# How would you break down the life cycle? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227 "2019-09-14T18:55:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kennedy1960](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ccd318/32.png) [@Kennedy1960](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kennedy1960)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/1 "2019-09-14T18:55:45Z")
What I mean is, What ages would you set as defining, generally speaking, the various parts of the human life cycle? An example is my opinion: Infancy: 0-2 Toddler: 2-4 Early Childhood: 4-7 Late Childhood/PreTeen Years: 8-12 Early Teenage Years: 13-14 Mid Teen Years: 14-16 Late Teen Years: 17-20 Early Young Adulthood: 21-24 Late Young Adulthood: 25-29 Adulthood: 30-44 Early Middle Age: 45-49 Middle Age: 50-65 Late Middle Age: 65-69 Early Aging: 70-75 Middle Aging: 76-80 Elderly: 80+ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/2 "2019-09-14T20:13:49Z")
Wow that’s a lot of divisions. Shakespeare only gave [seven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_world's_a_stage): Infant (mewling and puking) Schoolboy (whining and creeping unwillingly to school) Lover (sighing like a furnace) Soldier (sudden and quick in quarrel) Justice (round belly and beard of formal cut) Pantaloon (spectacles, his youthful hose now a world too wide) Second childishness (sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/3 "2019-09-14T20:44:39Z")
The Godfathers simplified it down to four phases: [Birth, School, Work, Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO5dcW0P75M) ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/4 "2019-09-14T20:49:57Z")
[Erickson](https://courses.lumenlearning.com/teachereducationx92x1/chapter/eriksons-stages-of-psychosocial-development/) has eight: Stage 1 - Trust vs. Mistrust Stage 2 - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt Stage 3 - Initiative vs. Guilt Stage 4 - Industry vs. Inferiority Stage 5 - Identity vs. Confusion Stage 6 - Intimacy vs. Isolation Stage 7 - Generativity vs. Stagnation Stage 8 - Integrity vs. Despair ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/5 "2019-09-14T21:49:17Z")
The final one should be Metal Age: silver in your hair, gold in your teeth and lead in your ass. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/6 "2019-09-14T21:55:06Z")
> [@Kennedy1960](#): > > What I mean is, > > What ages would you set as defining, generally speaking, the various parts of the human life cycle? > > An example is my opinion: > > Infancy: 0-2 > Toddler: 2-4 > Early Childhood: 4-7 > Late Childhood/PreTeen Years: 8-12 > Early Teenage Years: 13-14 > Mid Teen Years: 14-16 > Late Teen Years: 17-20 > Early Young Adulthood: 21-24 > Late Young Adulthood: 25-29 > Adulthood: 30-44 > Early Middle Age: 45-49 > Middle Age: 50-65 > Late Middle Age: 65-69 > Early Aging: 70-75 > Middle Aging: 76-80 > Elderly: 80+ I, for one, think that is too few. For instance Early Middle Age, Middle Age, and Late Middle Age could be broken down into Early Early Middle Age, Middle Early Middle Age, Late Early Middle Age, Early Middle Middle Age, Middle Middle Middle Age, Late Middle Middle Age, Early Late Middle Age, Middle Late Middle Age, and Late Late Middle Age. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/7 "2019-09-15T01:20:42Z")
As the owner of 2 year old and 4 year old children I find it very difficult to come up with good divisions for the early years. A new born is vastly different from a 1 year old, or even just from a 6 week old. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/8 "2019-09-15T03:19:22Z")
My son, age 6, told me these were the stages of life: Baby Toddler Kid Teenager Grown Up Really Old Grown Up Who’s About to Die I…wasn’t a fan of those categories, but that’s one contribution. I’ve also read, although I don’t necessarily subscribe: Age 1-5: Everybody loves me Age 6-12: I love everybody Age 13-20: I hate everybody Age 21-Death: Everybody hates me ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/9 "2019-09-15T04:00:29Z")
0-2 baby 2-4 toddler 5-12 kid 13-19 teenager 20 Nothing. You’re absolutely nothing for this year. 21-35 young adult 36-59 middle aged 60 and up is old. ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/10 "2019-09-15T05:31:06Z")
0 - 1 : Infant 2 - 4 : Toddler 5 - 8 : Child 9 - 12 : Kid 13 - 17 : Teen 18 - 24 : Young Adult 25 - : Adult Have been in that last one ever since (soon turning 39). If there’s another stage, I think it doesn’t start before retirement. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/11 "2019-09-15T23:25:04Z")
Birth. The moment after you start to die. At some point you become dead. But this horrible head and chest cold could be affecting my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/12 "2019-09-16T00:11:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The final one should be Metal Age: silver in your hair, gold in your teeth and lead in your ass. Too fucking funny! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/13 "2019-09-16T00:20:14Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > 25 - : Adult > > Have been in that last one ever since (soon turning 39). If there’s another stage, I think it doesn’t start before retirement. Since I turned 50, I think of “Old Age” as being 10 years older than my current age. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/14 "2019-09-16T14:08:18Z")
1. Gamete 2. Zygote ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/15 "2019-09-16T14:16:00Z")
You’ll end up with a name for every year this way, or more. I see 3 divisions: Child: 0 - 17 (according to law, it should be 0-13) Adult: 18 - until you tell children to get off your lawn Geezer: adult - death ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/16 "2019-09-16T14:37:04Z")
Four legs Two legs Three legs ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/17 "2019-09-17T15:06:43Z")
As I near 60, the idea of “thirds” has appealed to me. 0-30 - the first third is spent largely learning and growing. 31-60 - the second third is largely spent “striving” - establishing your career/household, having kids, focusing on getting the kids educated/employed/independent, saving/planning for retirement 61-90 - the final 3d is spent living. How do you want to spend the final 3d of your life? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/18 "2019-09-17T15:28:18Z")
[Birth, School, Work, Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO5dcW0P75M) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-break-down-the-life-cycle/840227/19 "2019-09-18T00:38:47Z")
There’s an [xkcd](https://xkcd.com/907/) for that. 0-3: Non-sentient. 4-12: “Everything is exciting!” 13-17: “Everything sucks!” 18-22: “Woooooo college! Woooo–” [vomit] 23-30: “Relationships are hard!” 31-42: “So are careers!” 43-54: “No daughter of mine is going out dressed like that!” 55-75+: [More sex than anyone is comfortable admitting]