What would John Lennon say?
I vaguely remember a Dick Cavett rerun where John Lennon said, “Don’t trust anyone over 30″. Turns out that quote is originally from Jack Weinberg, a civil rights organizer from the Bay Area. Maybe Lennon was quoting him. Seams reasonable. Maybe I am just hallucinating about the whole Lennon-Dick Cavett connection and I heard that quote at some other times and put the 2 together. Also reasonable. However, I am not the only one out there that believes Lennon and the quote are connected, which leaves me to feel pretty positive that the first scenario happened. Anyway, I turn 30 later this year.
In looking for a YouTube video of Lennon talking about this, I watched a Dick Cavett episode from 1971 where Yoko Ono and John mention how it has only been the last few months, since around the time he turned 30, that his art has really come into its own.
Then a few days ago I read a blog post and this quote zings into my brain and won’t budge. Once you start using a blog reader, it is no big deal just to add another blog. So sometimes weird things pop up. The post in question is by a teen councilor and deals with how to talk to your parents about sex. It is from the standpoint that the teen wants to be, or has already been involved, in sexual activity. About half the time I find the posts on this blog tacky, but I read this one anyway just to see what it says. About halfway down, the blogger tells these teens that often parents have a hard time seeing them (the teen reader) as more than children. This is when the zing happened!
Teens ARE still children! Not children in the way that my little ones are, but children in that they are not ready to handle the emotional spectrum of adulthood. I was a sexually active teen. Not as young as many I knew, but at 17, I was not ready to handle the emotional baggage. I was still a child. At 17, I didn’t feel like a child. Now from the vantage point of a parent who’s almost 30, I was!! I would not be okay with my children starting a sexual relationship at that age. Either of them. Of course, I plan to talk about all this with them continuously starting before puberty. Not just about the physical risks that sex-ed classes discuss, but about the emotional risks.
Then, my friend started a series on her blog about teaching sexual sin to her children, some of whom are already teenagers. Her post today I found very enlightened because it focused on the “something better” aspect of waiting until marriage. It is something better to wait. Less stress. Less awkwardness during social occasions.
Now, if my post college graduate child decided to move in with her/his boyfriend/girlfriend, I would probably not be that upset. Especially if I knew that child had waited past the drinking age, past the overly impetuous age, to make this decision.
At almost 30, I am concerned with how it will be watching me kids grow older. I am young enough to feel like I have forever to live, but old enough to know that I could feel differently tomorrow. How am I going to feel about my kids growing up. They will. They seem so much older already. At some point, I won’t be able to make them happy all day by sewing a new bag. They are going to leave and I will have to find other ways to fill my day. Will it be too quiet?
So, on turning 30 and thinking teenagers are children, I wish I could email John Lennon just to see what he would say.
I am a stay at home mother to a toddler and an infant. I enjoy sewing and learning css. My greatest dream is for 70%-80% of women in the U.S. to recieve the safest prenatal and labor care available for low risk births--a midwife's care!