From my slightly older perspective, that paradox was alive and well during certain teenage years for each of my now-grown kids. I suspect my own parents would have said the same thing when I was struggling to become an adult and simultaneously terrified of not being a child. While the subjects and contradictory "rules" may be different, I wonder if it's yet another wonderful, confusing, exciting and infuriating version of a duet that parents and children have played for many, many years.