How old

[dontpanicbobby]

is a kid?
I'd say 12
Teenagers 13 to 19.
Adults ever after.

 

[Steven58]

Yes sir

 

[MoodyBlues]

is a kid?
I'd say 12
Teenagers 13 to 19.
Adults ever after.

I'm not sure it's so black and white. Let me explain.

Here's a fact: the frontal lobe doesn't finish developing until you're in your late 20s. So that should mean you're not truly accountable for your actions until ≈30, right?

But wait! When I was 16, I made a life-altering decision; I was completely cognizant of its long-term ramifications/implications. And...*cough*...decades later, I don't regret it one iota. [I was told I would--BIG TIME.]

I definitely knew right from wrong; I understood that if I murdered someone they'd be well and truly gone. Permanently. So why do attorneys and relatives of teenagers who've committed murder at 16, 17 claim they shouldn't be treated like adults? Oh...that frontal lobe thing? But then...

Why can people enlist in the military--and they used to be drafted, like it or not--at 18? Or get married?

I saw an interview yesterday involving a woman whose 13-year-old son killed his younger sister. He said at the time, and maintains today at 26, that he did it deliberately. He said that the worst thing that could happen to their mother was to lose a child--so he figured out a way for her to lose BOTH of them, one dead, the other in prison for 40 years. Where does that fit in?

So I don't know. I think it's actually very personal, individual. I know that my daughter at 16, despite having graduated high school, was nowhere NEAR as mature as I was at 16. And she agrees. That's why we had her stay home and do a year of college locally before going away to university.

I don't know...

 

[no one]

I may grow old, but I'll never grow up.

 

[Milo Willamson]

Honestly it depends on what they really do, even if they are like causing trouble,
would they grow out of it? Maybe they will, if they can breach out of a maturity that grown within.
Myself I was no where near that level on what I am now though, guessing depending on who you really chill with.

 

[puppykickr]

I'm not sure it's so black and white. Let me explain.

Here's a fact: the frontal lobe doesn't finish developing until you're in your late 20s. So that should mean you're not truly accountable for your actions until ≈30, right?

But wait! When I was 16, I made a life-altering decision; I was completely cognizant of its long-term ramifications/implications. And...*cough*...decades later, I don't regret it one iota. [I was told I would--BIG TIME.]

I definitely knew right from wrong; I understood that if I murdered someone they'd be well and truly gone. Permanently. So why do attorneys and relatives of teenagers who've committed murder at 16, 17 claim they shouldn't be treated like adults? Oh...that frontal lobe thing? But then...

Why can people enlist in the military--and they used to be drafted, like it or not--at 18? Or get married?

I saw an interview yesterday involving a woman whose 13-year-old son killed his younger sister. He said at the time, and maintains today at 26, that he did it deliberately. He said that the worst thing that could happen to their mother was to lose a child--so he figured out a way for her to lose BOTH of them, one dead, the other in prison for 40 years. Where does that fit in?

So I don't know. I think it's actually very personal, individual. I know that my daughter at 16, despite having graduated high school, was nowhere NEAR as mature as I was at 16. And she agrees. That's why we had her stay home and do a year of college locally before going away to university.

I don't know...

Why can people enlist in the military--and they used to be drafted, like it or not--at 18? Or get married?

I think that it is actually because development is not complete.

Think about it...
The 'Greatest Generation' argueably saw some most horrid things in war, and the majority went on afterward and lived, and some did great things that we all should appreciate now.

The brain not being complete at the time of trauma would make it more resiliant and able to heal, allowing the individual to go back to civilian life.
I'm just saying that this was probably the reasoning behind it.

They like to say that a person is most physically fit in that age group, but who here will argue with me when I say that age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill?

Don't forget that the average lifespan was markedly shorter not long ago.

You used to be an old man at 45. I still feel that way, but more in the physical sense.
But in the 1800's, you were expected to already have a family and multiple kids to carry on the family name.

Many kids didn't survive birth, let alone childhood, so it was normal to have many children as quickly as one could.

 

[sullencab]

lol

 

[dontpanicbobby]

You laughing at me @sullencab?
Cool username should be a band name...
Did my post amuse you?
You need an avatar though.