Being an adult

As a child, adults always are those omniscient large people that can help you with their advice. You can turn to them when you have problems and don’t know how to solve them because those adults always know the right thing to do.

As a teenager, you don’t believe them anymore. What do they actually know? They have absolutely no idea how the world works because they are old dinosaurs...

And as an adult? You either like the others or you don’t but you’re almost always sure that children and teenagers know nothing of the real, hard world.

But when are you an adult? According to German law, you are of age when you turn 18: You may vote, you may get your driver’s license, but you can still be judged by a juvenile court. This seems to me like an acknowledgement that in the end, it’s still possible that you are not yet an adult...

Is it an indication that you are an adult when you have children of your own? It is possible but when I think of all those teenage mothers I can’t confirm this. Every teenage girl is biological able to conceive a child.

Work doesn’t seem to be an indication of adulthood either. Even teenagers are able to have a small job besides school… And in Germany, many 16-year-old teenagers start their apprenticeship.

What about a flat of your own? Seems to be a good sign but there are still some teenagers who can live by their own as long as their parents sign the contract.

In the end, most people agree that adulthood is a matter of mental maturity. But how can this be assessed? It’s almost impossible because everyone has a different concept of it…

In my opinion, it’s hard to say who’s an adult and who’s not, some people never reach adulthood. I suppose being an adult means having a different perspective on certain things and life as such. It’s about prioritising and seeing some things more clearly, more objectively. But on the other hand, it’s also about keeping a balance between being serious whenever you need to and keeping your inner child alive whenever it’s appropriate because adulthood doesn’t imply to be mean and unhappy all the time.

This is just my humble opinion, you may disagree… ;)

16/07/2012