When does a "kid" cease to be a kid and become and adult?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

Not legally, but I guess for all practical purposes. It seems like it's being pushed further and further back for two reasons. Firstly, humans live longer. 30 is middle age when the lifespan is only in the fifties, but I believe it's 74 now, with many people living into their eighties happy and healthy. Secondly, school goes on and on. I want to be a vet and I won't be done with all my schooling until Im 29. It used to be that you work as soon as you get out of highschool, but that just isn't the case anymore.

What does DU think?

On Edit: Further, couples are choosing to get married and have or adopt children much later in life.

[zanana]

1. I never really grew up...

I'm a 52 year-old kid. I guess "kid" and "adult" are just words.

[Chimpanzee]

2. I believe you are considered an adult somwhere between 18-21

18 to kill people
21 to have a beer

go figure!:shrug:

[hyphenate]

3. Well.....

you know I was just thinking about this not that long ago. I am now 48, and I still don't think I resemble anyone who was this age when I was a "kid." People who were "old" when I was a kid LOOKED older. There were wrinkles, dowdy clothing, a certain philosophy of life that made them seem much more "grown up" than I feel.

I never married and had kids, so that's a factor. Kids will age you a lot. But I think that's pretty much the answer to your question--you cease being a "kid" when you have your own. Becoming a parent puts new pressure on you to be a responsible person, because suddenly you aren't just thinking about your own welfare--you have others to take into consideration instead. So I'm lucky. I don't have to be an adult--ever.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

4. Yes this is why I was thinking about it

I came across a thread of someone terrified of turning 30. But the thing is, this, I feel anyway, is a holdover from decades past. Forty year olds and fifty year olds of today look as good, if not better, than the thirty year olds of yesterday.

[baldguy]

5. When they have to make a life-changing decision.

Either for themselves or another person, and they understand the ramifications of that decision.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Depends what comes out of his/her mouth. When the "kid" says

something that reflects deliberate and careful thought about a situation that demonstrates maturity beyond his/her stated age, he or she is no longer a "kid".

But however, that does not necessarily make him/her an adult either. Without life experience (holding a job, budgeting money), especially rebounding from a failure, you could have a child inside an adult body indefinitely.

[SoCalDem]

7. When a "child" is self sufficient and quits asking Mom & Dad for money

they are grown up :)

[ikojo]

8. I think it greatly depends upon one's class status....working class

people often do not have the option of depending upon the First National Bank of Mom and Dad for support past 18. Even if the kid is attending college he/she is often working at the same time.

I know I was raised with the expectation that after 18 I was TOTALLY responsible for my own financial well being and my mom was not joking.

People born into better financial situations of course can enjoy a prolonged adolescence and postpone taking on more responsibilities for their own well being. I have a friend who comes from a very wealthy family and her parents paid for her to go back to school to get a teaching certificate when she was in her late 30s. This included not only paying for the college tuition but paying all of her bills as well. It was like she was 18 again and she could not understand why they treated her like a kid.