Oh, Grow Up

On the Townahall.com blog, Jillian Bandes posted "Delaying Adulthood", which was inspired by something in the New York Times.

Many people in their 20's and 30's aren't assuming the traditional responsibilities that come with adulthood, delaying parenthood, marriage, and even a full-time job. Part of it is because women are in the workforce, and therefore less inclined to assume traditional roles. Part of it is because of the coddling of the nanny state, and the hands-on nature of American parenting.

While most adults do marry and have children, and I don't disagree that the things she cited are delaying marriage and parenting, I am careful to insist that someone can be a mature adult without marrying or becoming a parent. A lot of people marry and/or become parents and are immature and certainly not independent adults. And it seems like a small but growing number of people, men especially, are making a mature, reasoned decision to remain unmarried and childless – and still living life as mature, independent adults.

"Kenny Z" writes:

The summer jobs they used to take to learn responsibility and socialization are now taken by adults because no other jobs are available.

They are told to save yet they are forced to pay social security for a growing number of people collecting social security, forced to join unions, and offered meager salaries. The number collecting are growing exponentially while the number paying are shrinking.

They are being taxed from every direction: property taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, and any other taxes the various city councils, school councils, government in every form city, county, state and federal.

They hear nothing but gloom and doom about their futures.

"K.G". writes:

Free breakfast, free lunch, free health care, free welfare if you get pregnant outta wedlock. Today's kids (and adults) are reared to believe that nothing bad can happen, that there will always be a safety net should they make bad decisions or just have plain bad luck.

To me, someone is a mature, responsible adult if they are:

1) Self-sufficient to the point where they are not parent or government-dependent. Some exceptions apply in disability cases, and this doesn't apply if someone is "dependent" because they are doing something like serving in the military.

2) In reasonable control of their behavior, including not staying in abusive relationships.

3) Not leading a life of crime.

4) Not killing children or condemning them to a broken or motherless or fatherless home.