At what point are you no longer a child?

[red_uni387]

red got 'yelled' at....again...for saying she's still a child at 14. So I'm wondering, what does everyone else think the cut off point for being a child is?

[Tribe]

Well by law, and umm by most its 18. At that point your leagally an adult who maybe couldnt get away with being called a child.  However you are forever you parents child, there for i dont understand why you would be yelled at for calling yourself a child. I would think surely though at 14 you are a child/kid for sure, i mean i know your only like 5 years younger then i but in those five/four years its a huge life change.

[Garney]

As a mother, I feel compelled to say never >.>

As an over 30 woman with an abundance of imaginary characters and entire worlds in my head, I say never =D

[red_uni387]

My dad's really old fashioned like that....he was going on week long backpacking trips by 14, so he doesn't like it when I say I'm a child and I say it so often cause I believe I'm still a child...so get yelled at a lot and go hide in my room and cry

aww I wanna be like Garney when I grow up!

[Tribe]

*hugs red* as i said, i really would consider you a child. Again if its your parents yelling at your for it i really am beyond understanding the reason why.

[red_uni387]

*hugs back* it's usually just my dad, my mom adores my brother and just sorta ignores me most of the time...I really don't get it either, and I really can't change the way I think just to please him

[Silvanon]

I still remember how shocked I was the first time I heard some random stranger call me a "lady" instead of a "girl."  I was 18 at the time.  I more or less thought of myself as a kid until I had LilBit, now I think of myself more in terms of "mommy." 

As far as working with your dad, perhaps around him you could compromise and call yourself a teenager?

[red_uni387]

I'd be kinda freaked out if a random stranger talked to me xD though I call myself mommy too, when I talk to my kitten :]

that might work...I shall try to remember that next time and see how he reacts, thank you <3

[Ryuukokoro]

Hell I'm 27 and I still get a shock when someone says "ma'am." In my head I'm still a young girl and I have to remind myself that when other people look at me, they see an adult and expect some sort of adult reaction. XD

Age is allllllllllll a state of mine, gals!

[red_uni387]

so pretty much me and my dad just have a different state of mind D: I blame my grandparents >.>

[indigowulf]

Pssh Im 33 and Im a kid. let's see, legally, you're a child until 18. Biblicly, its 12. Mentally, it can be never.

[Neocridders]

I consider anyone seventeen through ninteen a borderline child. But it depend on you size i think. If you are built smaller, you might be seen a child longer, but on the  inside you don't see the small person everyone else can
But if you were a bit taller and and a little bigger,someone might call you a lady. Some people can't tell how old someone is, so you may look twenty two but  you are seventeen.

I guess it can also facter as how someones sees your maturity.

Pssh Im 33 and Im a kid. let's see, legally, you're a child until 18. Biblicly, its 12. Mentally, it can be never.

Qft , and awesomeness. Love how you said that

[Lady Everlasting]

I'm 25 now but I don't feel any older or more adult than I did at 15.  I expected when i was that age that by the time i got this old, i'd feel like an adult (whatever that is supposed to feel like).  But I don't feel any different.  I have more adult responsibilities now, but i dont feel any more "adult". 

I think being called a child is relative to who's saying it.  Teenagers are that odd mixture of being children with adult tendancies.  So parents will often tell them they are children when it suits their purpose and insist they act like the near adults they are when it suits them as well.  I work with teenagers so I hear that as a common complaint.

[Echowing]

That happens to me alot. Like "Your still a kid you can't do whatever you want!" and then "You're an adult you should know better!"   I wish they'd stick with one....

Anyway I'm 16 (since Jan.) and I am for sure still a kid!  *Runs back to kindergarten for snacks and double recess*

[red_uni387]

everyone here's so awesome *squishes everyone* thanks for all the help <3

[Neocridders]

Ah, I was thinking and unless you live out of states or in a big farming state, the driving age is not 14 years. If I were a parent, I would not consider my child an adult until he or she could drive, at the very least.

Once you can drive, you take on the responsibilities of an adult for the driving sense.
I think if the child is out of highschool they are considered more adults.

From what I know about you, Red, and if you lived where I lived and under similar circumstances, I can't imagine how your father could yell at you for considering yourself a child. I mean, if you want to be a child, then you are one.

Atleast (to my own knowledge) you are not someone trying to grow up too fast and as a 14 year old you are putting on excessive amounts of makeup and getting secret tattoos that parents might not approve of, or doing anything worse that a child trying to grow up too fast might do.

Ha. Enjoy being young. I love being the age I am, mostly because I have two more years of marching band to look forward to. Of course I can't wait till I can stop riding the bus and drive myself where I need to be when I need to.


Ha.

[springacres]

As a 29 year old who spends most of her free time on the computer roleplaying...I say NEVER.  XD