MetaChat - Are you the same person as you were at 5 years old?

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21 April 2009

Are you the same person as you were at 5 years old? What about you hasn't changed?→[More:]I just found my childhood report cards. My kindergarten teacher wrote: "Melismata generally likes to play by herself. She will sometimes join the other children to play, but then she'll wander away and they'll forget about her." THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I DO WITH PEOPLE TODAY.

What quirks, attributes, mannerisms, traits etc. do you still have from your early childhood?

post by: Melismata at: 10:21 | 28 comments

I think my biggest change is that I gave up smoking and whoring around.

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 21 April | 10:55

...still insists on having an animal in his bed at night when he goes to sleep...

posted by Wolfdog 21 April | 10:59

Very intelligent but could do so much more if he tried to apply himself - prefers to get by on the bare minimum and then play.

posted by Meatbomb 21 April | 11:07

I still get low marks in exercising self-control. I still socialize when I should be working. I'm still extremely patient and my attention span (when I'm interested in the task or subject at hand) is phenomenally long.

I still like to rub soft things back and forth along my lips right before I go to sleep. It calms me down. I think it's a frayed blanket binding association from infancy.

posted by Hugh Janus 21 April | 11:14

every so often i grow an odd hair on my chin now... i think that's the biggest change from when i was 5.

posted by eatdonuts 21 April | 11:31

I'm still stubborn and into eating cake, but now I like caterpillars less.

posted by rmless2 21 April | 11:41

My Kindergarten report card said I was a social butterfly. I talked too much. I think I was a people-pleaser at 5 and I'm a people-pleaser today. Although, I have gotten a lot better about saying no and not caring what people think. A lot better.

I was much more imaginative and hopeful at a young age. I'm still optimistic but am duller than dirt at 36.

posted by LoriFLA 21 April | 11:44

Is curious, enjoys taking apart objects and, when possible, putting them back together.

Can happily play with her [toy] oven all day, producing decent nourishing food from fridge scraps.

Sings little nonsense songs as she goes about her business.

Tells absurd, pointless, endlessly swooping stories.

Is skeptical of the scientific methodology of other laypersons (i.e., will not jump off the shed roof holding an umbrella; despite big brother's assurances, is pretty sure she will not "float like Mary Poppins.")

Likes to write, but sometimes gets things backwards.

I still like to rub soft things back and forth along my lips right before I go to sleep.

Hey, me too! In times of stress especially, I find that I'll rub my fingernails (buffed smooth) across the bow of my upper lip while I'm drifting off.

posted by Elsa 21 April | 11:50

I still get the 'oh you could do so much awesome shit if you just applied yourself' but really only from my parents. My boss seems to be all 'whoa' whenever I whip out something I've been working on.

I also still do the same thing I did from that age where I'll be listening to someone, then wander off to go play with something. I'm still listening to you, but I just have to do something else for a while too.

posted by sperose 21 April | 12:04

My kindergarten report card said that I liked to learn, and to loudly share everything I had learned, often at inappropriate times (like nap time and when other children are playing).

That's a pretty good description of me nowadays.

posted by muddgirl 21 April | 12:06

"Timmy -- my first grade teacher called me that and I hate that name -- has read all his school books to the end and all the books in the school library into the fourth grade level. He never plays, alone or with others, and only talks to the smartest girl in the class and that very rarely. In class, he does not seem to be pay attention but always gives the correct answer."

posted by Ardiril 21 April | 12:07

At my (Catholic) primary school we were given letter grades from age 5 onwards. I can't remember any of my comments, but consistently I would receive As for "achievement" and Cs or Ds for "effort". This pretty much sums me up through graduate school.

posted by gaspode 21 April | 12:28

I don't remember much about being 5. I think I had a lot more fun back then. If you'd asked about being 10, then I'd say yes, I'm the person I was then (though still tireder and sadder than I was). I think I became myself around 9 or so, when I came up against some of the difficulties of dealing with the world.

posted by DarkForest 21 April | 12:38

"Redvixen plays well with others but has a tendency to talk too much." Heh. Family trait. My Mom talked too much, and my sons both talked too much (the younger one still does). Nope, not much has changed. LoriFla and I are much alike - I always was and still am a people pleaser.

posted by redvixen 21 April | 13:57

I recently saw in my baby book, filled in by my mother, something like:

Respects the opinion of and is influenced by authority figures: YES!!!
Respects the opinion of and is influenced by her peers: Not much

Which cracked me up, because I had just realized the same thing about myself as an adult.

posted by occhiblu 21 April | 14:41

My mum's last boyfriend deliberately destroyed most of my brothers and my school stuff. What's left is at my mum's.

I'm pretty sure it said I was quiet and well behaved, played nicely and did my work. Which is still, mostly, correct. It was later on (nine, ten years old) when things changed.

Over all I'd say I'm pretty much the same only less shy and more damaged.

posted by deborah 21 April | 16:16

I'm still as shy as I was when I was five years old.

But I am MUCH happier and more confident than I was back then.

posted by jason's_planet 21 April | 17:09

I still read a lot, act on impulse (sometimes unwisely), talk excitedly about things I'm excited about, feel plucky, memorize easily, like cowboy boots, and enjoy the Mexican Hat Dance.

posted by Miko 21 April | 17:29

I've stopped thinking that life is all a movie and I have to gaze pensively toward the camera whenever there's a silence. Otherwise I still disrespect authority and am never satisfied with people's explanations when asked "why?" without finding out for myself. And the 'could try harder' some of you report is certainly resonating...

posted by goo 21 April | 17:39

I still have terrible handwriting and am overly sensitive and easily stressed.

Yes.

I do have a continuous sense of self, with no break between childhood and whatever comes after, which is probably a slightly dominant, but not a universal or somehow correct view. We are all the main characters in our own story, after all.

posted by rainbaby 21 April | 18:33

I ran away from home when my sister was born (age 2 1/2) and told my parents I wouldn't come home until they "took that obstreperous brat back where she came from".

They thought I was a genius. Turned out I just peaked as a toddler. To this day, I am precocious (not nearly as charming when you are almost 40), opinionated, prone to tantrums, and in desperate need of nap time.

posted by evilcupcakes 21 April | 19:59

I still like the Beatles, who I first heard at precisely the age of five.

posted by flapjax at midnite 21 April | 22:07

I had two years of kindergarten. I literally failed sandbox the first time around. I could already read and write and was too smart for the room. I spent the second year bored stiff.

So yeah, pretty close, except I've learned to corral my anti-sandbox tendencies and let them out only when necessary.

posted by lysdexic 21 April | 22:22

Same name and I still like rainy days. That's about it.

posted by eamondaly 21 April | 22:25

To a point. I still love waking up before everyone and going outside to wander through the trees and pore carefully over the little growing things. I still love making art and things for people, and giving gifts, and comforting people. I still love animals, and shelter every one I find. I still love playing dress-up.

My first planned crime occurred in my junior kindergarten year. At the beginning of each day, every girl drew a card from a stack at random, and on the cards were printed shapes which stood for various activities. The order of the shapes determined what we'd do and when, so that every day was different. One day, my card did not show the house symbol that meant you got to put on costumes and enjoy the (large, well-appointed) playhouse. This, for some reason, was an unbearable disappointment. But my card did show a square, which meant building blocks, and this was a pleasure I was willing to forgo. So I found a pencil, squatted down to hide, and carefully drew a triangle on top of the square. I can't remember when I was found out (probably when the teacher realized that the playhouse was looking a bit crowded), but Mrs. McLaughlin was too amused to punish me other than sending me to blocks and mentioning the fraud to my parents, who explained why everyone couldn't play house at once or anytime they wished. Of course I never tried it again- partly because it was too embarrassing to have failed.

I was an outgoing child for several years, who loved people strongly and without fear. And then I grew and things happened, as they do to everybody, to hurt and change. For me, ostracization, bullying, cruelty from people my parents and I trusted. I became introverted and turned everything inward upon myself, and so because there are months and years I can't remember, it's hard to tell in some ways what was done to from what was done by. The things I love are mostly unchanged, only expanded or increased. Everything else in my personality is new, a product.

posted by notquitemaryann 21 April | 22:44

I now have a working right arm. Most of the year when I was 5 I didn't. Also had more hair then.

posted by fiendishthingy 22 April | 00:15

The "has great aptitude but does not apply himself" has not changed at all. The only big change is that I try to be empathetic now.

Oh, and I have much less hair.

posted by arse_hat 22 April | 00:26

I'm a little taller but not much, and my hair is therefore relatively shorter. I can speak a few extra languages now, I can drive a car, I have a job, and I live all by myself in California! Otherwise I'm just about exactly the same.

posted by tangerine 23 April | 12:37

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