OUT NOW!
Who will you be when you grow up? (by me) is a book that invites children to explore what they might be like as adult. It prompts them to consider things like: what their personality will be like, adventures they might want to go on, their achievements, where they might live and what they think will make them happy – amongst other things.
I took my book to read to several of my neighbours’ children and this prompted the discovery of no end of wonderful ideas, wishes and ambitions. I had such fun. It’s clearly a book that not only gets children thinking, it also sets them off into considering ideas you didn’t even know could be considered!
Each child engaged with the book quite differently and you couldn’t predict which page would inspire a fantastic monologue a child was keen to have an audience for. It’s a book that certainly brings out both the serious and delightfully silly. What’s great about children is how they so easily switch between real and made up!
Here are some of the things I discovered …
Emily (6) was clear that the best thing about being grown up is that you can reach even higher and will be able to answer harder questions but the bad thing will be that you have to clean toilets. It would be important for her that her friends showed they cared by doing things like making cards for her. For a job she’d like to be the boss and tell other people what to do as well as working indoors, making things and travelling around. She was clear that a job you really enjoy is important for happiness. Emily’s adventurousness meant she also wanted to do a parachute jump. live by the sea and go to America – specifically to hold a snake. As an adult she knows she will enjoy painting, fishing, going to see shows, performing in shows because she already loves that, cycling and cooking. ‘That’s me with cookie dough on my face,’ she told me pointing to the picture she’d just drawn.
Leo (6) is certain he will play sport as an adult and he will be able to kick a football so hard it goes through people. In his free time he’s also going to collect things, climb a mountain, write a book, go to the cinema often and own a pet. He wants to work outside fixing things and live in a town near his friend Elias so he can keep being kind to him. In fact Elias is going to say, ’ You’re the best person’ to him all the time when he’s a grown up.
Isla (7) is very clear she’s going to be a guitar playing rock star in her band: ‘Rock Isla and the Skinny Trees’, and being an ‘expert in guitar’ is going to be key to her life’s happiness. Isla said the best thing about being a grown up is that you can buy you own pets but the not-so-good thing is all the boring jobs you have to do. Isla is going to live in a mansion with butlers in tutus to do the tidying. She will also go scuba diving, go to university, learn to cook, have a pet dog and horse, see big wild animals in the jungle, learn to drive and definitely make people laugh when she’s an adult. Isla said that finding things you love to do, exciting holidays, having a job you love, learning how to enjoy each moment and finding fun in new challenges are key to a happy life.
Elias (6) is going to catch baddies and be a secret agent. ’Look, that’s a boat in a storm, there’s a shark and I’m in the water with lightning hitting me and I just don’t care. I’m going to live underground and set a world record for digging. There will be a tree above with a treehouse that I can climb up to look out for baddies. I will have good friends who I play football with and they will say to me – you always make me laugh.’ Elias said the best thing about growing up will be that you get to boss your kids around. He is also very clear about the hair style he will have and took some time over drawing it.
Connie (3) is going to live in a pink caravan for the peace and quiet, in a warm sunny place with her pet dog and rabbit. She’s also sure she’s going to be a doctor. As a doctor, she’s going to eat lots of popcorn and not let her patients have any. According to Connie, The absolute worst thing about being a grown up is that you get wet from the dishwasher but it’s great that you get to have babies – which she is going to do.
Sofia (9) thinks that the key to happiness is to enjoy every moment as well as a job as either a zoo-keeper or a teacher. Achievement-wise she’s going to learn to drive, be good at gardening, play the piano, climb a mountain ’because I will be adventurous’ and be in the Olympics. Other adventures will include riding in a hot-air balloon and travelling to Japan. She’s going to live in a small/big house in a small village that’s quiet in winter but that has lots of visitors in summer – with her pet dog. Oh and she’s definitely going to be silly and funny. Sofia is clear that the best thing about being an adult is that you can stay up longer at night but the worst thing is you always have to do jobs around the house.
Chloe’s (8) wisdom means lots of her answers started with, ‘it depends’ – because in many cases, it does! As soon as she’s 18 she’s going to the pet shop and buy a dog, however having to go to work will be the downside at the same age. Chloe is going to live at Hogwarts. She’s going to be tidy but also a bit messy – like having a sofa with cushions scattered all over them. She’ll have children and maybe fall in love. She’s also going to go horse riding, see the northern lights, ski a lot and play sport. She going to have a job where she uses technology as, she said, ‘I am really good at logging into computers.’
Lucas (5) asserts that he’s going to be tidy, listen more than talk, be serious, adventurous, help others and make lots of plans. He’s also definitely going to be an architect because he wants to design and make things and he’s quite certain of this. It’s also important that he works outdoors and wears a uniform. He’s going to be the boss at work too. He’s going to live in a treehouse, do a parachute jump, and go to a desert to see the cacti. He’s also going to play volleyball with his friends the cat and the banana.
Albie (6) told me that to be grown up you had to be more than 30, which his dad definitely was. He said the best thing about growing up is that your handwriting gets better but the downside is it becomes down to you to get everyone out of the house in the morning, ’which is really hard in our house.’ When he considered what he was going to be like, he was clear that he would be tidy, serious (with further questioning the reason for this was that children are silly and adults are serious), would definitely talk a lot and not worry too much about what he wore, although he would never wear what the person on in wellies on page 7 is wearing. Albie said he would definitely still ride his bike when he was a grown up and that although it was unlikely, he’d like an adventure on the International Space Station. He is going to be sporty and decided he was going to play football, basketball, rugby and tennis – although he’d not tried rugby. He wants to live by the sea and have a boat so he can go on adventures. Other experiences he hopes his future includes are playing drums, a parachute jump and a canoe trip. He’s definitely not going to fall in love – ‘yuk!’ For his job he’d like to be outdoors, fix things, make things, travel around, work alone and definitely not be the boos as you have to tell others what to do and that’s rude.
Carmen (9) has an adventurous and creative nature. She’s clear she’s going to write a book when she grows up as she’s already written one, ‘It’s called Pigs and Jeremy – about a farm where the chickens lay chicken nuggets and the cows are milked for orange juice. She’s also going to climb a mountain (‘Look- that’s me climbing up a snowy mountain’), go on exciting holidays, perform on stage, dance, travel around the world and stay silly; ‘I love friends who make me laugh’. Her house will be in a forest so she can collect leaves, have pets and enjoy gardening. Workwise, after college, she wants to be the boss and use her brain – because she loves that! The nicest compliment she thinks she could receive as a grown-up will be, ‘You have the best ideas.’
Connie (8) says that the best bit about being an adult is you get to eat lots of chocolate whenever you want but the worst bit is the boring, boring work you have to do. She admits that as an adult she’s likely to be a little messy, a mix of serious and silly and adventurous while still being someone who follows the rules. To stay healthy she’s going to eat plenty of fruit, take time to relax and go swimming. She’s keen to visit the swampy Everglades to see the many birds that live there – and the crocodiles. She’s going to live in a house she has designed with a blue, purple and pink colour scheme. The nicest thing her friends will say to her when she’s grown up is, ‘I have lots of fun with you’ but she’s quite clear she won’t be falling in love.
Mia (only just 3) wanted to draw a giraffe. The giraffe is called Edie. I found out that Mia didn’t want to grow up and that she wants to live with her parents forever. She is going to be a good listener because her mummy talks all the time and she listens. She’s also always going to make people laugh. When she grows up she’s going to love dancing, doing art, love gardening (as she likes helping daddy make the plants grow) and going fishing. She’s very certain she’s going to go fishing although she’s yet to try it. She had her first visit to the cinema this week and she knows she’ll do that more. She also wants to live in a house in a town in a sunny country.
Here’s Edie the giraffe…
