The proverb “An 18-year-old girl changes 18 times" isn't really about counting eighteen changes; it's a poetic way of expressing how remarkable the journey from childhood to adulthood can be.
Whenever I connect it to my daughters and granddaughters, it takes on a melancholy feeling and personal meaning.
Being a father and grandfather offers a unique perspective because although I live in another city, I have been fortunate to witness those transformations up close not just the physical changes, but the emergence of personality, values, talents, independence, and confidence.
A little girl becomes a determined young woman. A curious gal develops her own interests and convictions. Each stage revealed something rand new for me.
What stands out in the saying below is the idea that growth is continuous. My young woman isn't becoming someone else; she's gradually becoming more fully herself. That's often what I notice most whenever I look back over the years. The thread of the little girl evolving through all the changes.
it reminds me of each of them "individually and collectively" and as DaD it is especially meaningful. Every one of my daughters and granddaughters will follow her own path, yet there are often shared qualities, family traits, traditions, strengths, or ways of seeing the world that connect these generations.
The following proverb is a fitting celebration of that unfolding process: watching my young girls grow, change, and discover who she really is, while those who love her have the privilege of witnessing it happen.
When I read this it reminded me of my daughters and granddaughters, every one of them individually and collectively.
“An 18-year-old girl changes 18 times" comes from the classic Chinese idiom 女大十八变 (nǚ dà shí bā biàn), which translates to "a girl changes eighteen times between childhood and womanhood". The saying highlights the drastic physical, mental, and emotional transformations that a young woman undergoes while maturing.
Culturally, it means: Natural Evolution: Just like the proverb "the more she changes, the more beautiful she becomes," it represents how life is a period of self-discovery, confidence, and growing into one's own features and individuality.
My daughters have lived their entire life around cameras, microphones and media, both radio and television news, visiting, watching a live production of Sesame Street, NBC News, Univision and others. This one at Romper Room was the first time Natasha and Sabrina were both on television together. They are now professional women and marvelous mothers celebrating and enjoying their fabulous children.
https://archive.org/details/Romper_Room_Roberto_Solo_Broadcast_Various_…