Losing Childhood
by Rachel Herbst
When the child was a child,
It played with enthusiasm,
and, now, has just as much excitement as then,
but only when it concerns its work.
It played with enthusiasm,
and, now, has just as much excitement as then,
but only when it concerns its work.
…
When the child was a child,
it had no opinion about anything,
had no habits,
it often sat cross-legged,
took off running,
had a cowlick in its hair,
and made no faces when photographed.
-Excerpts from “Song of Childhood”
by Peter Handke
In coming to college, I had a hard time dealing with being on my own for the first time. During the fourth week of my freshman year, the reality that my childhood was over hit me like a train. I suddenly realized that the innocence, carefreeness, and lack of responsibility that I was lucky enough to experience as a child was gone; I would never get those years or that light mindset back. Since this comprehension, I have been struggling with this idea of losing childhood. What does growing up mean? How does it affect us? How can we accept the inevitable loss of youth?
When a child is a child, life is simple. The world around a child is open to her; it’s all at her disposal. Whether it be exploring a store, nodding off to sleep, or simply running around outside, whatever a child partakes in is artless, without alternative motive, and, oftentimes, magical. Children are allowed to indulge in such an ease of being because they are not responsible for themselves. There is a safety net. When one doesn’t have to focus on fulfilling her basic needs—when a guardian is taking care of that for her—her mind is free to see the world through rose-tinted glasses. However, as a child grows up, the means in which she makes her way through life become determined by what she needs, rather than what she enjoys. What she spends her time and energy doing are all deliberate choices; they cease to be untroubled doings.
In my photos, I attempt to capture this deterioration of carefreeness and whimsy. Through the pairings of photos depicting children and adults doing similar activities, the stark differences between the experiences emerge. The reason a young person interacts with bubbles or balloons or a costume is not the same as why an adult may. Life becomes complicated as we grow up. In my photos, the shift is evident through the subject’s facial expression, body language, and overall appearance of ease in his or her environment. I compare the blithesomeness of childhood to the harsh purposefulness of adulthood in my street photography. As an individual becomes more and more responsible for herself, she often loses carefreeness. The freedom we gain as we become adults whittles away at the liberty we had as children to let our minds wander. Placing stills side-by-side of both children and adult’s untainted behaviors makes the inevitable corrosion of simplicity shine through.
