“I want my mommy!”

“OK, it’s nap time! Get your blankets and sleeping mats!”

“Yummy! Chicken nuggets and mac and cheese!”

“Why is this so hard!”

“When is playtime?”

So, when you hear these words, you assume that they are coming out of a toddler’s mouth, but also, even if you don’t realize it if you are one, college students say similar things to these quotes, too.

Toddlers are very dependent on their parents, and usually, cry the words “I want my mommy!” or “Where’s my daddy”? But when you’re off on your own for the first time going to college, you realize that you need your parents, too. You want them for emotional, physical, and financial support. Therefore, whether you deny it or not, you do need your mommy and daddy at this fragile time of life, also.

It’s around noon in the middle of the day, and the five and six-year-olds are getting out their sleeping mats and baby blankets, and getting ready to take a nap. Guess what? College kids need a middle-of-the-day nap after their 8 a.m. since they didn’t sleep last night due to cramming for an exam or talking to their friends on the phone. I don’t know why we didn’t have nap time in high school. It’s so important! I am so tired in the middle of the day! Therefore, the tired and grumpy teenagers get their blankets on their bed, cuddle up, and go to sleep for an hour or two.

In my own personal opinion, I think I eat like a toddler. I am so content with eating chicken nuggets and Kraft mac and cheese, and drinking apple juice or chocolate milk. This is a kindergartener’s delight! Toddlers are also very picky when it comes to food, and I find myself to be the exact same way. Also, when you live off of a paycheck from a part-time job at school, your options get limited, and you live off of chicken nuggets and boxed mac and cheese.

You know when that one little kid cries every time they can’t play with their favorite toy or cries when they have to do math? Yeah, that’s us, too. College is stressful and tiring, and sometimes, we have to cry for silly reasons, or maybe no reason at all.

Toddlers just want to play with their toys and their fellow classmates. College students just want to finish their work and go out and have a good time. Both sets of age groups want to go out and play, but in very different ways.

Being a toddler and being a young adult are both very fragile yet amazing times in our lives, and it is very ironic that these age groups act and speak so similar with each other. Whether a toddler needs his mommy after a day at daycare or a college kid needs his mommy because he can’t pay for his textbooks, the concept is pretty much the same.