Childhood is the part of life you carry with you the longest period of your life. Makes sense and almost goes without saying. But looking at it a different way: the most amount of time you spend recollecting is spent on remembering childhood. That can be not so great for a few, but for most, it is this looking back that helps us carry forward.
The freedom you feel, or actually didn't know you were feeling, is the most missed thing of childhood if you ask anyone, they'll agree. Freedom from burden was the most obvious thing. Even those of us with meddlesome or bullying schoolmates or demanding Aunts and Uncles can look back and cherish the freedom we had. Evenings after school where all we had on the agenda was concern over what was for dinner or could we go out and play; this was the typical load we had to carry as children. Sure we had to worry about homework but it was sometimes fun and was no comparison to working overtime on a high profile project, critical for the company's bottom line. Freedom from time was the big one that most adults seem to forget, as time passes no less and may end up pressuring some youth in their life over time. I can remember how incredibly long summers seemed when I was a teenager, and how long Christmas break was at age 10. Now I can only see how short it is, and how little I can really get done in such a short period oh, and I don't get summer breaks now.
How easy things in life come to you as a child is one thing near the top of my list. Friendships were so easy that I had dozens and dozens under my belt by the time I was 15. Now, as an adult and dealing with experiences that force those judgments or reservations make it a little more challenging. This is one of those things you miss more as you get older and acquire more responsibilities. There is nothing like making an instant connection with someone and becoming best friends in a matter of minutes. I wonder now, in my forties, how long it would take to make a new best friend; I don't have the time and I have enough friends. Hard to imagine a 10 year old saying that.
The experience of learning and growing from a state of innocence is a part I miss very much as well. There is something to be said for experiencing things for the first time. The light going off, the social rewards of someone enjoying guiding or teaching you through the experience, the memories of the experience sticking with you for so long; all things that make new experiences a wonderful thing to look back on. For me it was things like learning to water-ski, family vacations to theme parks, road trips and getting the chance to work hard on a neighbors farm or help in building our family's cabin. Each of those things brings back specific memories like being in the boat and learning the responsibility to the skier and trusting that person to be responsible for you, and not to mention the fun and exhaustion of learning to stay up. Grilled meat and beans after such a long day of fun was one of the small things that added to that memory, which I miss as much as anything. As an adult, with a family, these types of outing are fun but the burden to make it the good experience as it was for me growing up falls on me actually a joy in new experiences and memory, but not nearly as wonderful as being the young one enjoying the carefree day.