[Nowhere Man]

Speaking solely for myself, I know that at 25 I was nothing more than an adolescent who shaved more often. She recounts her younger days similarly.

Sometime around the middle of the last century, the worst of all possible combinations arose. Children matured physically at an ever decreasing age, and matured mentally and emotionally at an increasing age.

A good point in itself. I'd say before World War I, people tended to mature a lot quicker then that do now. By the time you were 13 or 14, maybe just a tad bit later, you basically assumed adult resposibilities, if your family needed money, you got a full time job and so on. I talked to one lady where her great-grandmother was 14 when she married her husband and he was like 28, 30 or so. Of course, even then people did get married at an earlier age although age differences were not as huge as the example given above.

It seems like people mature a lot slower, generally, the repsonsibilities that a 14 year old would have 100 years ago would be greater than an 18 year or or even 21+ year old today. In today's world, I don't advocate young marriage like that, heck, it would be like giving a 16 year old the keys to a Ferrari. B-) Still, it is an interesting observation how society has changed that much.

[Melas]

A good point in itself. I'd say before World War I, people tended to mature a lot quicker then that do now. By the time you were 13 or 14, maybe just a tad bit later, you basically assumed adult resposibilities, if your family needed money, you got a full time job and so on. I talked to one lady where her great-grandmother was 14 when she married her husband and he was like 28, 30 or so. Of course, even then people did get married at an earlier age although age differences were not as huge as the example given above.

It seems like people mature a lot slower, generally, the repsonsibilities that a 14 year old would have 100 years ago would be greater than an 18 year or or even 21+ year old today. In today's world, I don't advocate young marriage like that, heck, it would be like giving a 16 year old the keys to a Ferrari. B-) Still, it is an interesting observation how society has changed that much.

Call it what it is; Wealth. The average Joe or Jane in 21st century America has as much leisure time on his or her hands as any king or queen from centuries past.

I don't advocate returning to more primitive times when one worked from sunrise to sunset, six days a week, but I think it's safe to safe that socially, we've done a poor job of adapting to modern life which is less rigorous.

Rather than freeing us, the increase in leisure time seems to have shortened attention spans, increased boredom, and raised expectations in a lot of areas.

I think of the time I spend with my wife, compared to the time my father spent with my mother. There is no comparison, and I was born in 1963, so I'm not that old. Still, he saw my mother (conscious) a few hours a week at best. The rest of the time he was working or sleeping. That world is gone. We now look to spouses as sources of both entertainment and fulfillment.

I don't know whether it's good or not, but we've certainly raised the expections we have in marriage.