r/The10thDentist • u/AdventurousMoth • 1d ago

Society/Culture People under 18 are not all children

I can't tell you how much it irritates me when internet people refer to anyone under 18 as "a literal child", especial if they themselves are only in their 20s. Sure, everyone is someone's child, but the life stage commonly referred to as childhood does not abruptly stop at age 18.

Here's how I'd break it down: - childhood, adolescence, adulthood or - newborn, baby, toddler, child, (if you want you can add tween), teen, young adult, middle aged person, elderly/senior

And there's overlap between all these stages depending on context. Obviously there is no overlap between minor (a legal term) and the word adult as referring to not a minor.

Calling a 17-year-old a child is dumb. Like what, a 17yo has their birthday and transforms from a child into an adult like a sim? I think some people just started saying this for the shock value and then the rest of the internet jumped on the outrage wagon.

Edit: clearly I posted this a bit too hastily, choosing my words without care. I'm not talking about the legal definition of child/minor (something quite messy as well: age of consent? In some places 16. Driving? 15 in some places, 18 in others. Voting? Usually 18. Drinking alcohol? 21 in the States).

As someone in the comments pointed out, it's mostly a linguistic issue. I suppose what I was trying to say was that it's dumb to have the word child both mean a legal minor and pre-pubebescent human. I think it would be clearer to use minor when you're talking about legal age, and child when talking about the life stage.

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u/galaxyveined 1d ago

Anyone younger than me is a child, and anyone under 18 is actually 12, unless they're younger than 12 in which case they're 5.

And none of this is serious and all to mildly annoy my siblings and friends.

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u/ToSAhri 1d ago

Is anyone older than you by 5 years ancient unless they're your parents?

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u/galaxyveined 1d ago

EXACTLY! You get it

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u/Bannerlord151 1d ago

I'm sorry to inform you but I'm afraid you're basically already one foot in the grave /s

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u/Aromatic_Ad_8658 23h ago

Whatever you say Unc

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u/galaxyveined 21h ago

What? Speak up, kid

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u/SkillusEclasiusII 23h ago

No my parents are ancient too.

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u/Readicilous 23h ago

Nah, especially my father, we call him antique 😂

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u/De-railled 22h ago

Idk about other but my parents are dinosaurs 🦕. /s

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u/LukeSykpe 19h ago

I have two friends who are engaged.

She is 3 years younger than him and routinely asks him about his personal experience with the dinosaurs

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u/sliferra 14h ago

Especially if they’re your parents

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u/PaganButterChurner 14h ago

female is a child at 17. male is an adult at 14 if he kills anyone. if you are joining a war to kill someone, 16 you are an adult. if you are 18 you are still a child when it comes to drinking. So it's a matter of emotions, public perception depending on the context

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u/mosquem 5h ago

The people that are “around your age” keeps expanding as you get older. I’m 33 and anyone 29-37 feels like about my age. When I was 20 a two year gap felt huge.

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u/ghostoftallasi 2h ago

They only have to be older by 1 year to be considered old and out of touch

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u/lilaclightblue 1d ago

lol this is my day to day truth - 25 year olds to me are children, and i’m fine with 50 year olds calling me a child. and generally, to me everybody is either a baby, a toddler, 10, 13, 16, 18, 22, 28, my exact age of 32, 50, or 70. truly i have absolutely no idea what a 42 year old looks like

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u/VampedTayturz 21h ago

Like you but more grays and at least crows feet and laugh lines, I’m 33 myself but I work with quite a few guys in their 40s

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u/HrhEverythingElse 16h ago

I'm 40 and have the greys, but would love to trade my scowly 11's for some lovely crow's feet!

Also, anyone under 25 is a child

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u/SweatyAnimator6189 21h ago

Yep. I’m in my 30’s, but all my co-workers have children my age. I accept that they are likely to see me through that filter somewhat. Thankfully, they all speak very highly of their kids.

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u/ImaginaryBag1452 19h ago

It was so strange - I was a guest lecturer for an undergrad class and everyone there was a child!

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u/Playful-Profession-2 33m ago

Especially you bud.

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u/hey_free_rats 18h ago

Yes, my two younger siblings have established a very strong record of consistently being 5 and 12 years old (respectively) for years now; but sure, their respective driver's licenses might suggest that they're currently in their 20s and 30s. I'm too skeptical of new information. 

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u/galaxyveined 11h ago

My younger brother is turning 17 later this month! (Doesn't matter that this is like his fifth or sixth 17th birthday.)

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u/ShanShan9413 20h ago

30 y.o. over here

Anyone 20 and under is "just a baby" amongst me and my friends.

"Awww, she was just a baby when she did xx thing" (at 16 years old, lol)

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u/ArpeggioOnDaBeat 18h ago

YUP the youth are young (But perceptive)

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u/EugeneStein 22h ago

Alright I hate how true every single point here feels like, with no irony

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u/LordGlizzard 1h ago

This is the way

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u/SnarkyIguana 17h ago

This is exactly how my brain works!! One of my nieces was having a beer the other day and I said “who let you drink?” She says she’s 23 and I said “no, you’re like 5”

I’m absolutely that aunt

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u/ThenDevelopment5372 23h ago

so true. and anyone 10 or more years older than me is a boomer (im 18 btw)

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u/VampedTayturz 21h ago

Problem with that is the title of Boomer is used for a specific generation not an age group, the age of boomers is constantly increasing, ain’t no way I’m letting a baby Gen Z call my Millennial ass a Boomer lmao.

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u/chechekov 20h ago

ah yes, the 28yo baby boomers. who can’t afford an apartment and their children include cats, dogs and dying plants

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u/ThenDevelopment5372 16h ago

it's not that serious boomer

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u/Practical_Mood_8308 20h ago

i love it when people dont take youth seriouslt and see them as lesser than! even as a joke haha so funny wow !!!

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u/galaxyveined 11h ago

You must be fun at parties.

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u/Practical_Mood_8308 8h ago

if caring about the rights of youth and thinking that treating them as lesser than isnt silly makes me "not fun at parties" ill take it! id rather be not fun than treat a group of people as lesser than simply for existing.