Reggie Bautista wrote: > I wrote: > > > > > So who exactly is a child, and who is an adult? What magically happens > >that > > > makes a person a child the day before they turn 18, and an adult the > >next > > > day *after* they have turned 18 (or 16 or 12 or whatever age defined by > > > their culture)? > > Sonja replied: > >A parent is legally no longer responsible for the misbehaviour of the > >adult, > >whereas the parent is legally fully responsible for a child. So although > >physically not much changes, legally it becomes a whole different ballgame. > >So if Tom now smashes a window, I'm responsible and have to pay, like it or > >not. > >If Tom is 18 and smashes a window, he has to pay it himself and nobody can > >make > >me pay for him. But Tom would never smash a window so it is a rethorical > >example > >at best..... or would he? Hmmm, .... only soft toys from now on. > > Allow me to clarify. I understand the legal consequences. What I'm asking > is, why? Why should you be legally completely responsible for Tom one day > and not the next? Why should Tom be able to get away with anything one day > and nothing the next? It's a completely arbitrary, black or white way of > handling things. Growth and aging is more like a dimmer switch that can be > gradually dialed from all the way off to all the way on, not a traditional > light switch that is at either extreme but nowhere in the middle.
As with everything, you just have to choose a divide somewhere. And a birthday seems to be the natural and logical divide. 17 is still too young so I gather anything up from there must be a possible choice. And the fact that most countries don't have a universal age of adulthood already indicates that it is choosen rather arbitrarily. Actually it is not just one age that turns you from totally sheltered into out on your own from one day to the other, it is more a multistep thing. F.i. at 12 you no longer are considered to be a child but become a youth, already legally you go from not prosecutable to prosecutable, albeit under a different set of laws from adults. At 16 certain rights (legal as well as personal) are granted to you, like ownership, citizenship or driving licence (in The Netherlands only for scooters, not cars but in the US a car is possible). At 18 you become of age and are granted most of the adult rights like electoral, legal handling and such, at 21 you are totally free of any parental interfearence in everything personal as well as legal. So it is a multistep plan into adulthood and not just one single date. It is shown that most 'children' are mature enough to handle everything in life when they turn 21, some even so at 18 although there still is a world of difference between those two ages. It used to be 16 but than a child (ehum, teen) is still developing much of his brains, e.g. still maturing and can not be considered fully developed. Teens can be very irrational, but that is partly because they haven't enough experience in life to see the irrationality or naivety of some of their actions so they (.... oh, oh, I don't like where this is going .... ;o) ) have to be protected from themselves by putting them under parental guidence. ;o) But still the choices of at which age you are considered to be to what extent responsible for which of your actions are totatally arbitrary and only loosely related to how mature you actually are. :o) Sonja _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
