# At what age did you consider yourself "grown up"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 22, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963 "2012-06-22T17:27:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/41 "2012-06-24T20:34:24Z")
I am almost 44, but don’t really feel grown up. But I will never forget my first truly grown up act- and it’s not college, marriage, kids, mortgage, getting sober, or the usual stuff. In the space of 4 days, I had to put both my dog and my MIL’s dog to sleep. It was awful, but an adult decision had to be made and I had to do it. It sucked rocks. That was the day I became a grown up. :mad: Still wish it hadn’t been necessary. Edit- I was in my 40’s. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/42 "2012-06-24T23:42:01Z")
Older than 27 I guess. I’m 34 and don’t feel like a grown up, although I appear to be one at first glance. I own a house and two cars and have lived alone since 18. I’m a single dad to a 6 year old girl so I’m dad, mom, cook, maid, taxi driver etc. I never get “me time” so all the things I want to do are on hiatus for a few years, or possibly forever. I don’t really do anything “ungrownup” and I’ve done many of the things that others say made them feel grown up. In theory and on paper, I’m a grown up, I just haven’t realized it yet. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/43 "2012-06-25T00:05:37Z")
I’m 59 and still waiting. If growing up means I must be anything that I don’t want be, I won’t grow up, never grow up, never grow up, not me! ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/44 "2012-06-25T19:22:02Z")
I answered 23. I thought I was grown up. I was wrong though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/45 "2012-06-25T20:01:04Z")
I’m 42 and I still feel like I’m faking it. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/46 "2012-06-25T20:05:03Z")
14 Long story about my father and how he was an adult at 14 and I was convinced I had to match that growing up. ---
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/47 "2012-06-25T20:06:06Z")
To this day my mom asks What are you going to be IF! you grow up. Nope, aint gonna do it ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/48 "2012-06-25T20:21:39Z")
By the time I hit 30, my kid/student lifestyle was coming to the end. ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/49 "2012-06-25T20:34:20Z")
[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal](http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2651#comic) summed up what it’s felt like so far. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/50 "2012-06-25T20:49:58Z")
> [@atlantic](#): > > I thought I was grown up when I had my first child. I was 24. But I was wrong. I truly started feeling grown up last August (age 38) when my dad, already suffering from Parkinson’s, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Caring for a parent that has started acting like a child makes you feel grown up in an instant. That’s how it was for me too. My dad had mild dementia and a slew of other medical problems when his wife left him. So 21 year old **Fuzzy Dunlop** started doing his best to take care of him, starting with forcing him into a psychiatric ward because he wanted to kill himself. I still have his suicide note. ☹ It’s a weird lonely feeling but I definitely knew instantly that there was no going back and no grown up who could take over when things got tough. It sort of amazes me on some level that there are people in their 40s and 50s with healthy parents. I get that it’s actually normal on an intellectual level but I really can’t comprehend what it would be like to live that long without that responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/51 "2012-06-25T21:17:26Z")
When I turned 30, it felt like I had some real substance. No more darling of the office or whatever, but a professional with… gravitas? I started acting that way then. More reserve, more confidence, more repose. On the other hand, I’ve always been a little butch so now I’m a 50yo who dresses like a teenage boy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CatherineZeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@CatherineZeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatherineZeta)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/52 "2012-06-26T02:48:39Z")
I’m 23 and still feel like a kid even though I moved out at 18. I’ve been done with college since 2010 and have been working full time since then. I guess I do adult things like cook, pay bills, go to bed at a reasonable hour, but I still don’t feel it. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963/53 "2012-06-27T01:47:37Z")
As I say to my daughter, someone in this family has to grow up, and it’s not going to be me. 😃 I’m forty-nine-and-a-half. I had a councellor tell me I have been “coping on my own” since the age of seven - so maybe that counts for something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-you-consider-yourself-grown-up/625963.md?page=2)