Growing up or growing down...?

As teenagers venture into their freshman year in college excited and nervous for their soon to be adulthood to appear more noticeable and concrete, they get so caught up in the idea of "growing up". The idea of leaving your past life behind when you leave for college is so common, but I was drinking coffee and reading bad college letters when I had a thought. Independence is a huge aspect of going away for college. And a big chunk of the time, we abuse that independence. When we leave for our freshman year, are we not also losing a big part of ourselves? Our childlike innocence that we naturally were given early in our lives? Or have we already lost it in the chaos and disarray of high school? I want to hold onto at least a fraction of my "innocence", so that I won't feel overwhelmed or unable to handle certain things in college because I can't understand why I'm doing it. The controversy in this, however, is that children will simply believe what they are told which is typically seen as a negative thing for the youthful generation. Obviously I don't mean I want to be brain washed or anything. I am simply speaking in terms of keeping strong in my faith, my relationship with my family, and educational reasons. I probably should have made that more clear in the beginning for I think I even confused myself.