What is the true definition of an adult? Is it based on chronological age, a number determined by society that allows you to have certain privileges, or is it based on life experience and maturity?
The definition of “adult” is “one who has attained maturity or legal age”. The definition of “maturity” is “having reached full natural growth or development”. We know that legal age is 18 or 21, but maturity comes closer to my definition of adulthood because it has to do with emotional development.
I would agree that there is a need for society to establish an age for certain privileges such as voting, driving, enlisting in the armed services, and drinking, but I do not agree that reaching this age automatically turns you into an adult. How is it possible that the moment you reach your 18th birthday you automatically have the maturity to be an adult?
I think that “legal age” is only the beginning of adulthood because you are allowed certain privileges. These privileges allow you to have experiences and make your own decisions. But how you act, what decisions you make, and what lessons you learn bring you closer to adulthood than a number does. So I feel experience, growth, and maturity makes you more of an adult than a number does.
Even if you get your drivers’ license it doesn’t mean that you know how to drive well and that you can respond correctly to every situation on the road. That takes practice and experience.
Even if you reach drinking age, that doesn’t mean that you will act responsibility, most people don’t.
Even if you join the army at 18 that doesn’t mean you could handle yourself in a war. I have heard many men say that when they joined the service they were boys, but when they left, they were men. That means that they might have been old enough to join, but until they were trained and developed skills they weren’t really soldiers. So it was time, experience, and maturity that brought them to adulthood, not just their chronological age.
Many things can happen in childhood that will mature one person more quickly than another. For example, if a teenager experiences sickness or the death of a parent he might be more mature because he has extra responsibilities to help his family. He might need to help his brothers or sisters, cook, clean, or take on a job to help financially. This type of experience causes many changes and usually results in a growth or maturity.
Sometimes maturity comes from other types of experiences that change the way a young person sees the world. Children believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, but when that illusion is shattered you leave behind part of your childhood and begin to see things for what they really are. It is an experience that brings you closer to adulthood, but there is still a long way to go.
I have observed ignorance with 16 year olds that feel they know everything and have no use for help or guidance from others. This is a very immature point of view. I have also observed a 40-year-old man who doesn’t hold a steady job, doesn’t follow the rules of society, or make proper decisions in his life. This 40 year old is no more mature than the 16 year olds who feel they have all the answers; the only difference is their chronological age, and by definition, the 40 year old would be considered an adult.
But I have also observed a 20-year-old woman who is married, has a child, holds down a job, and takes care of her family and home. Or 20-year-old students, who attend college, maintain their grades, work at part time jobs, and handle their own personal and financial manners in a very mature and responsible way. They are adults and behave in a more mature manner than the 40 year old I know.
I believe adulthood is not a number, but it is a way that someone handles himself or herself. Adult behavior includes making proper, mature decisions and understanding and accepting the consequences for those decisions. An adult recognizes that they don’t know everything and there is always room to grow and learn. When an adult makes a mistake they try to correct their mistake and learn from the experience. Turning 18 or 21 doesn’t automatically make you an adult, maturity, responsibility, and understanding do.
