over the weekend， I found myself colouring in. While waiting for food in a restaurant， I started to fill in my twoyear-old daughter’s colouring book. I became 1）engrossed in making Peppa Pig green， George blue and Daddy Pig yellow.

Before I knew it， the food had arrived， my 2）crotchety mood had lifted and my daughter’s attention had moved on to other things. Little did I know， but I had become an 3）unwitting part of a booming new sector of the economy： the 4）infantilisation industry.

There is a flourishing market for products and services offering adults an opportunity to become a child again. In the publishing world， half of Amazon’s current top 10 bestsellers are colouring books targeting at grown-ups. Other bestselling books， like the Harry Potter series， appear to be for children but are widely read by adults. The average age of people playing highly successful computer games such as Battlefield is 27. And one of the most popular themes for adult parties in the UK is“back to school”.

Why do adults 5）hanker after things designed for kids？ One reason is 6）nostalgia. We hope that by consuming products made for children， we can transport ourselves back into our own childhood and reconnect with long-lost pleasures. I know many grown men who own Star Wars figures and vast collections of Lego sets precisely for this reason. By becoming a kid again， we also hope to momentarily avoid the burdens of adult life.

But recently， a new theme has appeared in the infantalisation industry： by acting like a child， companies claim， adults can maximise their personal “wellness”； by getting back in touch with the simple pleasures we enjoyed during our childhood， we can rediscover a state of blissful health and happiness. Adult colouring books were of interest to only a tiny group of people until publishers started to highlight their mindfulness-enhancing properties. By simply adding “antistress” to the title， The Secret Garden became a bestseller.

At the very same time as adults have taken to colouringin books in the hope of feeling better， children have started to adopt the 7）accoutrements of adulthood. Of course， children have always wanted to play at being grown-ups. But what is striking is how grown-up practices are actively pushed onto our kids.

One spectacular example is a chain of adventure parks called KidZania， which in the words of the UK chairman is “opening children’s eyes to the realities of life”. Each park is made up of streets filled with well-known brands including HM， DHL， and Cadbury. Inside this mini-city， kids try out different jobs in order to earn fake money， which they can use to， say， rent a car. If they want to increase their earning power， they are able to attend college and graduate.

But fantasy spaces such as this are just the start. The school system has taken to the task of making children into mini adults with 8）gusto. At increasingly young ages， children are required to take endless rounds of tests to have their performance assessed. In September， the UK government plans to introduce literacy and numeracy tests for four-years-olds. In the U.S.， primary schoolage children are taught to develop their leadership capacity—some schools even have annual events where children can “showcase their management skills to community members and business leaders.”

Soon， children as young as five will be taught entrepreneurship skills in British schools. From primary school onwards， many children are encouraged to build up their CVs. In China， the pressure has become so intense that a 9）lucrative industry has emerged for creating fake CVs for the under-10s that can run up to hundreds of pages.

It seems we live in a world that has been turned upside down. While parents do colouring， or spend time playing at work， their children are busy building their CVs， developing entrepreneurial skills and struggling to hit their performance 10）metrics （i.e. pass their exams）.

Perhaps instead of continuing to load up our children up with ever more 11）onerous adult responsibilities， we might instead allow them to act like kids again. After all， we’re only young once.

在周末時(shí)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在填色。當(dāng)我在一家餐館等餐時(shí)，我開始涂起我兩歲女兒的填色本。我全神貫注地把粉紅豬小妹涂成綠色，喬治涂成藍(lán)色，豬爸爸涂成黃色。

不知何時(shí)食物已被端上來(lái)，我從那古怪的狀態(tài)回過(guò)神來(lái)，我女兒的注意力早已轉(zhuǎn)向其他事物。雖然我毫不知情，但我已經(jīng)在不知不覺中成為了一門新興產(chǎn)業(yè)的一份子——低齡化產(chǎn)業(yè)。

為大人提供產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)，讓他們有機(jī)會(huì)再次成為小孩的市場(chǎng)發(fā)展蓬勃。在出版業(yè)中，亞馬遜當(dāng)前的十大暢銷書中有一半是針對(duì)大人的填色本。而其他的暢銷書，比如《哈利·波特》系列，雖然是給孩子讀的，但也被大人廣泛閱讀。諸如《戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)》等大獲成功的電腦游戲玩家的平均年齡是27歲。英國(guó)的成年人派對(duì)中最受歡迎的主題之一是“重返校園”。

為什么大人要追求一些為孩子而設(shè)的東西呢？一大原因是懷舊。我們希望通過(guò)消費(fèi)為孩子而制作的產(chǎn)品，可以回到童年，感受那些早已失去的快樂(lè)。我知道許多成年男子收藏《星球大戰(zhàn)》的手辦和樂(lè)高積木的原因就在于此。我們希望通過(guò)再次變回孩子，能暫時(shí)卸下成人生活的負(fù)擔(dān)。

然而最近，低齡化產(chǎn)業(yè)出現(xiàn)了一個(gè)新主題：一些企業(yè)宣稱，通過(guò)像孩子一樣表現(xiàn)，大人能夠把他們的個(gè)人“幸?！弊畲蠡?；通過(guò)再次體驗(yàn)我們?cè)谕陼r(shí)期享受過(guò)的簡(jiǎn)單樂(lè)趣，我們可以重拾健康與快樂(lè)。原來(lái)只有一小部分的大人對(duì)填色本有興趣，直到出版商開始突出它們對(duì)精神狀態(tài)的改善作用。只在標(biāo)題處簡(jiǎn)單加上“抗壓”二字，《秘密花園》就成了一本暢銷書。

大人開始涂填色本，希望通過(guò)這樣做能夠讓自己感覺好點(diǎn)，與此同時(shí)，孩子開始使用大人的配備。當(dāng)然，孩子總是希望成為大人的。但讓人吃驚的是，我們的孩子被強(qiáng)加了太多大人生活的預(yù)演。

一家叫KidZania的連鎖冒險(xiǎn)公園就是一個(gè)突出的例子，其英國(guó)董事長(zhǎng)說(shuō)這個(gè)公園能夠“開拓孩子的視野，讓他們體驗(yàn)到真實(shí)的生活?！泵總€(gè)公園都由許多條街道組成，每條街道都分布著許多知名品牌的店鋪包括HM，DHL和吉百利等。在這個(gè)迷你城市里，孩子可以體驗(yàn)不同的工作以賺取代幣，然后用這些代幣來(lái)，比如說(shuō)，租車。如果想提高自己的賺錢能力，他們可以上大學(xué)或者研究生院。

然而，像這樣的奇幻空間僅僅是個(gè)開始。學(xué)校開始讓孩子像小大人一樣學(xué)習(xí)各種才藝。孩子被要求參加無(wú)數(shù)的考試以評(píng)估他們的表現(xiàn)。9月，英國(guó)政府計(jì)劃在四歲孩子中實(shí)行認(rèn)字和識(shí)數(shù)考試。在美國(guó)，小學(xué)生要接受發(fā)展領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才能的教育——有些學(xué)校甚至?xí)e行一些年度活動(dòng)，讓孩子可以“向社區(qū)成員和企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)展示他們的管理能力?！?/p>

不久后，在英國(guó)的學(xué)校，五歲大的孩子將要接受創(chuàng)業(yè)技能的訓(xùn)練。從小學(xué)開始，許多孩子就被鼓勵(lì)建立自己的簡(jiǎn)歷。在中國(guó)，巨大的壓力導(dǎo)致了一門牟利產(chǎn)業(yè)的出現(xiàn)——為10歲以下的孩子制造可長(zhǎng)達(dá)數(shù)百頁(yè)的假簡(jiǎn)歷。

我們似乎活在一個(gè)顛倒的世界里。父母涂色，在上班時(shí)玩耍，而他們的孩子則忙著寫簡(jiǎn)歷、發(fā)展創(chuàng)業(yè)技能，以及達(dá)到他們的績(jī)效指標(biāo)（也就是通過(guò)考試）。

也許我們不該再給孩子加上更多繁重的屬于成年人的責(zé)任，而是應(yīng)該讓他們活得像個(gè)孩子。畢竟，我們的童年只有一次。