Published on 12, July, 2020
Yes we all know when the legal definition is, but to me its about so many other things.
Becoming an adult is a process, and not something that happens on your 18th birthday and as a process it should be respected and acknowleged that it happens differently for different people.
Adulthood is often a cultural and social construct too, some cultures encourage their young to be far more independent than others, should we enforce conformity and if we should who's?
Should we hold someone back from doing "adult" things because they're not 18 even when they're ready?
Before I became an adult, I couldn't wait to be an adult. However, when I did become an adult in the eyes of the law, I soon realised that it wasn't as good as I had imagined it to be.
During my teens, I pushed the boundaries, although perhaps not as much as I could have done, especially when I think about some of the things my peers had been getting up to. When I was 17, I would often go to pubs and drink alcohol. My parents knew and as they too had once been teenagers and partaken in under-age drinking, they looked upon it as a right of passage. Although I would sometimes return home feeling slightly tipsy, I never drank enough to get drunk. If I had, and had made a habit of it, then I think my parents would have most certainly put their foot down.
I was 15 when I started dating, and 16 when I felt ready to have a physical relationship. My parents had made it abundantly clear that although they had no objection to me dating, there would be no "funny business" taking place under their roof. At the time, I considered this to be terribly unfair. Even when I was considered to be an adult in the eyes of the law, on the incredibly rare occasions that a boyfriend stayed over, they would be expected to sleep in the spare bedroom... at least while my parents were there and able to call the shots.
As a 49-year-old, I can look back and say that I feel I had the maturity to do some "adult" things before I was legally old enough, but there were other things that I wasn't, even though I strongly believed I was at the time.