When Do You Stop "Growing Up"

Parent Cafe
1

<p>As I have grown to where I am now (16 y/o) I have seen a drastic chance in my mental ability and how my personality is. Now that I talk to my parents, I feel like there is little true growing left to do for me. I don’t look upto adults as I used to, I still respect them, but I do not look at them as some different “species” of people with much higher thoughts and emotions.</p>

<p>For all of the students, kids, teens, adults, parents, and whoever else wants to chime in, when did you feel that you stopped “growing up”.</p>

2

<p>For guys, I think ~20-21 is the age where you are pretty set in your ways.</p>

3

<p>I’m 17 and I know that I will never stop growing and learning new things. I can still learn a lot from my parents, and I know that neither they nor I will ever be perfect so we can all learn from each other. The minute we tell ourselves we are done growing up we will stop growing in maturity; I don’t want to be an immature adult or parent, so I will never stop growing :)</p>

4

<p>I’m over 40 years old and I think I’m still “growing” (and no, the expanding waistline does not constitute “growing”). Although I do not look at anyone “as some different “species” of people with much higher thoughts and emotions”, I’m in the process of getting into a new profession, so I’m trying to absorb as much as I can from the people who have mastered the trade. For me, they do have some “higher thoughts” related to that trade.</p>

5

<p>The day you die, hopefully. That means you hopefully continue to evolve and mature your entire life, even when you become a “senior citizen”.</p>

6

<p>Oh my gosh. I think I felt the exact same way when I was 16, I couldn’t see what else there was to cover really. Then also in my twenties, everything seemed so straightforward and I had it all figured out. But it’s like we can never know what we don’t know yet; it’s only visible in looking back. </p>

<p>Now, in my 40s, I can see what I’ve been through (most I hadn’t anticipated experiencing nor had a clue how those things would shape me): more college education, life experience and living in other cultures, learning from people much different than me, being a parent, being married, experiencing significant grief. I feel like I’m an entirely a different person than I was say 20 years ago- what I’ve learned, how I learn, how I live, what I know about myself, my viewpoints and perspectives. </p>

<p>All I can know now is my future is probably going to be like my past; that is, I can’t really know what I’m in for nor how it will change me. So I’m now convinced I won’t ever be grown up.</p>

7

<p>You never stop growing and maturing.</p>

<p>It is very hard to imagine how much you will learn and grow raising kids.</p>

<p>Navigating in the working world where you grow your career over decades.</p>

<p>Making financial decisions in tremendous uncertainty.</p>

<p>Making very scary decisions that are part of adult life.</p>

8

<p>I am over 50 and still learn about errors of my ways often. It’s missleading to say guys at ~20-21 are pretty much settled in their ways.</p>

9

<p>I think you never stop growing and learning.</p>

<p>There is a time, probably in your teens, when you recognize that parents and other adults are not infallible and that there may be specific areas of expertise where you know as much or more than they do. But this is not the end of growing up; it is only the beginning.</p>

<p>Going to college, earning a living, living completely on your own, becoming a parent – these and many other experiences will provide you with additional opportunities to “grow up,” each in its own way.</p>

10

<p>I am almost 50, and I haven’t stopped growing up.</p>

<p>OP, I remember feeling as you do. Boy, was I wrong. The older I get, the more I find that there is still much to learn.</p>

11

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<p>You’re mistaking the very beginning of new growth for the endpoint. Which makes sense, since it’s the end of a stage in your life. But that’s all it’s the end of.</p>