Posted on 09/25/2013 7:19:04 PM PDT by chessplayer
I used to go on overnight hunting treks (rabbits :-)), by myself, in the desert, when I was 11. Pathetic.
I started living on my own when I was 17 — paid rent, furnished my apartment with garage sale stuff, created shelve units from milk cartons, bricks and scrapwood.
I enjoyed myself enough — drank Lucky Beer (with rebuses in the caps), invented homemade Hamburger Helper (who the heck could afford THAT — it was damn near gourmet!)
IOW I learned from early on, through trial and error, what grownups need to know. And I would not trade a single second of those experiences (and I went to Pepperdine Malibu so I was around the kids that, frankly, didn’t ever get to enjoy what it means to own your life).
Infantilization is a sacrament of liberalism. It is needed to control young heads full of mush — and they are so easily controlled. In my day we were pissed our older brothers and sisters were a bunch of stupid pot-heads and left us to clean up the mess. We HAD to think for ourselves!
And the disco I so hated has ended up being pretty good — better than “Kill Whitey” cRap.
>>Really depends, I know some 25 year olds that act 16, my oldest will be 18 next week<<
If you love her, give her her adult papers, kick her out but invite her to come back to get a free meal and do laundry any old time.
The greatest feeling in the world is the first night in a young adult’s “my apartment/house” — and that can only be experienced through real life.
(dang, I remember that moment and I got a retro-thrill from the memory!)
Yeah, I went straight from high school to bootcamp. I was sworn into the US Navy just before my 18th birthday so that I could serve a three year hitch instead of four years. My father signed a release to allow me to join at seventeen. I actually took two weeks leave before going to bootcamp so that I could attend my final exams and graduation which came in the week following my birthday. By twenty one I was out with an honorable discharge. By twenty three I was earning an income that would equal more than sixty thousand a year in today’s money and was driving a new Mustang. I was not considered successful though, I was considered a hopeless failure because at twenty three I was still single. I actually went back home and lived with my parents again after my discharge until I was twenty five but I was helping them with expenses, they were not supporting me. I moved out again and moved sixty miles away at twenty five but did not get married until I turned twenty eight, by then everyone had given up on me, some may have thought I was gay or something because I was past twenty five and still single.
>>Adulthood began at 15 a hundred years ago. In the Middle ages, men hardly older were leading armies into battle.<<
The concept of “teenager” was born in the USA in the 30s or 40s.
Before that, when you could bring home dinner on your own, you switched from shorts to breeches and it was time to man up (from what I have read this was apx. 15 YO).
There is pressure from certain groups (who will remain nameless) to actually lower the age of consent for sexual relations. Hollywood, fashion, targeted advertising, educators, all say kids of 14, 13, even younger, are capable of making their own decisions and parents should just butt out.
What's a parent to do? From the age of 14 or so, we're supposed to let kids make their own choices. When they make the wrong choices the parents must bear responsibility. It's not good to have freedom without responsibility - increasing the age of adulthood to 25 could add another 7 years to the misery.
>>By then everyone had given up on me, some may have thought I was gay or something because I was past twenty five and still single.<<
You aren’t gay anymore, are you?
(lol)
I had 3 kids by that age and our fourth was on the way. Now, in my mid 40’s, I still have classmates that are just starting families. They just got lost/ tried to find themselves/ hung out for a quarter century. I never understood it.
To be fair, you weren’t considered an adult until 30 in ancient Israel.
You mean I’m as good as I’m going to get?
Shiat, I’ve been screwed.
Also, no way the drinking age could remain 21.
Changing the voting age alone could save this country...
Sometimes, for some people, it just doesn’t work out, ever.
When they started keeping immigration records, around 1820, they counted the men from 15-45 as able bodied workers. By the time one was 50, one was counted as “old,” Alexander Hamilton and John D. Rockefeller were bought in charge of shops by the time they were 16. Today, a 16 YO is treated in school as if he were a child.
>> Alexander Hamilton and John D. Rockefeller were bought in charge of shops by the time they were 16. Today, a 16 YO is treated in school as if he were a child.<<
Sobering statistics.
We infantilize our culture at our peril.
I am not going to toss them to the wolves, but at 18 they are or will be ready for the world. The girls are aloud to live at home until they get married then they are on their own, but the boy will be moving on or paying rent to live in the basement apartment. I know old fashioned and sexest, but I don't care. We have taken pride in the proper raising of our children.
At 25 I was already 5 years into my Navy career, married, and had a kid with one on the way. Never asked for a government handout, except my paycheck, even though sadly we qualified for all kinds of "free stuff".
Now at 4x years old we are able to put hard working adults back into the workforce so I can retire again. We have four kids, so for a couple with out kids I got you covered. :)
No voting until 25, UNLESS the person is in the military or has an honorable discharge.
My experience with “adults” today suggests 37, but, eh, I’ll give ‘em 25.
Perhaps kids of today are not adults until they are 25.”
Sad thing to have to think about. When I was 25 I already had a college degree, full-time job, two kids ages 3 and 4, and we were on our second house. Would buy a fixer-upper, work on remodeling it on the weekends, sell it and buy another one.
But then that are the standards set for us by our parents as we were growing up.
Can’t imagine having a granddaughter like Miley Cyrus in our household. Her father wouldn’t have let her see her 20th birthday with that kind of behavior.
Out in farm and ranch country in Texas I still see some kids operating tractors as young as 14, although our Dear Leader would like to put a stop to that. Out there it is not the pansified city culture.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.