My folks got divorced when I was nine and I took a lot of responsibility on to help my mother out but being responsible and being an adult are different things. This will definitely help you in your adult life cos you'll be empowered with being able to speak to any and everybody on their level and you'll be better prepared to deal with adult life and your career. It's also a bit sad cos you miss out on your childhood a bit but overall I didn't suffer for it.
I know how you feel there, I was cook and mom to my family at the age of 12. Been doing it ever since with my own family and taking care of the people I love. I sometimes really need a break desperately, but in the end, I cope, and deal with it. Hope this helps.
I don't think that I became and adult until I joined the navy, at the age of 18. I had to take care of myself and think for myself. Because I was away from home, there was no one to tell me how to act or live.
Why so many Anonymous answers? None the less, I became an adult at about 30. I may have been considered and adult at 18, but my adult mindset came at about 30.
At one time you became an adult at puberty. You were allowed to marry and depended upon as an adult. That was around 12.5years for a girl and 13.5 years for a boy. (Boys mature slower than a girl) With the advent of the "child labour laws" of the late 1800s and early 1900s, in the USA, young adults were no longer considered "adults" but children to be coddled and protected by the Central Government. Each state decided when a child became an adult. One or two states kept the "age of consent" at the approximate age of puberty but most made it 18 years or older. These young adults suddenly and literally became "non-people" incapable of thinking for themselves. Education by law became mandatory through grade 8 (a good thing) and slowly education became better. Then high school was put in place to teach those who wanted to a trade to earn their livelihood with. Boys had subjects such as wood shop, welding, leather harness work, agriculture and a host of other "trades". Girls were taught mainly homemaking, sewing, and how to care for the home and husband. Gradually high school evolved into what it is today, a preparatory for college or university. Gone are the "shop trades" of yesteryear. They are now specialized areas generally taught in Vocational or trades schools. Women who were not part of the work force and considered "homemakers" now enjoy working in almost every area of work today but often at lessor pay. Most still are required to be homemakers as well. So where does one draw the line today and say you are now an adult? Most all states now say you have to be 16 to 18 to legally give consent although there are many things you still cannot do. Because those below the "legal age to vote" have no say in what happens to them they are still considered "non-people" in capable for thinking for themselves. Because of this it has given rise to "child molesters" and "pedophiles" because young adults and children are "conditioned" not to think for themselves and make proper decisions about their lives. This has rapidly turned into paranoia with people believing if an adult male even looks in the direction of a child they are labeled as a child molester.
It is time parents start treating their children as responsible young adults at the age of puberty requiring them to think and think for themselves. It is time for parents to again take control having many of the laws coddling children of puberty age repealed again making young adults responsible. But I am afraid it is too late; too many generations have passed with adult children no longer having to take responsibility now having children.
