#i should study this stuff more formally it makes me such a joyous nerd

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saw this meme today

and i was all instinctively ready to scoff like "how silly, that's not *really* how it works"

but then

i thought back to when *i* was 5—aka, most of my earliest memories (i don't remember being 4 so well lol i was still vibing)—and some of those memories are:

just thinking about life and realized i was gnc/nonbinary (didn't have the terminology obviously, so i basically had to make up my own Baby's First Gender Theory based on observation)

just thinking about life and realized i could imagine literally anything and started making up a utopian sci-fi/fantasy world that i continued playing pretend and worldbuilding in for the entire next decade

just thinking about life and got into a spiral over how i couldn't read yet even though i had almost reached the very wizened age of six, envisioning the entire rest of my life (aka... being a Big Kid and then Old) stretching out before me where i *never* learned how to read, a dreadful vision, and going to my mom in tears with the exact same kind of overthinking-themed anxiety breakdown i have battled repeatedly as an adult

... in conclusion, the framework of the future adult already exists in the toddler, and the personality of the toddler is observable in the adult, and kids just have these enormous, profound inner lives in those tiny little heads, dude, and the meme is right... 4-year-olds are HELLA existential. it's kinda mind-blowing. you should definitely ask a 4-year-old some deep questions about the meaning of life.

(also, as someone who has spent a bunch of time with small children... the Thinking begins way, wayyy earlier than 4. you can see them working up to it as soon as there's long enough breaks between crying as a newborn. that's the magic of it all)

#children #human development #i should study this stuff more formally it makes me such a joyous nerd #'what would you tell your child self?' #'... don't worry bro you definitely learn how to read. in fact you're going to have outstanding reading comprehension' #hilarious in hindsight