When are you a grown up?

moneyistooshorttomention

Obviously one can/everyone (well...most people...) do whether they have children or no.

A take on the earliest time one realises "I'm a grown-up now" is when you budget for necessities first (the rent or mortgage/the bills/etc) and then think "What's left for me?"

Not being a grown-up would mean taking out money for oneself first from the salary - and then seeing how much was left for the bills afterwards.

It's a depressing thought sometimes to realise just how little money is left for oneself after paying out those bills, etc...but you know you can't treat your income as "pocket money"...darn it.

I think that was the first time I realised I was a grown-up - ie when I moved out into my first "own home" in my 20s.

lippy1923

Maybe a little odd, but I feel like a grown up when I go to the post office and buy stamps!
Only had to do this twice in my life, but both times I've felt like a grown up. Maybe because it's something I really don't want to do and I'm usually standing in a queue full of old grey miserable !!!!!!s

System

piglet74 wrote: »

I'm 42, and I don't feel as old as I thought my parents were at this age.

I remember my mum having a 40th birthday party and I remember thinking she was too old for a party ( I was 17, almost 18 at the time)

I have an 18 year old daughter, and if it wasn't for her I would forget what age I actually am!!

I remember looking at my Dad and thinking he looked really old. It didnt matter to me though cause i loved him. In a few months i will be as old as he was when he died.:(

Daughters eh? My daughter thinks you should give up sex at 40 because your too old.:mad:

WillowCat

Left home at 16, mortgage at 22, university at 40 (oops wrong way round!). I didn't feel grown up enough to have children until recently, at which point my body said !!!!!! that and hit the menopause.

Still don't really feel grown up, I think, as another poster says, that may come when I lose my parents.

.Gigolo_Aunt

When I see women 'of a certain age' wearing mini skirts and dying their hair bright colours (in other words doing things normally associated with youth culture and teenage rebellion) I wonder if they're trying to recapture their lost youth. As well as wondering if they actually look in the mirror before they go out!

zaxdog

.Gigolo_Aunt wrote: »

When I see women 'of a certain age' wearing mini skirts and dying their hair bright colours (in other words doing things normally associated with youth culture and teenage rebellion) I wonder if they're trying to recapture their lost youth. As well as wondering if they actually look in the mirror before they go out!

Meow :rotfl:

.Gigolo_Aunt

I should say the same goes for men, though their clothes tend not to be quite so age-specific. A 40 year old man in a Pokemon t-shirt and carrot-cut jeans would look just as ridiculous.

zaxdog

Mr Z tend to wear regular jeans and one of his huge collection of band/film t-shirts.

You'll excuse me if I don't take too much notice on sartorial matters after viewing your avatar

theoretica

I don't see being grown up as an all or nothing - sometimes I act mature, and have since childhood, and sometimes it is more of an act than other times. But also I have more confidence to do whatever I feel like than I did when I was younger.

missbiggles1

It rather depends what you think of as the opposite of grown up - I certainly wouldn't want to still be considered a child.