Вы можете назвать себя взрослым человком? почему?

Ast week in our blog "Kids" was an interesting and quite an extensive discussion about the mythology of "a happy childhood." As it often happens, the conversation went well beyond the stated theme. Among other things, it is a natural and appropriate way touched upon the process of growing up, and how the final offensive this very adulthood.

And here we are having all sorts of surprises, questions and inconsistencies. What, actually, it is - to become an adult? Whom we can confidently be called an adult, whether there is any indication (set of attributes) which defines it? Do all mentally healthy people will eventually become adults, or a part of and live their lives in a state of neotenic larvae, which gained the ability to reproduce? And even more whimsical: reversible if offensive adulthood? Can I become an adult, and then, changing external circumstances, go back to a state of "non-adult"? Panellists cited examples from their own experience.

Plus the effect of the noosphere. What to do with "maturity" increasing virtualization of modern life? After all, the online computer games can play on an equal footing, and a boy of nine, sixty and uncle. In addition, children learn the virtual world much faster than their parents' generation, and it is understood by both parties. Adulthood as a result of the accumulation of knowledge, skills and useful information is also partly lost its price, for access to information has changed a lot throughout the civilized world in the past 15 years, and valuable today provides the ability to relearn better not completely matured.

Adulthood as acceptance of responsibility - talking about it almost all the panelists. But for some, in fact, the responsibility is it? Responsibility for what? To earn a living? Very good earning hero of the series "The Big Bang Theory" on behalf of Sheldon Cooper - an adult? Responsibility for the other? A child during the year diligently and effectively caring for a hamster, an adult?

All these questions seem to me very interesting, is not confined to "happy childhood" and worthy of a separate discussion. Especially since in the course of the debate, I thought about her for a long time (2009) a mini-study, just on the topic of interest to us, the results of which I now introduce readers to "seed" the conversation.

The study itself was very unpretentious. There was for him and the motive - just at the time I started to often treat parents with complaints of this kind, "He obviously does not want to grow up, although age is high time," "She does not want to take responsibility for anything, but I was at her age ... "" He responds to all the children younger than his age, and I do not know how to explain to him, "" We are at that age would quickly grow and become self-reliant, and they seem to do this is not seek "and so on. d.

The opinion of the parents was clear to me. But it would be interesting to know the opinion of young people themselves, I thought.