Being Adult

Any parent who has experienced their child attaining adulthood has wondered at what age that becomes real adulthood and not conceptual. 

..everybody is unique, there’s no standard timeline for growing up. Some people learn how to control their emotions, develop the judgment to make good decisions and manage to earn enough to support themselves by the age of 18.

There are so many facets to a person that it would be hard to declare someone an all around adult because they are demonstrably mature in some areas. They could be woefully behind on the others. 

Growing up is about gaining experiences, making mistakes and learning from them, while also taking responsibility for your own actions. As there’s no single definition of adulthood, everyone has to decide for themselves whether or not they’ve turned into a grown-up yet.

As a parent, you want to see your "adult" child demonstrate the ability to function that meets or exceeds yours at their age. This is assuming you felt that you were a well-functioning adult at that reference age. If the child exceeds you in some areas that is cause for celebration but we are not able to accept nearly as well that they lag us in others, and as such we are reluctant to declare them as fully adult.