Over the weekend， I found myself colouring in. While waiting for food in a restaurant， I started to fill in my two-year-old daughters colouring book. I became engrossed in making Peppa Pig green， George blue and Daddy Pig yellow.

Before I knew it， the food had arrived， my crotchety mood had lifted and my daughters attention had moved on to other things. Little did I know， but I had become an unwitting part of a booming new sector of the economy： the 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 Amazons 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 hanker after things designed for kids？ One reason is 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 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 childrens eyes to the realities of life”. Each park is made up of streets filled with well-known brands including H&M， 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 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 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 metrics （i.e. pass their exams）.

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

在周末时，我发现自己在填色。当我在一家餐馆等餐时，我开始涂起我两岁女儿的填色本。我全神贯注地把粉红猪小妹涂成绿色，乔治涂成蓝色，猪爸爸涂成黄色。

不知何时食物已被端上来，我从那古怪的状态回过神来，我女儿的注意力早已转向其他事物。虽然我毫不知情，但我已经在不知不觉中成为了一门新兴产业的一份子——低龄化产业。

为大人提供产品和服务，让他们有机会再次成为小孩的市场发展蓬勃。在出版业中，亚马逊当前的十大畅销书中有一半是针对大人的填色本。而其他的畅销书，比如《哈利·波特》系列，虽然是给孩子读的，但也被大人广泛阅读。诸如《战场》等大获成功的电脑游戏玩家的平均年龄是27歲。英国的成年人派对中最受欢迎的主题之一是“重返校园”。

为什么大人要追求一些为孩子而设的东西呢？一大原因是怀旧。我们希望通过消费为孩子而制作的产品，可以回到童年，感受那些早已失去的快乐。我知道许多成年男子收藏《星球大战》的手办和乐高积木的原因就在于此。我们希望通过再次变回孩子，能暂时卸下成人生活的负担。

然而最近，低龄化产业出现了一个新主题：一些企业宣称，通过像孩子一样表现，大人能够把他们的个人“幸福”最大化;通过再次体验我们在童年时期享受过的简单乐趣，我们可以重拾健康与快乐。原来只有一小部分的大人对填色本有兴趣，直到出版商开始突出它们对精神状态的改善作用。只在标题处简单加上“抗压”二字，《秘密花园》就成了一本畅销书。

大人开始涂填色本，希望通过这样做能够让自己感觉好点，与此同时，孩子开始使用大人的配备。当然，孩子总是希望成为大人的。但让人吃惊的是，我们的孩子被强加了太多大人生活的预演。

一家叫KidZania的连锁冒险公园就是一个突出的例子，其英国董事长说这个公园能够“开拓孩子的视野，让他们体验到真实的生活。”每个公园都由许多条街道组成，每条街道都分布着许多知名品牌的店铺包括H&M，DHL和吉百利等。在这个迷你城市里，孩子可以体验不同的工作以赚取代币，然后用这些代币来，比如说，租车。如果想提高自己的赚钱能力，他们可以上大学或者研究生院。

然而，像这样的奇幻空间仅仅是个开始。学校开始让孩子像小大人一样学习各种才艺。孩子被要求参加无数的考试以评估他们的表现。9月，英国政府计划在四岁孩子中实行认字和识数考试。在美国，小学生要接受发展领导才能的教育——有些学校甚至会举行一些年度活动，让孩子可以“向社区成员和企业领导展示他们的管理能力。”

不久后，在英国的学校，五岁大的孩子将要接受创业技能的训练。从小学开始，许多孩子就被鼓励建立自己的简历。在中国，巨大的压力导致了一门牟利产业的出现——为10岁以下的孩子制造可长达数百页的假简历。

我们似乎活在一个颠倒的世界里。父母涂色，在上班时玩耍，而他们的孩子则忙着写简历、发展创业技能，以及达到他们的绩效指标（也就是通过考试）。

也许我们不该再给孩子加上更多繁重的属于成年人的责任，而是应该让他们活得像个孩子。毕竟，我们的童年只有一次。