Survey: Most Say Adulthood Begins at 26

University of Chicago / Associated Press (via Yahoo News) ^ | 9 May 2003 | Martha Irvine

[conservativeinbflo.]

two more years for me to be a kid! woo-hoo! i still feel like the awkward teenager, and still look like it, too! at least i know i'm not alone. :)

[steve-b]

At what age can we claim to be in our "second childhoods" and thereby have our otherwise outrageous behavior excused?

How old is Clinton?

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Growing up too late is probably worse than growing up too soon. I wonder if those who expect their parents to provide for them until they're almost 30 ever are very financially independent.

Parents, who provide for their children till they're 30, are idiots. Parents, who teach their kids, (by their lifelong example) that being a loaf and a mooch throughout their life is acceptable and permissible are even bigger idiots. I don't find it shocking that kids nowadays take a longer time to "grow up" when their parents have never grown up.

[irish guard]

hehehe...wtg husky ed.......I am 47 and was thinking exactly the same thing....Mrs. irish guard is constantly telling me to grow up....and each time she says it, I stick out my tongue, and throw a tantrum......one drawback to that kind of reaction on my part is Mrs. irish guard then never seems to want to play any of the bedroom "games" I like playing.....think there's any realtionship between my behavior and her reluctance???

[workerbee]

Except for the most extraordinary of circumstances, if my kids are still living with me at 30, I will consider myself a failed parent.

[LizardQueen]

I got married even later than that, to a guy a bit older than myself. So it turned out it wasn't in the cards to begin with, though we went through a lot of angst and expense regarding the issue (long story, not going to go into it here).

If I had kids younger I think I'd feel differently, but the idea of them being financially supported and not leaving the house until I was in my late 60s/early 70s is a bummer for me.
I've always seen the period after the kids leave the house as the time where you can rebond with your mate - some well-deserved "couple time" while you're both still young enough to enjoy each other.

But different strokes for different folks - not everyone has the same needs for alone-time, and couple-time. The idea of a houseful forever is sheer bliss for some, while others see it as sheer hell ;).

LQ

[SoDak]

I was out of the house 3 days before I turned 18. Mom was crying, dad was helping me pack.

[banjo joe]

is now sandwiched between college students who never want to grow up and graduate, and elderly parents who are living longer and longer.

Damn good rule. I have a 24 y/o step son, living out of a spare bedroom. No h.s. diploma, no skills. Used to joke about 'not growing up'. Now he's "disabled" (or doing a good job faking mental illness) and on SSI. He also has two small children he doesn't support.

I would say he's succeeded admirably, and I am a failure.

go figure.

[GunnyHartman]

I say adulthood begins at 17, if you're at MCRD San Diego.

[Hatteras]

My daughter feels very strongly that "adulthood" starts at 11 years old. Just ask her...

[LizardQueen]

I was out of the house 3 days before I turned 18. Mom was crying, dad was helping me pack.

LOL, that's the way it was when I went off to college. My mom was crying even though deep down they were glad to see me go - I wasn't the easiest teenager to deal with. Dad was just about dancing a jig.

Hmmm, this could explain my aversion to having kids not live with me longer than necessary - I know how bad I was :o ! I wouldn't want to live with someone like me ;)

LQ

[SoDak]

I have a friend who is a very interesting and fun person to be around who is pushing 40, starting a new major in college and has never been financially independent in his life. Now, he's about to get married. I like the guy a lot, but his parents have ruined his life with their checkbook, he has no ambition at all. I hope his wife realizes that she's about to become a wife AND mother.

[SoDak]

I'm apparently hard to live with too, seeing as how I'm 37 and solo. I was a good kid in HS, never any trouble, and was basically a full-time farmworker on the side. In college, I met my old buddy weiser and he helped me waste a few years during and after college though.

[husky ed]

I use the "stick out my lower lip and pout method"

Also on the "bedroom games" front, you may be onto a cause and effect situation there.

But in those situations I usually resort to the classic "puppy dog eye" look and if that still hasn't defrosted her I then start "whinning like a 10 year old".
At this point she will either give in or stomp off. So it's 50/50.

[VaBthang4]

Sounds about right, especially considering today's culture.

Better titled "Reality hits around 26"

[babble-on]

I actually agree with that 26 number for being not a kid anymore. That is the only birthday where I can remember feeling shocked at my advanced age, and that was 15 years ago.

[xrp]

Heh, 26 might be pretty accurate, but has anyone else noticed that life goes A LOT FASTER around age 18? Getting to 18 took FOREVER for me, but since then, hitting almost 30 seemingly happened in a matter of weeks or less.

[babyface00]

There's an upside to this, if we restricted voting only to adults, conservatives would dominate the government. Much of liberalism's success is because of the (flawed) idealism (and stupidity) of youth.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Much of liberalism's success is because of the (flawed) idealism (and stupidity) of youth.

Shocking (/sarcasm), seeing that the parents of the "youth" today were yesterdays free-sex/drugs/eff-authority/flower powers/commie/socialist/utopian hippies of the 60's. Guess some of that free sex, wasnt free...the apple doesnt fall far from the tree. Put the blame where the blame is deserved.