Sometimes it feels like there's only about twenty people in the world, and everyone else is just a recycled, slightly different version of them.
I've met my brother aged five - not literally, but in a little kid who looked and talked just like him. He has thick brimmed glasses and hates wearing jeans and makes up songs in his head when he's bored.
My sister, too - in a ten year old girl bossing kids around the playground, always keen to organise a game or correct someone's grammar.
Hell, I've pretty much met myself there. It feels like I know the kids I've never even spoken too, just because they remind me of someone I know now.
It's a weird feeling, being the adult a kid runs to when they need a hand. It's a weird feeling talking to someone born in 2016 who's able to carry a somewhat intelligent conversation. And it's weirder still to catch them as they fall off a jungle gym, and remember you were once that light.
When you're young and someone hurts you, all you have to do is sprint to the nearest adult and blubber out your classmate's transgressions. The adult listens, and hugs you, and goes off to fight your case to the six year old who excluded you from the sandpit.
But as we become teenagers, sprinting and crying to an adult when we get hurt becomes too pathetic. At some point, we have to try fight our own battles. I never really learnt how to do that.
A lot of my friends always cry when they're in an argument, or just run away to avoid it altogether. And I definitely get that urge, but I think being around kids helped me remember those harder conversations are important to have when they help someone you care about. And we ought to care about ourselves.
Dogs always see us as Gods. So do kids. And our decisions, though sometimes met with disappointment and protest, are final.
I always say I like confrontation, but that's not really true. I just view it as a necessary part of growing up.
In Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield talks about his kid sister Phoebe a lot. He says he needs to grow up, so he can catch her and all the other kids when they fall over.
I often wish I was young again, dozing off on the couch after hours of Mario Kart and chocolate ice cream. But growing up means you can finally help the people you love - whether directly or through their little kid counterparts.
So maybe time passing isn't too bad. And besides - I am damn good at freeze tag.
