When do kids become adults?

1. 70

   jabelufirozposted 10 years ago

   When do kids become adults?

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2. 0

   JThomp42posted 10 years ago

   Of course; here in the United States, the legal age is 18. I really feel it depends on the maturity level of the person.

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3. 81

   dashingscorpioposted 10 years ago

   In my opinion you are still a kid as long as you rely on your parents or some other adult to cover your living experiences. Being an adult means you are self-sufficient. One man's opinion! :-)

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4. 0

   ahorsebackposted 10 years ago

   In todays culture , I would say ...40 ish

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5. 78

   PoeticPhilosophyposted 10 years ago

   lol horseback. For me I felt REALLY mature at 18, so I would say 18 is a reasonable age to be a adult, but there are a lot of immature people out there.. lol. I know 20-25 year old's who still act like there 15, so it varies from each individual.

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6. 81

   peachpurpleposted 10 years ago

   technically, 18 yrs old but they are still our baby in our eyes. Just have to wait until kids get married, then they turn into adults. They have to make their own decisions

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7. 46

   DDEposted 10 years ago

   Kids become adults at 18-21 this varies to each individual also on how responsible they are with their daily lifestyles.

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8. 71

   lone77starposted 10 years ago

   If you're talking maturity, sometimes never. Sometimes during the preteen years, because they have a great mentor and spiritual guide who helps them understand why they're really here. It depends upon the individual spirit (soul, true self, immortal child of God within), the environment, upbringing, teachings, values and beliefs. For some, being "adult" means wisdom. I pray for wisdom for all.
   
   If you're talking about losing the sense of wonder, sometimes never. Sometimes during the preteen years, because the young person experiences something traumatic and loses their way; they have the childlike innocence beaten out of them. For some, being "adult" means being reasonable. I pray for unreasonableness, and childlike wonder and awe for all.
   
   Being young-at-heart and mature are not mutually exclusive qualities. It would be wonderful if all of these ancient beings who share this reality with me were to remember who they really are and eliminate the barriers of separateness. Restore the bonds of love.

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9. 86

   Billie Kelpinposted 10 years ago

   I'm sixty-eight and never quite made it to becoming an adult.

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10. 81

    LisaKoskiposted 10 years ago

    I don't think you can really put a number on it. Yes, there are laws saying when someone is considered an adult by society but I think that true adulthood means so much more. Experience and maturity is key, in my opinion. If the individual can function on their own in society and can manage "adult" situations (such as death, or other serious or life altering circumstances) in a mature fashion, I would say they are no longer a child. I don't think I got even close to adulthood until I reached around 22 years old and started to have to really handle things on my own and grow as a person. I'm only 24 now so maybe I'm not adult enough to have too much of an opinion on the subject but that's just what I think

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11. 89

    jpcmcposted 10 years ago

    I think it is when they reach the formal operations stage of cognitive development.  but there's more to being adults than cognitive development.  Emotional intelligence for one is important.  That makes many "adults" still kids.  Note:  being child-like and childish are two different things.

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12. 69

    connorjposted 10 years ago

    
    
    Please let me know the answer to this; you "see" adulthood has been avoiding me now for 13 years times four. As my better-half would say, John is a "child at heart; his mental age is probably not much greater than his belief of his actual age. He still enjoys the game he first played when he was four years of age!" Yet, John is still in college; he first started in 1979; if you do the math, that means he has been attending for 34 years! Two of his daughters graduated from the same college he still attends! How sad is that?
    There is hope for John, rumour has it he will soon be in his prime (4X13 + 1). I am reminded of a quote I recently read, it goes something like this:
    "If you lose your sense of childhood you may indeed lose your ability to create."
    Source: Unknown (yet it is not John Connor of 13X4)...

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13. 66

    Tusitala Tomposted 10 years ago

    I think Dashing Scorpio's right.  But it gets round to interpretation.  Are we talking about a legal age of adulthood here, or the more obvious one of one now being grown up in one's attitude to life.   A forty-year old, unmarried, still getting his washing, ironing, shopping, cooking and cleaning done by Mum - is he really an audult?   Then what about the fourteen-year-old who is looking after three or four younger brothers and sisters because Dad left home and Mum's too sick to work?   Is he or she still a child?   
    
    As Dashing Scorpio says, it's self-sufficiency which is really a deciding factor here.   If a person can move out into their own home and live alone or with another adult or adults and who does not take his washing home to Mum, well he's an adult, in my opinion be he under the legal age of adulthood or not.
    
    My three children (now in their forties and fifties) all left home at seventeen.  Eighteen is the legal age for adulthood now, in Australia  - it was twenty-one - a few decades back.  But although there was some small apprehension as to how they'd go in the world, they were 'young adults' and my wife and I had the good sense to recognize this and give them their independence.   All are now living successful lives...

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14. 0

    Ghost32posted 10 years ago

    In my extremely opinionated opinion, it depends entirely on the kid.  Some never do become adults in any functional sense.  At the other end of the spectrum, the youngest "full grown man" I've known (to date, anyway) ran away from home when he was 12, made his life as a cowboy, eventually wound up owning his own rodeo ranch and producing rodeos, died of a heart attack at age 60, and was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.
    
    Society sets guidelines (laws) so those with no clue can  get by without having to truly understand the person they're facing:  Is this X-year-old person an adult or a child?  That, however, has very little to do with the maturity of the person in question.
    
    Our levels of development are as unique as our fingerprints.

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15. 60

    C.V.Rajanposted 10 years ago

    Kids become adults when adults-only thoughts come up in their minds about opposite sex!

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16. 74

    Diana Leeposted 10 years ago

    When they take the responsibility of supporting themselves and not rely on others to get them what they want. Some folks never become adults.

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