This American Life: It’ll Make Sense When You’re Older

Prologue

Kids do not like getting told it’ll make sense when they’re older. They’re pretty sure the grown-ups are wrong, and whatever the conversation is, they’re up for it.

ACT ONE: Adolescence 

Reporter Hillary Frank finds out there is this tradition going on in her town, where big kids take over younger kids’ parties—and she investigates how one kid goes from freaked out to an instigator. Hillary hosts the podcast The Longest Shortest Time. 

ACT TWO: Adulthood

Comedian Sasheer Zamata does this joke about her mom in her standup act, about how her mom hates white people. They finally sit down to talk about why, and Sasheer finds out how mad her mom is at her own mom, for trying to make her get along with white people when she was young. Sasheer is a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Follow @thesheertruth

ACT THREE: Middle Age

Host Chana Joffe-Walt worries she’ll have regrets in 20 years. So she finds someone 20 years older than she is to gauge how bad it gets.

SONG: “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” Edith Piaf

ACT FOUR: Old

For those in the early stages of dementia, some simple tasks become very complex. Chana sits down with one guy determined to figure out why something that used to be so easy has become so hard.

SONG: “When I Grow Too Old To Dream,” Roy Eldridge