Coming of Age

What does coming of age mean?

As is in the phrase, "coming of age," this is a continuous process. A person can never "come of age". Society has its ways to measure how grown-up a person is. The different schools being elementary, middle, and high school. Then, other stepping stones are reaching the age of 16 and getting your driver's license, reaching 18 and having to do stuff on your own, reaching 21 and being able to rent your own vehicle. All of these things are society's definitions of coming of age.

On the other hand, coming of age could mean different things to different people. The term, "mature for your age," is used many times when a kid acts older than they actually are. This was a term that was aimed in my direction often while growing up. I feel like everyone grows up at their own pace and each person can be mature or immature in different things at the same a time. Someone who is intellectually mature might not be emotionally mature and vice versa. Nobody can ever really be all grown up. No matter how much you know, there is more that you can study. It all just depends on a persons own feelings about what it means to be grown.

Growing up is a part of life and by law you will, "come of age," by 18 because then you are no longer a child, but just because you reach that age doesn't mean you know what that entails and you aren't supposed to. Life is like one year. It is split into 4 seasons and then repeated just like how life, you could say is split into 4 seasons. Baby, childhood, adolescence, and then adulthood. You learn something in every stage.

Comments

  1. HenryFebruary 2, 2019 at 8:15 PM

    I like the idea of stages of life as "seasons." I think there is a definite point where you can say someone has come of age, but it's interesting to think how that point may be different for different people. It's also interesting to consider how people keep growing and changing their whole lives.

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