When do we stop dreaming?

I was reading a book today about time management and one of the paragraphs talks about having focus to be able to achieve what you need to complete. It made me think about dreams, what we want in our lives. When you ask a young child what they want to be when they grow up they usually, instantly, will tell you something, it might be an astronaut, train driver, dancer or princess. Ask the same question of an adult - perhaps not the "what do you want to be when you grow up?" - along the lines of what do you want to achieve and they usually have to spend quite some time thinking about it.

 

So what happens, what changes between being a child with everything the world has to offer laid before you and adulthood where we feel constricted?  Discussing this with a colleague, her answer was that as an adult, reality has kicked in and you realise that your dreams are not possible. Do you agree? 

I think that as adults we get into a rut of just making a living and doing the routine, our dreams drift away but if we put our mind and efforts into achieving our dreams, there is no limit to what can be accomplished if you believe you can. More importantly what are we teaching our children about their dreams? Are you showing your children that dreams and ambition are an important part of adult life? Do we say that they can achieve them, that they can be an astronaut, train driver, dancer or princess or do we say they can't? Is our lack of big dreams a result of our childhood? 

I would be interested in your thoughts. Do you still have a big goal that you will achieve?