At what age does a child become and adult? Do you think there is some magic age when a child should be considered the appropriate age to make inportant educational and medical decisions on their own? And what age should that be? You see at 18 you can join the military and at 48 inches you can ride most adult rides. At 13 you pay adult prices at the most movies theatres yet you can not get into an R rated movie until you are 17. You can drive a car at 17, vote at 18 and drink at 21. Seems confusing , huh? What's you opinion?
posted by Linda M. @ 1:11 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Although the drinking age was raised to 21 this does not indicate that children become adults at 21.
It has always been known that the law considers individuals at the age of 18 as adults. That individuals convicted of a crime at the age of 18 can be tried as an adult and serve time in an adult prison. Therefore the law does consider people who reach the age of 18 to be capable to make adult decisions.
The most important activity an individual can engage in is to vote in all elections. This is why the voting laws were changed in the past to lower the voting age to 18. Again a significant law that indicates that Adult decision can be made at the Age of 18.
The final point you made is a big one. For years individuals who choose to serve in our military can do so due to maturing into adults. In addition males at the age of 18 can be drafted into the armed services during times of war again indicating that the government is willing to accept people at the age of 18 as adults.
I guess this becomes a tougher pill for parents to swallow due to their involvement in their children’s lives past the age of 18 (more involved in post high school activities). In their eyes, children will always be their children.
You often see this same feeling of judging maturity of people with coworkers in the job place. You can see this when older more experienced coworkers look at younger individuals as inexperienced or immature. Even if the individuals are past the age of 18.
In all, individuals that reach the age of 18 MUST be treated as adults. Not doing so will set them up for failure in the future. There are so many expectations that are placed on them when they reach this age. This includes the law, voting, military service and even college. When they leave the home at 18 to go to college, they must be equipped at this time to succeed and take on all responsibilities that are placed on them. It is at this time they learn that there may not be a second chance or to have do overs when mistakes have been made. This often becomes a hard lesson for them to learn and becomes tougher if they have not been prepared. Equipping children early to make adult like decisions will help them prepare to make these decisions for real when they reach the age of 18. In doing this our children will be more prepared to make the adult decisions when expected of them at and past the age of 18.
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