For most people never.
Petulant middle-aged children as far as the eye can see with few exceptions.
I remember one time someone told me “being an adult is when you realise you can cook yourself bacon whenever you want, and just eat it, and nobody will stop you”.
Apparently it depends on skin colour and the severity of the charges. /s
A child knows the adult drink is coffee.
A teenager knows the adult drink is alcohol.
An adult knows the adult drink is water.
I like this and the “when you wish you were young” answers the most
When all your dreams are dead.
Never. There is no line to cross, no milestone, nothing.
You will always be the same entity you are now. You should always work to improve yourself, but the stream of consciousness that is “you” is always going to be the same you.
Every day you wake up 1 day older and have 1 more day of accumulated experience. It’s that accumulated experience that makes people think you’re an “adult”.
If you really absolutely need to assign a binary “I’m an adult” label, I think it’s the day you realize that there is no such thing as an adult and all the people you thought were adults and therefore could handle adult responsibilities were actually just making it all up as they went, the same as you are doing right now.
When I was in college (so maybe 20 or 21 years old), I asked my mom when I would start feeling like an adult. Without missing a beat, she said “I dunno. If you find out, let me know!” <3
I guess I started feeling more like a “real” adult when I started working full-time and rented a house instead of an apartment, though now even that pales in comparison to when I finally purchased my own home. Each phase of life feels more “grown-up” than the last, with new perspectives, greater understanding of my relationships with God and people, and matured confidence going into the new phase’s challenges. And yet I’m still me at heart–as I like to call it, “a big kid with bills.” I am very blessed.
for me it was when I was responsible for more than just myself.
I’m responsible for my spouse, my kids, the team I managed, etc.
I have to say, it’s not worth it 🤣
You become an adult when you wish you were young again
Well, in the legal sense, I suppose it has to do with contracts and contract law. Some time ago in the US, it was determined that 18 was the legal age for adulthood because by then a person would be old enough to understand the terms of a contract and hold to those terms. Marriage is a contract. Military service is a contract. Getting a loan/mortgage is a contract.
Some never become adults, becoming an adult to me is self-realization. That you have the ability to think and make decisions with input on your own. That you are self-capable of change in your life. It’s accepting you have responsibilities outside of just yourself. I feel hat’s part of it.
A hat is definitely part of it!
A good, stylish hat helps certainly.
It’s a spectrum
I think it’s when you decide it, plenty of children walking around in grown bodies paying bills but also letting the whims of the world carry them with their current never taking a stand and steering their own lives. To be an adult is both a choice to be free from undue influence but also to be fully responsible for your own actions.
EXACTLY MIDNIGHT LOCAL TIME ON THE CALENDAR DATE EIGHTEEN YEARS SUBSEQUENT TO THEIR BIRTH AS RECORDED ON A LEGAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE
/s
When they start acting like it.
Which (to me) mostly means taking responsibility for their actions and taking care of the responsibilities they have.
