Age restrictions for how much of an adult you get to be seems odd to me
By Sissy15
@sissy15 (12303)
United States
March 28, 2024 12:21pm CST
This is possibly an unpopular opinion but I'm going to state it anyway. In the US the legal age to be an adult is 18, which is fine except there are still so many things you can't do at 18. I feel like once you're an adult you should be able to do all of the things adults can do. If you can fight in the war and take out giant loans for college then you should be able to drink alcohol and rent a car. If the brain is not mature enough to do some things at 18 then maybe 18 shouldn't be the age you are considered an adult.
There are a lot of things you can't do until you are 25 or older, which again is fine but I think it's insane that we think people are legally old enough to fight in wars and make life decisions like getting married and taking out giant loans to continue education among other things but we think their brains aren't developed enough to do other things adults can do.
We should not expect an 18-year-old to be out on their own paying all of these adult bills because they are suddenly legally adults but feel they aren't responsible enough to do other things. If that's the case let them be kids a bit longer. I feel like you should either be an adult or you shouldn't be. If their brains aren't developed enough to make some major decisions then they definitely aren't developed enough to make other decisions they are allowed to make and if we have decided that 18 is the age they can make some of those decisions then they should be allowed to do all of the things adults do. I feel like once you're an adult that should be it. You should be allowed to do all of the things that adults can do. I just feel like age restrictions are insane once you are an adult. There are always going to be some people who are more mature than others and your age doesn't necessarily define how mature or immature you are. I know teenagers more mature than some legal adults. My thirteen year old son is more mature than my brother who is in his late 40s.
3 people like this
1 response
@pumpkinjam (8770)
• United Kingdom
30 Mar
I agree that it doesn't make much sense. To me, you're either an adult or you're not. In the UK, 18 is a legal adult. The only things you're not allowed to do until older than that would, for example, driving some larger vehicles. There is logic in that because we can drive at 17 and need something like 3 to 5 years experience for some vehicles. But that's more of an experience things than an age thing.
One thing that bothers me, though, is being charged adult prices for children. There's no rhyme or reason to it. Buses, depending where you live, used to be full price from age 16. It has recently changed to 19 where I live, but it's still 16 on trains.
It is a different situation as it's not really a legal one but a lot of businesses will consider patrons 'adult' at age 14 or even 12. I'm sure that's more about the greed of businesses, though!
In the UK, you can get married at 16, join the army at 17, but you can't vote until 18. There does need to be a cut-off somewhere but, I agree with you, it would make more sense if that cut-off was the same for everything.
