At what age is a child an adult capable of making decisions?

a reply to: WeRpeons

You are so very correct! My dad was a drill Sergeant for quite a while and I remember his stories about those kids. I remember him bringing some home for a home cooked meal because they didn't have "real" families. He always felt the military exploited the most vulnerable, some turned out to be men, some suffered lifelong mental consequences, some just didn't make it.

At 22, I started making grown-up decisions (being a father forces that out of you).
At 25, I started making good decisions for the family. More decisions. Better decisions.
At 37, I started making decisions with an eye towards the future.
At 42, I started making wise decisions.
Closer to 60 now. Hasn't been a lot of change.

Hope that helps.

In my province in Canada the legal age is 19.
When I turned 19 I was in the bars and getting in trouble.
As well I accumulated a lot of debt from credit cards.
I was not a responsible 19 year old.
In fact in ways I'm still paying for it at the age of 35.

originally posted by: Wardaddy454
Well, 20-year-old adults are too irresponsible to own a gun, while a 5-year-old is enlightened enough to pick their own gender. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

i've yet to see anyone killed by gender expression

although the way some of you carry on about it, you'd think you were dying

originally posted by: DBCowboy

originally posted by: Wardaddy454

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: JAGStorm

Liquor stores should stop selling their good bourbon to anyone under the age of 55.

Those young pups don't appreciate nor can they handle it.

Hey now old timer, not all of us young pups are uncultured swine.

A young person once took all my bourbon and did something stupid. So now all young people under the age of 55 have to be punished.

Sorry but this is applicable under the law of Feels.

Am I going to have to apply for a special bourbon permit?

originally posted by: fiverx313

originally posted by: Wardaddy454
Well, 20-year-old adults are too irresponsible to own a gun, while a 5-year-old is enlightened enough to pick their own gender. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

i've yet to see anyone killed by gender expression

although the way some of you carry on about it, you'd think you were dying

I'm just regurgitating the conventional logic expressed by the left.

originally posted by: Wardaddy454
I'm not gonna touch this one. I'll just say that a certain statistic says otherwise.

you're not gonna touch it because you know the exact counter-argument i'll make to your fuzzy use of the statistics

congrats for being on it like a bonnet, though -- did even thirty seconds elapse before you were replying?

ETA: oh damn you got quoted before your edit. i guess we're both on it like a bonnet.

double post!

a reply to: JAGStorm

I left home at 15 because I thought that I had it so rough and a thirst for adventure. I was a dumb jerk but I DID learn a lot more about life in general and people than I would have if I'd stayed at home and stayed the course.
I got married at 16 due to the fact that I knew everything!
I am grateful that I didn't have children at that time.
My oldest child is like an older, wiser woman and my youngest daughter is like a wild child (earned that honestly!) and has no fear of the world and believes that all works out in the end.
I just don't think it's a chronological age that determines who can make the wisest decisions and I don't know what the criteria is.
My youngest, BTW, donates blood and it is sought after...my oldest can't be bothered.

Strange and age old arguments I think.

originally posted by: fiverx313

originally posted by: Wardaddy454
I'm not gonna touch this one. I'll just say that a certain statistic says otherwise.

you're not gonna touch it because you know the exact counter-argument i'll make to your fuzzy use of the statistics

congrats for being on it like a bonnet, though -- did even thirty seconds elapse before you were replying?

ETA: oh damn you got quoted before your edit. i guess we're both on it like a bonnet.

Its a weak counter argument, always has been.

Oh man you got me when I decided I had something better to say. Snap! I'd give you a gold star, but I only have green ones.

a reply to: Plotus

Imagine if violence was absent from the child's environment! Holy Hell, here's a concept... a generation of Americans who once again recognize firearms are simply tools.

originally posted by: fiverx313

originally posted by: Wardaddy454
Well, 20-year-old adults are too irresponsible to own a gun, while a 5-year-old is enlightened enough to pick their own gender. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

i've yet to see anyone killed by gender expression

although the way some of you carry on about it, you'd think you were dying

You must not be paying attention to the suicide rate in the trans community both before and even after they transition.

When I was a kid the legal age was 21 - - and that sucked.

Today most kids are out of the house at 18 - - for one reason or another.

Why should parents have to be legally responsible for someone they hardly ever see anymore?

I say lower it to when they get their drivers license - - if before 18.

Of course, that doesn't apply "straight-line" to everything. There are areas a minor needs to have personal say - - some parents can be extreme.

a reply to: JAGStorm

When a group of parents can agree that the child has enough knowledge,skill and experience to be able to see a good many of life's traps, know how to deal with them and can identify when others are applying pressure to them and they are able to recognise it for what it is and negotiate they way around it.

Can a 16 year old girl resist being talked into having sex with multiple males, by her female and male friends? is she experienced enough to know what her friends are doing and know how to resist the peer pressure if she did not want to engage in such activity?

Can a 16 year old boy (or girl) resist peer pressure to take harmful drugs? do they have strength to walk away from their friends permanently?

etc
etc

originally posted by: JAGStorm
I think we have an age crisis on our hands (in the US). We tell kids they aren't capable of drinking alcohol until 21, but they can vote, go to war and buy guns. Another thing that really disturbs me is the blood banks are now coming into schools and have kids donating without parent permission at age 17. However, if your kids does something stupid at 17, then oh they are just a kid and it's on the parents. Don't even get me started on when in the legal system kids are kids, except when they are adults. If you are 18 and go to college why is it that your parents information is required, are you an adult? If your parents information is required, why can't they request information. There are numerous other examples, auto insurance, healthcare and on and on.

Maybe one of the first things we need to do is come up with one age, be it 18, 21 or even 17 and finally decide this is exactly when you are no longer a child and legally considered an adult across the board.

Kinda like here in the UK where its 18 to smoke, drink or own a gun (though it's 17 to buy a gun and it was 16 until recently to buy tobacco and the increase in age dreamt seem to have stopped the kids thinking it's s cool to start smoking, from my observations).

The thing is, every kid is different, some of them, by the age of 16 are more than capable of making adult decisions but some, like me, go beyond 20 and still find that hard. Hell, I turned 40 last year and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

Is this a gun thread? It smells like a gun thread, only thinly veiled....

a reply to: JAGStorm

As sad as it sounds I was just over 30 when I stopped making childish/selfish
Decisions. I am ashamed of the d bag things I did in my teens and twenties
Maybe when I’m in my 40s my behavior now will seem childish

a reply to: JAGStorm

When they are old enough to leave home.....

originally posted by: Plotus
a reply to: Wardaddy454 response to neo96..

I suggest a child only LEARNS behavior by observation..... the source of that observation establishes the choices they will embrace.

If guns were absent from the child's environment then what ? Same as Tourette syndrome... how do you throw a flurry of cursing if you have never ben present in an environment where it is present ?

Correct.

I saw a tv prog years ago about a young girl with Tourette's Syndrome. The worst curse word she had ever heard in her life was 'bum', and she would skip alongside her parents shouting 'bum' everywhere she went.

I don't think it is sad, I think it is very honest.

I know the exact age I turned into an adult, it was 24. I had left home at 18 and went to school and had many jobs etc, but my thinking was not of an adult until 24. If I could go back to that 18-24 age I would have changed a lot of things.

a reply to: djz3ro

I was a teen in Europe when you could pretty much drink at any age yet could not drive until you were 18. I have to say I prefer that much better vs. The US way that you can't drink until 21 and you start driving at 15 (permit)

and no, this is not a gun thread, it is about age which of course can applies to gun, but c'mon we could talk about peanut allergies and some people will say it is alluding to guns.