Growing Up Essay: Guide & Examples [2023]

What does it mean to grow up? Essays on this topic might be entertaining yet challenging to write. Growing up is usually associated with something new and exciting. It’s a period of everything new and unknown.

Now, you’ve been assigned to write a growing up essay. You’re not a kid anymore, but not quite the adult. It would be interesting for your teacher to learn about your childhood memories or read what you think about the experience of growing up.

That’s why:

In this article, we will provide a guide on how to write an essay on growing up. Our team listed some topics to make your writing process more manageable.

📍 How to Write a Growing up Essay

Writing an essay about growing up can seem complicated, but it’s always easier to handle when you have a plan. In this section, we will talk more about how to write an essay on the topic.

1. Pick a style. There are two main essay types used for growing up papers: reflective and narrative. Both types require a narrator, a clear structure, and a purpose.

   • Reflective essays focus on the author’s attitude towards individual experiences. This type is often required during the college admissions process. For instance, one may write about growing up in poverty and how it shaped his character.
   • Narrative essays focus on a specific event or sequence of events. For example, you might write about the most memorable trip from your childhood.
2. Select your topic. You can choose to write about yourself or check with the instructor whether it is possible to write about other people.
   When selecting a topic for a reflective essay, you need to remember several things:

   • Choose the topic on the familiar subject. It will be easier to reflect on the issue when you have a lot of relevant experience.
   • Choose the topic of interest. Write about something that provokes a strong emotional reaction from you.
   • Show a unique vision on the topic. Try to approach writing college essays about growing up from a different perspective.
     When writing a narrative essay, you need to remember that your work should tell a story. Your essay topic about growing up needs to agree with the paper’s length and follow the essay structure. Focus on a specific point in your writing.

3. Recall childhood memories. If you’re writing a narrative essay, you’ll surely need your childhood memories. But how do you come up with the right ones?
   There are several tips that you might consider when recalling them:

   • Think about the event in your life that provokes a strong emotional response;
   • Write what you have learned from the experience;
   • Consider writing about experiences with your friends or relatives. What those events taught you?
4. Outline your paper. Organizing your paper beforehand will help you write your thoughts down more concisely. Narrative and reflective essays follow the same structure:

   • Introduction: Your growing up essay introduction is an opening paragraph of the work. It grabs a reader’s attention and contains a thesis statement.
   • Body Paragraphs: The childhood and growing up essay can contain three body paragraphs. In each one, provide an example of an event or situation that supports the general topic.
   • Conclusion: In your growing up essay, the conclusion is the final paragraph. It summarizes the main points and brings the paper to an end.
5. Edit and polish it. When you create your first draft, you might want to revise and edit it.

   • Revise your draft a couple of days after writing it. That way, you will be able to notice mistakes or typos you missed.
   • Try to avoid passive voice. Rewrite the sentences in an active one, if possible.
   • Read your essay out loud. If it doesn’t meet the set criteria, keep revising it.

👩‍👦‍👦 6 Topics for Essays on Growing Up

You may not know what your essay on growing up should be devoted to. If it’s the case, look at this section. Earlier, we talked about how to write, but here we will tell you what to write about.

🏡 About Your Childhood

See the topics that can navigate an essay about your childhood experience:

1. Your family values and how they have been shaping your personality. Engage in reflective writing to show how certain factors of growing up influenced your character. What do you think were the effects of your growing up period?
2. What various roles have you had in your family? How and why did they change? As children are growing, the family adjusts accordingly. Remember your roles as a child, adolescent, and young adult. How did they change?
3. Your personal changes in the course of growing up. Write an essay describing what developments happened to you. What caused those changes?
4. Sudden adulthood. Write a growing up too fast essay. Reflect on your feelings and emotions about growing up so suddenly.
5. Growing up with siblings. Write an essay about your childhood experience in a house where you weren’t the only child. Remember what it was like growing up with blood brothers and sisters? Or, maybe growing up with step-siblings? How did it influence you?
6. A short memoir. You don’t need dramatic adolescence or an out-of-ordinary story to write about yourself. Share your most exciting stories from childhood.

In other words, try to focus on something that made your growing up experience memorable and tell about it.

🧒 About Someone Else

What if you do not feel like talking about your own experience in the essay on growing up? Do not worry. There are many other ways to complete your paper.

What follows next are additional ideas for you:

1. Write essays on growing up based on a work of literature or some songs. Choose your favorite piece of literature or favorite song that talks about growing up. Write several paragraphs about the portrayal of the growing up period in music or literature.
2. Write essays on growing up with a single parent. Write an essay about growing up without a father or mother. What is it like? What impact can it make on a person’s character?
3. Write about growing up without parents, etc. A childhood spent in an orphanage or with distant relatives can have lasting consequences. Think about the effects it can have on a person’s character.
4. Write an essay about growing up in a small town. Think about the advantages and disadvantages of living in a small town. Why do you think it’s good/bad to live in a small town?
5. Write about youth growing up fast. Children become adults quite quickly. Discuss the possible reasons for children to grow up faster.

Thank you for reading this article! Hopefully, you found the information written here useful. If so, don’t forget to comment and share this article with your friends.

This might be interesting for you:

• School Days Essay: How to Describe a Memorable Event
• Childhood Memories Essay: Brilliant Writing Ideas
• Writing Essay about Someone Who Has Made an Impact on Your Life
• Excellent Remembering a Person Essay: Free Writing Guidelines
• Life Experience Essay: How to Write a Brilliant Paper

🔗 References

1. Essays that Worked: Hamilton College
2. Essay Growing Up: Bartleby
3. Narrative Writing: Brigham Young University
4. Reflection Essay: Kent State University
5. My Childhood Memories Essay: Cram