This will probably sound totally sexist as a thread, but in consideration of GoNoles “feminist vs humanist” thread, let’s view it with the humor intended… 
One of our tenants had a bat in her apartment today. H went over but they couldn’t find it. H eventually had to leave so he called S and asked him to go and see if the bat would reappear after dark. Tenant fled elsewhere, S arrived to find Bat circling apartment, and managed to shoo him out with some prolonged effort, apparently including a psychiatry session. I was skeptical beforehand, since S is afraid of spiders, but apparently scary, flying, potentially rabid mice with teeth are not a problem. As a feminist myself, I like to think I can manage, but there are some things I’m perfectly willing to cede to the manly capabilities of the nearest male. Totally think S established his man-cred!
What about your kids? Have they done something surprising where they unexpectedly showed their inner adult?
When D went to India alone after high school,she dealt with losing her wallet & cellphone almost as soon as she arrived, extremely well.
Although I suppose just planning and paying for her trip herself, was pretty grown-up.
I didn’t mean to shut down the thread, but I * was surprised*.
She had asked me to help her plan a volunteer vacation to a deveoping country, and I had a panic attack just thinkng about it, so I just thought " nope", & hope that if I ignored her request she would just forget about it.
She didn’t.
When S2 was just 19, we had to attend a family funeral. DH and I were needed early at the funeral, so S2 was to drive himself there. I was concerned he wouldn’t dress properly, wouldn’t know how to get there, would show up late, wouldn’t know how to talk to people whom he didn’t know. Instead, he dazzled me on all counts. I knew then that I didn’t need to worry about him.
(Of course then there was the time, only six months later, that the same kid was about to go to New Zealand for a semester and mentioned in the car ride to the airport that he had lost his debit card but that he’s just stop at any old bank in NZ to get cash. Um,no.)
lol, VeryHappy! They can surprise us in more ways than one, eh? EK, I’m impressed that your D was motivated and able to take that on herself - and also not to panic when she lost her stuff 
Sometimes it’s the little things that tell us so much. We had a memorial service for a very close friend (grandfather figure to my kids). My “used to be totally introverted, nerdy, won’t talk to adults, etc.” kid stood up and spoke to the crowd, unprompted (I was shocked) and there may not have been many dry eyes in the crowd after that. He also managed to get himself packed and home, with his shaver, dress pants, shoes, shirt, etc., and shook hands with everyone/helped “work the crowd” which may not seem like a big deal, but I was worried about all of these things. In my eyes, he grew up a lot that weekend.
Our kids grow up. After a hurricane, my house infested with tree rats (otherwise known as squirrels). I cannot believe how I was the one to carry the caught ones to garbage. Then years later, my son is the better driver, fixer, etc. I know now that I would turn to him if faced with a spider or rat.
When my daughter was 17 she and a girl friend took a trip to another state, about a 3 hour ride one way. In the middle of nowhere, they got a flat tire. We couldn’t drive to “rescue” them… and they couldn’t wait for AAA because they would have been late for the play they were to see that evening. Finally, my husband told our daughter, “You know… you’ll just have to change that tire yourself. The instructions are with the manual in the glove box.”
And so they did.
Took a photo to prove it: two teenage girls changing a tire on a lonely country road somewhere in southern Wyoming. They were wearing mini skirts, their blond hair was blowing in the wind, their high heels off as they sat on the side of the highway and worked the jack. A sight to behold. And when they were done, they hopped back in the car, and made it in time for the play.
I was enormously proud.
When D2 was 14 or 15, my then H and I had to go out of town. D2 chose to stay home by herself instead of going to my parents’ house. While we were gone we got hit with a snow storm which dumped 2 ft of snow. We were worried sick about D2 staying at home by herself. My parents tried to get to our house as soon as they were able. They brought their snow blower with them to help D2 plow our driveway. They were so surprised to see our driveway completely plowed, and it was the only one that was plowed on our street. D2 told my parents that she went out to shovel frequently just like we would have,