Is 18 really the proper legal adult age? should we change it?

[Smarties]

All I know is child support past 18/high school is a crock of crap. And when I turned 18 and finished high school I made my own decisions so being a legal adult was necessary. We cannot raise that age. If kids can graduate high school at 18, they need to have the legal power to make their own decisions after that.

[Anonymous 0]

Wait! What's wrong with majoring in English at a non-Ivy League school?

I plan to support my children through undergraduate, living on campus hopefully, and they can live at home when they’re trying to establish themselves as long as they’re working or going to graduate school (and we live in a NYC suburb, so living at home will be a real option for them). If they choose to move somewhere else after college, I’ll help them get a place, furniture, etc.

However, I get to see what I’m paying for, so they will need to share their grades with me. I would also probably have a very serious conversation with one of my children if he wanted to major in something like English or History and wasn’t attending an Ivy League or equivalent school.

My job is to prepare my children for adulthood, and part of that is preparing them for a good career that will allow them to comfortably support themselves.

So no, I don’t consider them adults at 18.

[QuantumNursing]

You have to remember that when many of the arbitrary rules were made our life expectancies were far shorter and our military needs greater. WW2 and Vietnam were accomplished in large part due to the draft.

My paternal grandmother was married at 18 and a mother the day before her 19th birthday!

Now who in their right mind would encourage their 18 year old to marry!

Certainly there needs to be a line where parents are no longer legally responsible for their adult children but I don’t think it should be 18. Our youngest will have turned 18 his junior year in high school (September baby) but I certainly wouldn’t consider him an “adult” in the sense of maturity or even ability to care for himself.

So your son will graduate high school at 19 3/4?? Almost 20 years old! That is ridiculous and has nothing to do with being a September baby. If he entered K at 6 he would still be 18 (and 3/4) at graduation. Something else happened.

its not F***ing ridiculous. My 16 yo was a November baby and will graduate at 19. 6 months before he turns 20. We decided to hold him back in 3rd grade. However, he is not alone and isn't even in the minority. Many parents are red shirting their kids. Studies have shown its better for them to start to later. I agree considering I started Kinder at 4 and struggled greatly through school due to being almost 2 years younger than everyone else

[Fullxbusymom]

Spin off of other post. I can't remember if we ever discussed this before on here or not

So it seems like more and more 18 is not considered a legal adult anymore. Yes, you are tried as an adult at 18 and go to regular prison. Yes, you can be kicked out of your parent's house at 18 maybe. Yes you can sign contracts and go to military at 18.

But you can't drink till 21. You can't rent a car till 25. Often times more and more, child support is being ordered to 21 now instead of 18. A lot of parents red shirt their kids so that the kids are not graduating high school till 19 or even 20. My kids will probably be the only ones in their grade not 18 till they graduate. Most of those kids will be 18 or 19 at graduation as around here a lot of parents hold their kids back and don't start kindy till 6.

You have to keep your kids on insurance till like 26 or something like that.

So what are the implications of this? Do you think the age of adultdom is going to eventually shift to 21 or 19 or 20 etc? Do you think we will change 18 being an adult? And how does it make sense to be considered an adult for one thing-but not another? How can you pick and choose?

I predict in my lifetime I am going to see it switch to 21. I just see that happening. I feel we are already moving towards that.

They keep dumbing down or babying the younger generation more and more. Like when I turned 16, I got my liscense with no restrictions. But now in our state there are a million and 1 restrictions for young drivers-you can't drive after certain hours. You can't drive around any non family members. Things like that.

So what are you thoughts on this? I thought this could make for an interesting discussion.

I am 46 and think it should be 21 and feel it should have been that way when I was growing up too.

[Fullxbusymom]

All I know is child support past 18/high school is a crock of crap. And when I turned 18 and finished high school I made my own decisions so being a legal adult was necessary. We cannot raise that age. If kids can graduate high school at 18, they need to have the legal power to make their own decisions after that.

So a kid that is held back and graduates at 19 instead of the normal 18 is a crock of crap?

[QuantumNursing]

Many counties don’t consider 18 an adult. I think by having kids move out of the parental home at 18, we are setting them up to be more in debt. Some countries have children living with family until they have been married for five or six years. The goal is to have them financially stable before moving them out. I think it makes a lot of sense.

You should probably look these things up before you post. Most countries consider people adults at 18. With some including the UK believes it starts at 16 and some countries even younger at 15

[QuantumNursing]

All I know is child support past 18/high school is a crock of crap. And when I turned 18 and finished high school I made my own decisions so being a legal adult was necessary. We cannot raise that age. If kids can graduate high school at 18, they need to have the legal power to make their own decisions after that.

So what about the kids who graduate at 17......Should they be considered adults at 17. In one of the states that I live in kids can drop out at 16 so should they be considered adult..

[Anonymous 0]

Only in america do so many parents fail at raising their kids to be adults at 18

Where I live you are an adult at 18 in every way.

What a F***ing stupid ass comment.

[Fullxbusymom]

You have to remember that when many of the arbitrary rules were made our life expectancies were far shorter and our military needs greater. WW2 and Vietnam were accomplished in large part due to the draft.

My paternal grandmother was married at 18 and a mother the day before her 19th birthday!

Now who in their right mind would encourage their 18 year old to marry!

Certainly there needs to be a line where parents are no longer legally responsible for their adult children but I don’t think it should be 18. Our youngest will have turned 18 his junior year in high school (September baby) but I certainly wouldn’t consider him an “adult” in the sense of maturity or even ability to care for himself.

So your son will graduate high school at 19 3/4?? Almost 20 years old! That is ridiculous and has nothing to do with being a September baby. If he entered K at 6 he would still be 18 (and 3/4) at graduation. Something else happened.

Wrong, graduation age for a child entering K at 6 is 19. My children entered Kindergarten at 5 and graduated high school at 18.

[Shaken1976]

Many counties don’t consider 18 an adult. I think by having kids move out of the parental home at 18, we are setting them up to be more in debt. Some countries have children living with family until they have been married for five or six years. The goal is to have them financially stable before moving them out. I think it makes a lot of sense.

You should probably look these things up before you post. Most countries consider people adults at 18. With some including the UK believes it starts at 16 and some countries even younger at 15

I just finished an entire semester on this subject. Many third world countries do not consider 18 year olds adults. I said many countries. Not most. There are lots of countries.