Sienna Randle's Childhood Experience
Freshman Sienna Randle’s experience starts in her hometown neighborhood in Maryville, Missouri, with her childhood friend, Callie, and her younger sister. The trio often used vlogging on an old digital camera of Randle’s to pass the time.
Growing up in Maryville, Randle was used to a life where rarely anyone was ever a stranger—as the smaller town gave her a sense of familiarity. While socially, Randle could be found playing with her friends, she also enjoyed time to herself through art, something that she has carried along with her throughout the years. Her favorites are portraits of people.
“I just like seeing it all come together on a paper, and I think it's very pretty to look back on later on, and it's just something you can keep,” Randle said.
At the age of around 9 and 10, Randle started to notice that childish notions and traits of hers were starting to be left behind due to maturing. It’s common growing up to have a notion or perception that—once a more realistic perception of the world is established—seems quite silly. One of these cases, for Randle, was disease.
“…I would hear about a new disease or something. I would always get so scared that I was gonna get it—someone could list their symptoms, and I would just instantly think I had those symptoms too,” Randle said.
Randle also noticed that due to being an older sister, she had to mature a bit faster due to having to be someone her siblings look up to.
“I just felt a lot more mature, and people would start telling me, ‘Wow, you're so responsible,’ and stuff like that. Especially as the eldest child, I just feel like I had to grow up quicker,” Randle said.
Over the years, Randle has found that growing up means to improve. Struggles with anxiety have made Randle more aware of how to deal with overthinking as well as irrational mindsets. Her experience growing up has taught her how to develop coping skills to better manage stress.
Randle reflects on her childhood so far, stating, “I think my childhood meant a lot to me. I don't know if I'd be able to put it in a specific word…I think it was special because over the years… I kind of find myself more and more as a person.”
Many consider high school to be their final chapter of growing up. Colleges and careers begin to enter the picture, and suddenly things like the excitement of getting a new Barbie doll and playing kickball outside with friends seem so far away.
“It's something important, to let yourself be a kid sometimes…you don't wanna have all this pressure of growing up. Like, I feel like—especially in high school—it’s very pushed that, ‘Oh, you need to know what you wanna do later on.’”
Randle believes that while managing high school and its mature aspects can be hard, being the best version of oneself is key, and to still let that inner child out when given the chance. Randle’s story is one of many that showcase just how important childhood really is, and why it will always be something she cherishes.
Not an Average Childhood
When people think about their childhood, they often remember their favorite toys, shows, or family vacations, but for Spanish teacher Anelise Mossinghoff, that’s not necessarily the case.
Mossinghoff grew up in a very large immigrant family as one of eight kids. Her family immigrated from Brazil to Denver, Colorado, and then moved to Crestwood, Missouri. Mossinghoff’s mother was sick for a lot of her childhood; she was even sick on the day that they moved into their house in Crestwood.
“My mom was sick a lot,” Mossinghoff said. “Literally, the day we moved in, my mom had to get rushed to the hospital. I don't know the part about why she was going, but she was just very, very, very ill.”
And being an immigrant family in the 60s was not common at this time, but it did not stop the connections that her family formed with their neighbors, especially from their first meeting.
“The neighbors, who didn't know us, we literally just walked in the door, put our stuff down, and they left,” Mossinghoff said. “My oldest brother at the time was 12, so he was literally watching the rest of us, and my youngest sister was one. The youngest was one at the time, I was only 3, and the neighbors found out that here’s this foreign family—which, back in the 60s, was not that common, as common as it is now. And there’s this foreign family, and the mother’s getting rushed to the hospital. And all of the neighbors took turns taking care of us and feeding us.”
From this event and many more in her childhood, Mossinghoff knew that she wanted to live in a neighborhood like the one she grew up in—one where the neighborhood helped each other out and were there for each other.
“I remember it going, ‘I want to live in a neighborhood like that, like this is what neighborhoods are about, taking care of each other,’” Mossinghoff said. “That's not the way things are anymore. I mean, I'm not saying neighbors don't take care of each other. I think they do, but it seems like it's a lost art. So many people spend so much time inside, so many people don't even know their neighbors. Currently, we just moved, but the house that we are about to sell, we have the nicest family next door. And they had six children. They're an older couple. We've always kind of taken care of each other. In recent years, the neighbor on the other side, we kind of just, you know, look out for each other's houses, making sure everything's okay.”
Even though her previous neighborhood had some of the aspects she was looking for, it was not all of it.
“Of course, we take care of each other, but I only know a couple of other people. Like, we don't know the neighbors,” Mossinghoff said. “Back when I was little, we knew every neighbor. Everybody just pitched in to take care of us and to feed us.”
Now the new neighborhood Mossinghoff just moved into has all of the things she dreamed of as a little kid and more. Her family takes care of their neighbors, and they take care of her family.
“The neighborhood we just moved into, we live in a little cul-de-sac, and every single person has come and introduced themselves when we first moved in,” Mossinghoff said. “They're all in their late 70s and 80s, so the same time period, and I think it has a lot to do with it. They have all come and said, ‘Hello, we are so happy to have you here,’ ‘We're so happy to have you, every single one of you,’ ‘So glad to have you,’ ‘We're so happy you're here,’ ‘Let us know if there's anything we can do.’ And I'm thinking, you all are like, 20 years older than me, and I should be saying that—‘What can I do to help you?’ And of course, we reciprocate, yeah, and we do. We all watch out for each other. And I'm like, ‘I finally have, you know, some of that neighborhood that I remember. Now there's no little kids for us to watch. But, you know, we finally—it just seems like it's got that vibe.’”
Quotes from Students
“Never stop dreaming and never stop having fun, because as you grow up, you're more restricted on things, you have more responsibilities, and that may hinder someone’s ability to dream, and I think having big goals is a big part of life.”
-Tia Soar, 9
"Don't be too fast to grow up. Take your time. Live in the moment, enjoy life as much as you can…because it's your childhood. You don't have to worry about [anything]. I don't know, just like we're attached, [it’s] the peak of life, being able to do anything you want as a child before you get out to what you want. Getting excited for Christmas… it’s everything."
-Jahari Campbell, 12
“I think [childhood] is taken for granted in the moment, and then when you grow up, you realize how good you really had it…I think it really shapes you as a person. You can tell the type of childhood someone went through by the way they act now and how they respond.”
-Scarlett Fischer, 10
“Childhood is fairly important as you grow and with your friends and all that. But before you get old enough to start driving and get a job and start making money, you should definitely cherish your friendship.”
-Jack Rudden, 11
“I think the most important thing is to just be the best you you can be and be kind to others… you never you never know what's going on and everyone grows up very differently and I think it's just important to try your best.”
-Sienna Randle, 9
