

 

Plus, what @Mark C. said (above).

 

Paul:)

[Evelyne Schoenmann 264]

Hi Paul, thank you for stopping by. Oh yes, I can imagine that there is lots of "finding the inner child" around children. And what if somebody would videotape your goofiness? Would that be so bad? Imagine what a hoot looking at the videos when we are a hundred years old and really too fragile to roll on floors anymore....

 

I just saw that this thread had 103 views yet, but "only" 9 reply. Why are the viewers not staying and telling a story? Listen, if you have an idea you want me to put in the "Question of the week" thread, just p.m. me, ok?! It would be so great when more of the members get involved and communicate with each other.

 

 

Evelyne

[Amy Eberhardt 56]

<snip>

 

I just saw that this thread had 103 views yet, but "only" 9 reply. Why are the viewers not staying and telling a story? Listen, if you have an idea you want me to put in the "Question of the week" thread, just p.m. me, ok?! It would be so great when more of the members get involved and communicate with each other.

 

 

Evelyne

Maybe they just haven't had their second cup yet?

 

Here's a good example of a Fostoria Glass Co. 5000 series pitcher, Evelyne. Beautiful, huh?

 

[Evelyne Schoenmann 264]

Haha - Amy, you are too funny. Thank you for the picture. Oh yes! That is a beautiful pitcher and I would have fondled it too. Look at that beautiful shape, the wavelike rim, the handle! Awwwww.....

[Cavy Fire Studios 321]

Does squishing my fingers in the reclaim bucket to laugh at the fart sounds count?

 

Otherwise....

 

ALL SERIOUS BUSINESS

 

(no srssly)

 

Lmao, I only do the doughty artist thing when doing pet portraits, since those have to be 100% as accurate as I can make them. Otherwise, I like to drown in the diabetes-inducing cuteness of my usual illustrations.

 

I wonder if my work should come with a warning label...

[Chris Campbell 1,224]

Muggles certainly are a buzz kill to the playful child.

(Muggles are easily identified by their use of the phrase ... 'try to think outside the box' ... hmmmm, what box?)

 

As corny as it sounds ... it is so great to have grandkids ... little peeps who always want to play.

I missed playing so much!

I know I have only 6 years or so until they begin to morph into Muggles so I have to play as much as I can while they are young.

[GEP 1,725]

Today I had ice cream for lunch.

 

Then again, I would never have been allowed to do that as a child. So maybe having ice cream for lunch is really "like an adult, who is free to make my own decisions, good and bad."

[High Bridge Pottery 681]

Sometimes I get really annoyed with a pot and flatten it with both my hands. Squish it real good.

 

I find the question of being childlike hard to answer. The only child I was like is me, and I am still me. Am I a different person now I am no longer defined as a child? I think it is probably yes and no. We know so little about the brain that maybe there is something special about being a child that fades or develops. Ageing changes the brain and you slowly become less and less plastic in the mind.

 

I think a lot of people would say I am childish because I disregard doing what society says should be done.

[TJR 361]

Dance, Tom, Dance . . .

 

 

Thank -you so much. I was dancing away! Those guys are looking old! Still got the chops, man. Still an amazing sax solo!

Thanks bcisk for posting it.

Tom.

[LeeU 1,060]

My inner child got my outer child's head stuck in the rung of a chair while playing cowboy and my mother had to get the neighbor to saw the chair open to get me out--her most coveted favorite chair, of course. I laughed hysterically, but the whoopin' I got just drove the inner child to take deep cover. My inner child always seemed to get slapped down and put in place when ever she emerged. As an adult in art school I always laughed uncontrollably (well, refused to control) every time wet clay went flying off the wheel, or somebody's pot slipped into the glaze bucket, or something went ka-boom in the kiln. It just tickled my spirit! When the instructor told me to knock it off, I told him it was therapeutic. He told me there was no place in art for therapy; art is not therapy. I said "F**k it isn't." (still had a lot of street left in me then) and threw a 10 lb chunk of just-wedged clay on the floor, took off my shoes, stomped around on it like I was pressing grapes, and split for a week. The tears were kept private, and when I went back I made sure that inner child was still laughing for all she was worth, "art" be damned!   HA

[Marc McMillan 46]

According to my wife I haven't grown up yet and if I do have spurts of grumpy adulthood she tells me to have more whimsy.

We both get huge laughs at all those wonderful kids movies (Dispicable me...The incredibles etc) and quote them often. 

I may get older, but that won't stop me!

[oldlady 2,335]

though there are people who think i am like Lucretia Borgia, i know i am really Forrest-a Gump.

[kswan 10]

I speak in various baby talk voices to all my pets, my husband, or really to anything that's cute, and I make up ridiculous names for them all. I have been doing that my whole life. First time admitting that to anyone outside the family, and it feels kinda good.

 

I have also always been attracted to miniature things since I was little, dollhouse furniture and the little accessories that go with it, or tiny animal figurines. I have recently formed tiny little barnyard animals as handles on some of my lidded jars. It was fun to make details on these things that are only about an inch tall. That satisfied my little-kid self.

 

I can identify with Mea's post, because I have also eaten ice cream as a meal, along with other not-so-healthy food choices sometimes...

[Cavy Fire Studios 321]

Omg, baby-talking my pets...guilty as charged. I also play video games and collect plush animals by the gross. I'm a hoarder of bunny, guinea pigs, and Chinese dragon things.

AND PIKACHU IS CUTE

[DirtRoads 235]

Playing video games and baby talking animals.   Listening to Sisters of Mercy, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode and New Order.   Last weekend at a family dinner some of the teenagers and I were discussing the latest episode of The Vampire Diaries and then drifted to The Originals.  One of the "adults" asked me what was The Originals ... they had never heard of it.    They had a blank look when I said "you know it's the spin off of TVD ... about the original Vampire family.  And then the parents of some 10-14 year olds informed everyone "We never allow our children to watch any of those shows" .......... Conversation then drifted to the OPness (over power) of resto druids in WOW and how the last expansion had ruined PVP in Rift.  (I heard some of the adults saying there was too much violence in those games ....)

[Marcia Selsor 1,783]

I guess not caring what others think when you do odd things may be childlike. Picking up interesting pods, or closely looking at bark or shells or randomly wandering streets in foreign cities may be childlike behavior. After art school I use to spend my Saturday afternoons wandering through Old City at age 11. I love playing with my best friends at our yearly get-together and playing with babies is joyful. Still have that fascination of wandering through cities. Here I am playing Dr Who in London.

 

Marcia