right ok. PLEASE NO WISE CRACKS like 1 year

if say to you a 14 year old got drunk and had to go to hospital and be pumped

and

a 15 year old got drunk and had to go to hospital and be pumped

which would you find the most shocking and why?

i personally think that between the age of 14 and 15 kids turn into adults. and whatever they turn into then they stay like for the rest of their life. and at the age of 18 people are really stupid and got out and get bladderd and do stupid thiungs, which a 15 can do but dont becaudse of the small factor of common sense.

the age gap between the 14 and the 15 year old is only one year but it has huge significance, as i have noticed in the past years i have been expected to make and earn my own money and not ask for any, i have been allowed out a lot more (if i could that is), i have been offerd god knows how many jobs and so on and soforthe. but why wasnt i given them at the age of 14?

what are you talking about? Kids change dramatically between the ages of 14 and 21. Drastically!

I woul'd not regard a 21 yr old as a "kid".

Neither would I. Re-read what I wrote.

It's subjective. I'd say anyone younger than myself is a kid.

Originally posted by Fletch
. but why wasnt i given them at the age of 14?

Well simple really- like anything in life there is an age at which things change. Why should the smoking age of consent be 16? Why should you have to be 17 to drive? Because there has to be a line somewhere. I know what you're saying though that things appear to change quickly when you get to that age, but there's still a lot of changing to do. I remember when I was 14 (5 years ago) and you think you pretty much know yourself and are worldly wise, in reality you never stop learning. A lot of it is down to mindset anyway, a lot of, say, 20 year-olds still think like kids and choose to act as such, whereas some have consciously moved on and feel more adult-like. You'll change hugely between 15 and 21 in all probability.

Judas Priest, you're still a child at 14, still a child at 15, and stil la child until you grow up! (You evidently haven't). You just seem to have the whole 'it's not faaaaiiiiiir' syndrome, or, the 'Kevin' stage. Don't worry dear you'll grow out of it soon. I'm 17, and I'd still calss myself as a kid really. You aren't an adult until you've got some kind of responsibility, so some people, if they're at university, will be children until 21 effectively, but those who leave school at 16 will probably have their own house by then or at least be more grown up than their other 21 year old studenty counterparts.

Being a chiild is much better than being an adult, it means that people do things for you and you also get away with p****** people off easier :D. That and you'll spend the rest of your life in adulthood so you should enjoy your childhood while it lasts.

I'm 19 and I've been trying to make my childhood last as long as possible before I get forced to quit Uni and go into some stuffy office somewhere.

I think it's a bit harsh saying students are children until they're 21 because they have no responsibility.

The majority of students leave home at 18, then generally live in a house from 19, if not before. Having to fend for yourself makes you grow up (tho all not all do it instantly).

More so than some people who stay at home with parents

Depends how you define child. Alton Towers thinks you're an adult from age 12!

Originally posted by noseyrosie
Alton Towers thinks you're an adult from age 12!

That really annoys me, what's the point having a child price at all. At least don't call it an adult price when it's a teenage price or something. bah

Originally posted by Jayne
I think it's a bit harsh saying students are children until they're 21 because they have no responsibility.

The majority of students leave home at 18, then generally live in a house from 19, if not before. Having to fend for yourself makes you grow up (tho all not all do it instantly).

More so than some people who stay at home with parents

Having known alot of mates that went away to Uni - I can't agree. Having to teach your mates how to cook despite them living alone for over a year is a very disconcerting experience.
Obviously not all students are like that but you can appreciate why many generalise.

Moon

you do a lot of growing up as soon as you stop living at home.
I don't particularly remember any huge leap between 14/15/16/17 or 18. Between 18 and 22 when I finished uni I can see large changes though.

The majority of students are fairly grown up.

Cook for themselves, hold down jobs to help pay rent and fees and for food.. etc.

Originally posted by Red 2
The majority of students are fairly grown up.

Cook for themselves, hold down jobs to help pay rent and fees and for food.. etc.

Agreed, it's just the likes of t020 who think all students are chavs and consequently the scum of the earth.

Well in my experience the difference between age 14 and 15 is not really a great deal.
I only really began to mature in my late 15s early 16s and I'm still maturing now I guess at age 17.

Some of my mates matured at 12/13 and still look almost exactly the same now!

I believe there's a bigger gap between age 15 and 16, both physically and mentally for me. I still change now slightly but definately during the summer of when I turned 16 I looked very different to when I turned 15.

At 16 I definately noticed that people seemed to trust me more and I gained more responsibility. Also the change from 16 to 17 is great cause I'm having driving lessons!

In answer to your question I would find it shocking that ANYONE got so drunk that they needed to have their stomach pumped regardless of their age.....

I don't think we can just lump people into two categories; adult and child. I wouldn't consider a 20 year old a child, but I wouldn't consider them fully mature either. Then again i wouldn't consider a 25 year old mature compared to a 30 year old. I think that we're always changing year after year as we gain more experience. I'm using the ages loosely here. Obviously everyone is different and mature at different rates. I suppose, life experience = maturity. I still feel young at 26. maybe i'm in denial. I'm glad that I became a student later in life as I picked up a lot of experience before; working, being in the armed forces etc... I think it's a good situation to be in. Even though I can see a huge difference between myself an an 18 year old student, the gap isn't too big, so I can still socialise. Anyway, i'm rambling now, so i'll stop!

One remains a child until the age of 21. Up until that age, one is a silly child with no experience of life, who everyone ignores.

After reaching 21, things change. You then become and ADULT with no experience of life, who everyone ignores.

Not until the age of at least 35 can one claim any sort of life experience. Even then you're on probabation.

By the time you have sufficient experience, you're too damned old to do anything, and spend your whole life lecturing younger people on how inexperienced they are in life. :D :P

I agree with Andy78 here, i think the line between adult and child blurs over the age of 14 to when you die i guess (i'm nto simply talking about maturity).

I'm 20 and up until a few months ago I didn't have any clue whatsoever about who I was. Now i think at least i can say 'this is me, i have a vague idea about what I am like'.

i think this is part of adulthood but isn't a level of maturity, I consider myself to have matured early on in life due to social neccessity.

Then again, as for looking after myself, I can cook clean etc to a degree where i can survive now. it may not be what other people consider 'acceptable' which is why defining something in terms of other people is full of pitfalls, you cannot compare unique individuals.

As for another aspect of what I think is maturity, a level of emotional stability and understanding. I don't think that I comprehend that yet to a degree that i consider 'mature' and maybe i never will, but I doubt it.

Then again that last bit might not even be part of maturity,b ut just a matter of life experince and another part of knowing yourself.

Thats my thoughts, I know I was nowhere near a well-rounded fully functional member of society at 15, way too many hormones distorting any kind of mental reasoning you think you have at that age.

Wilf

Originally posted by BrainThrust

I'm 20 and up until a few months ago I didn't have any clue whatsoever about who I was. Now i think at least i can say 'this is me, i have a vague idea about what I am like'.


Funnily enough I think i was about 20-21 when I worked out who I was. That was the point when I realised that I was the same person regardless of who I was with. Yeah I think one step in life may be realising what self is.

Apart from having more responsibilities, I don't actually feel that different at 36 than I was at 18. I still feel like the same person.:confused:

It surely just can't be me that thinks that 14 is waay too young for a girl to be thrust into the world of catwalk modelling.

But going by the pics in the papers of the "latest star face", one of which was a 14yo girl, apparantly it's not too young at all.

The difference between 14 and 15 year olds is an extra year on the register. But if you go to the Nederlands no one cares