Ethics of Elfland and The Chronicles of Narnia- Ryan Webb

On the bottom of page 95 and top of page 96 of Chesterton's Ethics of Elfland, he writes, "This (The enjoyment of fairy tales) is proved by the fact that when we are very young children we do not need fairy tales: we only need tales. Mere life is interesting enough." He goes on to give an example of a three year old and a seven year old, "A child of seven is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door and saw a dragon. But a child of three is excited by being told that Tommy opened the door." There is something about growing older that extinguishes a sense of adventure, excitement, and appreciation of the internal, simple, and mundane.
We see this accurately in The Magicians Nephew when Lewis describes the exploration of Digory and Polly. At first, simple indoor exploration in the attic would suffice, but as the grew comfortable, they each craved adventure more and more. By the end of their adventures together, the attic, which at first seemed ever so frightening and dangerous, was more like a safe zone.
I cannot help but wish I could experience every part of life as an adventure. Experience, though great in many ways, seems to produce comfort and a general disrespect for the simple. Why is it that a child can spend all day running into you and falling over without getting bored, tired, or annoyed? As we grow up, somewhere along the way, we become more self-interested than life-interested while excitement and adventure is replaced with insecurity and responsibility. What would life look like if we could live in the moment with experience in tact but not hindered by expectation?