We’re just newborns. We come to this world and we’re pampered. Our every need gets taken care of. This was the stage of diaper changes, adapting to our surroundings, being spoon fed, put to sleep by our parents, and trying to learn how to talk and walk.

We’re five years old. We are forced to attend kindergarten and learn the alphabet, basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Our parents set up rules such as not crossing the roads unless we held their hands, not leaving their side when out in the public domain, or going into the deep end of the pool. This was the stage where we were handheld the most and protected. Our parents taught us how to ride a bike at this time, how to tie our shoes, and how to change by ourselves. Our form of entertainment was watching Spongebob, Jimmy Neutron, Dexter's Laboratory, Lilo and Stitch, and Johnny Bravo. We told our friends and family members that we wanted to be a princess, a firefighter, prince, or an actress when we were older. Our friends agreed with us, but our elders simply laughed and said, “okay, darling.”

We’re ten years old. We know how to do basic math, how to change our clothes, use the restroom, and speak fairly well. We are now in middle school and required to learn the courses we learn as little kids such as english, history, spanish, math, P.E., and science. We always were so curious back then as to why a simple cell would divide and we were eager to learn the mechanics of it. Physical education was mostly everyone's favorite since it was a time to socialize with our friends, but I’d say by far, that everyone considered lunch as their favorite “class”. Our parents still set up rules, but introduced new ones along the way. Don’t stay up too late, finish all your homework, keep your room clean, cross the road only if their is a parent by your side, don’t trust strangers, and to be kind to everyone. Those were the main rules our parents tried to etch into us. Every passing day we would talk to our friends and parents about what new information we learnt that day and how it “inspires” us to be a doctor, olympian, teacher, or actress. Our friends agreed with us, but our elders still said, “okay, darling.”

We’re fifteen years old. High school now faces us as our main obstacle and everyday we try to pass every challenge that we come across. We are introduced to the same courses as we had in middle school, but more challenging and in-depth. Classes now have different levels such as college prep, honors, and advanced placement. Our guidance counselors tell us at the beginning of the year that we need certain amount of requirements and volunteering hours to graduate in order to get our diploma. Everyday we go on with our lives, talking to the same people that we have grown accustomed to from the start of our freshman year, and we come back home and study. Our parents rules have shortened, but are more strict. Finish all your homework, get good grades, make sure you're fit, face every obstacle with grace, and act mature. We try to abide to those rules, but there are some days where we completely lose track of those rules. High school students forget one homework assignment, we feel like we are slipping deep. If there is a rumor spreading around, make sure you ignore it and focus on what matters. If you fail a test, just “do better next time.” As time progresses we lose track of who we are at times, we do the most disgraceful actions, but at the end of the day everyone is trying to find out who they are. It’s the process of growing up. Our parents and friends ask us what we want to be when we’re older and responding with an answer such as, “I want to be an actor/actress,” is not fully accepted, but, “I want to be a doctor,” puts smiles on our elders faces and smiles from our friends.

Through all the years that we aged and matured, we had the thought in our mind when we were young that the world will be okay and we will all have our happy endings, but as we get older we realize that the world is a scary place,  with scary expectations, and filled with people that will scare us along the way. The point is, time goes by fast and we need to take every moment for granted because we will not stay five years old forever being handheld, but need to learn how to become mature and face obstacles in the appropriate manner.