“I never want to grow up,” he (Tommy) said determinedly.

“Me either,” said Annika.

“No, that isn’t something to strive for. Grown-ups never have fun. They just have a lot of boring work, stupid clothes and calluses and taxes.”(….)

“They don’t know how to play either,” said Annika. “Ooh, that you are forced to grow up!”(free translation from Astrid Lindgren’sPippi Longstocking in the South Seas, 1948)

Last night as I was reading Pippi Longstocking to my children we came across this great passage where the children, Tommy and Annika, tell Pippi that they never want to grow up because adults aren’t fun and don’t know how to play. To this Pippi replies that growing up isn’t something to strive for and then she offers the children some magical pills to prevent them from ever growing up.

This may just seem like a funny statement because growing up…