A Portrait of the Young Man As an Artist

The kids and I have often debate who has it better, adults or kids. They, of course, think it would be better to be grown up, to get a pay check, make your own choices. They believe adulthood is full of money and freedom and chocolate and late bedtimes. I argue it's pretty great to be a kid. If you're lucky, someone takes care of your basic necessities, and all you really have to do, when it comes down to it, is go to school. I apparently think being is kid is nothing but recess and art class and pep assemblies. We both may be right, but we're both wrong too.

Sure, I'd like to be a sixth grader again, but I'd like to be in the sixth grade of my youth. The one where summers were free, everybody played soft ball, bullies were rare, and algebra waited until high school. Being a kid these days is no cake walk. Their homework is more advanced, their academic life is stressful, and their hobbies are more diverse and demanding.

Case in point ... Last weekend Bryon, Jake and Abby went camping, and I was really looking forward to my time alone with Sam. But the weekend I envisioned - movies, coffee, shopping, the book store, sleeping in - wasn't the weekend we had, mostly because Sam is a busy kid. In fewer than 30 hours he had a three-hour choir rehearsal, a band performance at a bar, a 7:30 a.m. choir performance, confirmation and acolyting. Me? My weekend involved a lot of driving, listening to music and drinking bellinis.

So, sure, being a kid sounds good, but when it comes down to it, I'm not sure many of us adults could handle it.