這顛倒的世界——涂填畫冊的大人，寫簡歷的孩子！

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，我從那古怪的狀態(tài)回過神來，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)會再次成為小孩的市場發(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》等大獲成功的電腦游戲玩家的平均年齡是27歲。英國的成年人派對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。我知道許多成年男子收藏《星球大戰(zhàn)》的手辦和樂高積木的原因就在于此。我們希望通過再次變回孩子，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，通過像孩子一樣表現(xiàn)，大人能夠把他們的個(gè)人“幸福”最大化；通過再次體驗(yàn)我們在童年時(shí)期享受過的簡單樂趣，我們可以重拾健康與快樂。原來只有一小部分的大人對填色本有興趣，直到出版商開始突出它們對精神狀態(tài)的改善作用。……