Why passé composé?

Question

For the sentence,  j'ai grandi en regardant les matches avec lui, how come it's not in the imparfait? He was growing up over a period of time, and watched several matches during this time, so it was a repeated action. I thought it should be imparfait. Please advise.

Accepted Answer

Hi Tom,
This is someone reflecting on their younger years etc.
Whilst the growing was current then I would agree with you about the imperfect, but by looking back at the description of an event completed (the growing up phase) then the action is complete is it not? 
This is how I see it  --  hope it helps.
Jim

Answer

It depends on whether the writer sees the growing up as a one-time single-shot event in the past (passé composé) or whether he wants to emphsize its duration (maybe because something happened while he was growing up).