h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Apropos a conversation with one of my sons, what counts as being grown up? And does YOUR mother still treat you as a baby?

From my travels around the globe I can report that people from Australia and New Zealand are quite adult by the age of 17. In Europe, Scandinavia and Canada the age would be 18-20. In America it's somewhere between 25 and 30.

Yes she does and I am in my 40s

My Mum and Dad still treat me like a kid, they never discuss *family issues* with me - I have to find out from my sister who is only 3 years older than me!! They try to protect me from the *bad* things!
I also think my Dad still thinks I am a virgin! Up until 6 years ago I didn't own a washing machine and my Dad used to drive round on Saturday, pick up my washing and drive back with it all clean and ironed on Sunday! I'm 35

It's when your husband still thinks you're one.......

one what Andy...kid or virgin?

Paying bills. Getting the car serviced because it is time to do it. Being asked for advice (rather than just giving it). Hating the music in the charts. Writing a will. Buying a house. Setting a budget. Sticking to it.

I remember when I was about 22 staying in my parents' house but going to a party with my fiancé and realising that we had been invited for our own sakes, not just as rag-tags and make weights.

And then again, when I was about 30 I was asked to join our local PCC (Parochial Church Council - very important in English villages). I said yes - so long as I didn't have to go to church.

This was a big one for me, because my dad worked away from home, and I hated it when my mum and dad went out to the PCC on one of the few nights he was with us. I left after about 5 months. Someone said that the people we were praying for in the intercessions were 'not ill enough'. The conversation got round to particular people with particular illnesses which I thought was out of order. I said 'there is one other possiblity' and added brightly 'maybe the prayers are working!' Everybody laughed - obviously a completely crazy idea. And I decided at that point that I was not the only hypocrite there, and left.

Not being embarrassed by ignorance. Realising that you are wiser and feel older than your older siblings. Organising your last parent's funeral. Thinking about your pension. Paying real money into your pension. Wanting to buy insurance. Not drinking that last glass of wine because you dont want a hangover.

Enjoying playing.

Ben

Awww crap! When did I become an adult?
How did this happin?

I can't speak for anyone else but as I watched my daughter being born, I knew.

I was 22.

Not because I particulary wanted to. But because I had to. I was responsible for a baby girl.

Can we say reality check?

Can we say a phrase that doesn't make me nauseous instead?

I may have two adult sons, but according to them I've not grown up.

On the inside I feel like 16, the outside is an entirely different story

I was going to say it comes with puberty.
Then thought maybe it really comes with self sufficiency.
Then I saw the entry about becoming a parent. Yes. That is probably the one true marker for adulthood.

*writes Mycroft a small reality cheque*
Don't expend it all in one place now!
Or, if the phrase really makes you ill, what shall we call the very necessary come-uppances we all must face in this fantasy world of virtual realities, dreamy consumerism and media frenzies?

~jwf~ still a virgin but it's only 7:00pm here

The moment I decided it wasn't important to grow up, I think I took a step! When I decided I given give a **** and started to embarrass my friends I think I took another step, but in what direction I'm not sure!

Yes, they still treat me like rubbish, not so much as a baby, just as someone with disposible feelings.

I was 30 this year, and its been brilliant so far. Dread to think how much I might have regressed by the time I reach 40!

When you have to pay VAT on clothes and the full price on everything - cinema tickets, train tickets, bus tickets etc. etc. etc.

Drunken gropings in the back seat of a car (or anywhere) indulged in by randy adolescents that results in pregnancy does not qualify as entry to adulthood.

When you realise that the pretentious, narrow-minded, numb, dumb, superficial, boring and assimilated people you see/meet everyday (in RL) are perfectly normal and just like you.


Tube
not an adult, then

When you accept the fact that life can be worse than death for some people, things might get worse still, it might not be within anyone's power to improve things (platitudes definitely won't help) and it isn't necessarily anyone's fault.

Realizing that 'adults' had been lying to me and they weren't any wiser than I was.

My mother will take anyone's side against mine.
And she still says,"That's just the way it is, you can't do anything about it."
Of course, this is a person who believes that homosexuality is a virus and that the moon landings were a hoax.

But the moon landings were a hoax It was all filmed on the back lot at Warner Brothers and in the Utah desert!

The other crucial time you know you're an adult is when you start getting post in brown window envelopes. Or when you get called *madam* by a spotty youth in a shop. Or when you sit in a pub and wish they'd turn the music down so you can have a proper conversation. Or when you realise that your parents really are quite old now and someone will have to look after them soon just like they had to look after your gran or grandad...

Oy! Ain't dat right!
Down wit da window envelerps!

Or when you encounter a fetus who refers to a recent event as 'before my time'!

When you realize that the Sex Pistols are a nostalgia group.

Discussing contraception with your father!

a girl called Ben