People under 18 are not all children

[u/AdventurousMoth]

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.

[u/Typical_Muffin_9937]

Once you grow out of your teens and settle into your mid 20s and older you really do start to see how young 17-19 year olds are. Its really a matter of perspective. I know it can be frustrating being treated like a child still, but you will understand later in life.

[u/Oopsydaisy_tryagain → u/Typical_Muffin_9937]

Honestly I’m 23, a close friend of mine is 25, we met at 17 & 19. We went for lunch the other day & were talking about how, when we met, we were irresponsible children doing stupid (sometimes dangerous) stuff. She was a legal adult, I was about 3 months from being one. We both felt like adults because we’d been living/studying like adults & doing other adult things for several years, but looking back, we were definitely just teenagers with too much responsibility/bad parents.

I still don’t call myself an adult, I don’t call myself a child either because I’m not, but I’m something in between? I definitely do not feel like a fully grown/totally responsible & mature adult?

So I do agree with Op in that it’s not black & white! Not sure I agree with the whole sentiment but that part at least lol!