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We're a nation of Peter Pans who won't grow up.
And there's nothing with wrong with that, author Christopher Noxon says.
The Los Angeles writer, 37, has a term to describe what he calls "a new breed of adult, identified by a determination to remain playful, energetic and flexible in the face of adult responsibilities." Say hello to the "rejuvenile."
Noxon's new book, Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown-up (Crown, $23.95), on sale today, attempts to explain how the desire to keep alive "a child-like essence" is changing how American adults behave.
In his book, Noxon notes:
*Half the visitors to Disney World are adults with no children. He interviews a number of fanatics, including a 47-year-old judge from Dayton, Ohio, who with his wife usually spends a weekend a month at a Disney theme park.
*Multinational corporations are hiring consultants to promote play in the workplace as a spur to creativity, innovation and morale.
*There is a surge in retro toys such as Strawberry Shortcake. Popular in the 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake was relaunched in this century with the line "Who knew you and your daughter would have the same best friend?"
*The average age of video game players is 29 and rising.
*Adults are returning to games such as dodgeball, mini golf and kickball.
The book's motivation came from the writer's own life. Noxon, a contributor to The New York Times, met his wife, Jenji Kohan, the creator/executive producer of Showtime's series Weeds, while playing kickball. He is the hands-on parent to their three children (6, 4 and 10 months).
Despite his mortgage and minivan, Noxon found himself unwilling to become a "capital-A adult." Gen X adults grew up in the economically and socially tumultuous 1970s, when divorce rates soared. (His parents divorced when he was 4.)
Some of Noxon's peers, men and women alike, want to enjoy the toys and games they didn't have enough of during their unsettled childhoods.
The trend can be taken to extremes. "Michael Jackson is the rejuvenile flameout," Noxon says.
America has always had a strong "rejuvenile" streak, he says. He devotes a chapter of his book to Walt Disney and "his knack for channeling the impulses and memories of childhood."
And, Noxon says, "there's the mythology of the West. The great heroes of the frontier were boys who shunned commitment."
Peter Pans with six-shooters.
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