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Becoming A Responsible Adult
June 25, 2008 | Permalink
Comments
Why is it necessarily a 'sad circumstance' for a child to reach a level of independence and responsibility before the age of eighteen?
Posted by: Thomas Blair | Jun 25, 2008 5:56:37 PM
> Why is it necessarily a 'sad circumstance' for a child to reach a level of independence and responsibility before the age of eighteen?
I assume he means that they wind up with the responsibilities even if they aren't ready for them.
Frankly, I was fairly close to a responsible adult when I was 15 -- I was sensible, responsible, and could be trusted not to get into trouble when left alone. I suspect that a large part of teen anger so common to these days comes from the fact that most teens probably sense that they were meant to be treated as burgeoning adults starting from age 13 or so, and given more and more responsibilities.
Remember -- Romeo was 13, Juliet was 12 -- yet Romeo and his cohorts were fighting duels, just outside of marrying age, and even dying, in their early teens -- the problems with their dueling were the disruptions to the public order, not the idea that "kids" were behaving like adults. No one thought anything of "kids" behaving as they did.
In this context, the extreme reactions of Romeo and Juliet to their separation make far more sense -- at that age, your emotions are still raw and unfettered, and everything seems like the end of the world.
In other words, while I agree with your overall premise about parenting, Good Parenting has kids approaching adult maturity in their mid teens.
Posted by: Obloodyhell | Jun 26, 2008 10:56:16 AM
The chart clearly shows "kids approaching adult maturity in their mid teens"; it shows them arriving at the final level of adult maturity at 18 when they take the final step toward independence by moving out. That's not an all at once step as clearly indicated by the steady linear slope.
Posted by: RKeech | Oct 11, 2008 2:31:55 AM
