My kids firmly believe they should be paid to go to school. In today's bail- out culture, I can almost see why they would think such a thing. It's not that big a stretch to compare the logic behind doling out billions of dollars to failing companies to doling out cash to elementary students. Besides, elementary students are cheaper than AIG, and I doubt they'd take the money for tropical island corporate retreats and pina coladas.

My youngest daughter, the third grader, is the strongest proponent of the compensation for- education program. The other day on the way to school, she boldly stated that it is work to listen in class.

"You get paid to do a job, Daddy," she said. "So why shouldn't we?"

"I provide a service and produce a newspaper," I responded. "What is that you are producing? What service are you providing?"

"We listen and do everything we're told to do!" she yelled with the passion of Norma Rae.

"So, you should be paid to act like you're supposed to act?" I asked.

"That's right!" she stated. "Those teachers are getting rich off us!"

I responded by saying I'm pretty sure the teachers see it differently. That's when my oldest daughter, the fifth grader, decided to tell me I just didn't understand what it's like to be a kid.

This little shot across the bow stunned me on multiple levels.

For starters, I guess I'm officially grown- up now…at least according to my kids. As much as I've been fighting it for 39 years, and as much as I've been denying the signs of aging that come with mortgage payments, back pain, and ear hair, these few words from my oldest daughter suddenly made me feel something I had not previously felt and that was…old.

Second, even if I am old by elementary school standards, I was a kid once. I paid my dues, and nobody paid me. Of course, my parents probably thought they did, but that's beside the point.

And finally, that was my saying…not hers. When I was eight- years- old, I was the one who said some grown- ups had forgotten what it was like to be a kid. I said it again when I turned 15. Heck, I kept using some form of that phrase right through my 20s.

By the time I hit my 30s, I finally realized it's not that people older than I don't understand, it's that they just don't give a rip. They've got their own issues. So why should they worry about mine? I guess I shouldn't be surprised that little saying got thrown back in my face.

My kids think adults have got it made. Adults get all this money, and they get to boss everyone around. I may not understand what it's like to be a kid anymore, but my kids surely don't understand what it means to be an adult. That's why they're kids. They won't get paid any time soon, but they will grow up and hopefully some day their kids will tell them how much they don't understand.