Sammy 1
Kyle Sammy
Professor Aaron Pellerin
Due: 10/18/2010
COM 1020
Project 2 Definition Rough Draft 1
To: People who use the word childish as a negative term.
To my high school teacher,
It has occurred to me that many things that we do repeatedly while growing up, tend to be
ways that we express ourselves. Some people do it through writing. Some people draw pictures
and portraits. Some people like to beat on things like a drum to make the sound of a beat.
Whatever an individual does to express himself shouldn't be used against him in a negative way.
I remember when I was in your class one day you told me that because I was singing quietly, I
was being childish. You deliberately told me to stop acting childish. What you may not realize is
that I use music as an escape goat. Meaning that when I feel uncomfortable, scared, nervous,
bored, or whatever the emotion may be, I cope with it through music. With that being said, I
completely disagree that what I was doing was childish. In fact, I believe that the word childish
has been misconstrued and taken out of context. See, the word childish is now used as a negative
term and everyone is expected to grow out of it when they reach a certain point and age in their
lives. However, I believe that being childish is something that can be considered a good thing
and a bad thing. It all depends on what you are doing exactly. In my definition, being childish
means that you did or said something child like. I believe that a lot of people get the words
childish and inappropriate confused. In my opinion, the difference is that while being childish,
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one can be doing something well and creative without harming anyone in any way, but when one
is being inappropriate, it is frowned upon by society and can end in a punishable result. I took the
time to interview a friend about the difference between the words childish and inappropriate. My
friend, Shante Wilkerson, said, “Childishness to me is an act of mannerisms while being
inappropriate typically deals with a situation and the action being done. When you behave
inappropriately it's usually an unwritten rule that everyone respects, like no cursing in the church
or pushing past people waiting in line. At moments like these you can clearly see a difference
between inappropriate and childish qualities. For example, if an adult decided to sit down and
color, that would demonstrate childishness but wouldn't be considered inappropriate because it's
no offense to anyone.” I completely agree with her definitions of these two completely different
words. So with her definition and my definition I want to know if me singing in class to myself
was being childish or inappropriate at the moment. If you agree with my definitions of these
word then you would probably also agree with me when I say that it may have been
inappropriate for me to be singing, but not necessarily childish.
When most people say that someone is childish, they normally mean it in a rude and
antagonizing way. The word childish has become a slang term used mostly among the urban
communities. It's always used negatively but never, if at all, used positively. Once again, a lot of
people use childish when they really mean inappropriate. However, if you think about it, is being
childish always a bad thing? Not always. In fact it can help people in the long run. Most people
have been doing things since they were a child and never gave it up; sometimes it was for the
best. Think about if Leonardo Da Vinci stopped drawing and painting as a child. What if Michael
Jackson stopped singing when he was young and went into a more corporate style job where he
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had to always dress in a suit and do the things he didn't enjoy? If they gave up on their dreams
and put the childish things behind, the world as we know it today would be completely different.
If they had a person to tell them that what they were doing was childish, and meant it in the same
context that you said to me, it could have damaged their potential and messed up their career if
they took it into consideration.
A lot of people would still argue that being childish is not a good thing and that we should
all act our age and be more mature. Now this is another word that gets thrown into play while
talking about being childish. People can still be mature and childish at the same time. Not many
people will take it that far and consider it but it is possible. Being mature is knowing how to act
in certain situations. For example, if someone is in need of help and someone can't help them
alone, by them going to get good help immediately shows that they are mature. So how can you
be childish and mature at the same time. Well referring back to the same examples, if a person is
expressing themselves through music, art, or any other form, they are doing that of a child but
still being mature; especially if it is their job to do art and music. If a person's job requires him to
draw cartoons for a television network, is that considered being childish? No. Why? The average
person would say no because he is grown and he is getting paid to do what he does. What about a
a grown person that likes drawing cartoons just for the sake of his own enjoyment. Why tell him
that he is being childish when that is something that he enjoys. That could be the only way that
keeps him sane. We don't know everyone individually and all of the problems that they go
through. Him drawing could be a coping method for dealing with a lost one or any other sudden
tragic or problem in his life. Many people fail to realize these issues and look down upon people
when they do things that we don't understand or approve of. We tend to get scared of what we
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don't understand and jealous of things we can't do.
Once again, being childish is not always a bad thing; especially when no one is getting
hurt or offended. I feel that we should all be more childish in a certain way to some extent. When
children do things they usually do it because they are happy. They don't care about what other
people think. Criticism is at the bottom of the list for children to care about. Kids do things to
make themselves happy and occasionally to make others happy. Kids have a natural sense of
being innocent, giving, and helpful even when their assistance is not needed. When we were kids
we didn't have a care in the world for anything. We weren't worried about tomorrow and the
problems that may come along with it. We weren't worried about bills and how we were going to
eat the next day. While these thing are essential to being an adult, we should have kept some of
the childish innocent qualities we once had. If we stopped caring so much about what people
thought all the time and did things just for our enjoyment we would be a lot happier with not
only ourselves, but just in general. Being and adult, whether if we act childish or not, we still
have to keep in mind that we shouldn't do things that is frowned upon by society and/or the law;
even if we enjoy it and wanted to do it since we were a child. If everyone in the world would
have grown up and kept most of their childish qualities, I believe that this world would be a lot
more creative and fun. People would do the things they like and not what they feel is necessary
to survive. People would care less about what other people think because it's not their goal to
always entertain and benefit others.