Using Your Kids to Feel Younger

These days, we toss around the phrase “living vicariously through our kids” like it’s a hot potato. I suppose parents have been guilty of this since the invention of fire. With a cooked meal and a warm place to sleep, cave-parents were finally able to step back and look at their offspring in a new light. “Man,” they thought, “youth looks pretty good. I wish I could still outrun that approaching lion.”Our generation, though, has taken vicarious living to a new level. The  fields packed with toddlers in shin guards, the throngs of budding Olympians cruising down the slopes and packed SAT-prep classes throughout the nation, scream of our need to create perfectly well-rounded children. We can pretend it’s parental love. But truthfully, we are misguided enough to believe our children are our second chance. Isn’t the Princeton bumper sticker just as prestigious as the education itself? I don’t know, but 3 of my kids are going to Duke on sports’ scholarships and the other 2 are going to Harvard.

Here are 5 ways to use your kids to feel younger, without using them. The best ways to stay young are right under your nose.

1. Play. If you aren’t up for dodge ball, try Wii. Family game nights with Scrabble and Pictionary are great, but when you beat your pre-teen in virtual boxing, you’ll feel like a giddy kid. I beat my daughter in fencing 1/2 hour ago, and even though my arm might fall off from the effort, I am pretty psyched — the old lady still has some punch.

2. Giggle. Speaking of giddy … laugh loudly and irreverently the next time you hear something that sounds like a fart in church.

3. Dream. It is not too late. I am still trying to figure out what to be when I grow up.

4. Learn something new. Ask questions, step outside your comfort zone, google some useless trivia, or learn something useful. At the age of 87, Michelangelo is quoted as having said, “I am still learning.” If it was good enough for the man who painted the ceiling of the Sistine  Chapel, it is good enough for you.

5. Relax. Dance, spin, cartwheel, be silly. No one is looking at you. We are too busy watching our offspring grow into the people we hoped we’d be.