@lookingforward and others who have responded, I’d like to clarify that I did not make this post because I was offended. I was really just curious after observing the variety of ways in which parents and other adults refer to people who are younger than them.
Mid-20s here. I call my students my “kids” and most of them are only a few years younger than me. I’m pretty sure my parents will always refer to me as their kid- and that’s fine. I don’t care. The only time I bristle at being called a kid is when it’s said by someone in the context of “you’re just a kid, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Yeah, my mom still calls my sister and me “the girls” and we’re in our mid-50s.
I am from a family of 6 children. The first 3 were born within 4 years and after a 5 year gap, the second 3 were born in quick order. We’ve always been the “big kids” and the “little kids”. My 87 year old mother will sometimes still refer to us this way. Mind you, the "big kids"are in their 60s and the “little kids” are in their 50s.