I also remember when I was allowed to check out books beyond the children’s section. Heady, indeed!
In a recent ‘when did you learn to read’ thread I mentioned reading my first book cover-to-cover when I was 4-- "The Little Red Caboose’. I considered learning to read to be a big grownup rite of passage, and I remember to this day the tremendous sense of accomplishment I had on realizing I could read!
At 7 or 8 I rode my bike farther than I ever had before, and came out a neighborhood side street to a busy intersection I had only ever seen from my parents’ car. It was only a couple miles away from home at most, but I didn’t realize I could bike to that area, and I felt like Magellan.
Another reading-related one in 6th grade- I was 11. I was in an advanced reading group, and my teacher was telling me I should start reading more adult books. She said she had just read ‘The Andromeda Strain’ and enjoyed it, but immediately said “that’s probably still too advanced for you yet”. Naturally, I took that as a challenge and checked it out of the library. Innocent little me was a bit shocked at the grown-up language (just a few hells, damns and shits), but I absolutely loved it. I never read a ‘kid’s book’ after that, and burned through all of Crichton’s stuff.
Love it!!
One week before my 10th birthday I was on a plane going to Africa with my mother and brother to meet my father who had been there for a few months. That seemed grown up - back then kids didn’t fly as often as now. Even more, before that we went to a big store to buy games and toys to ship to Africa, because there was nothing there to buy. Making those decisions seemed grown up.
Right after we got there I started reading “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” but that didn’t seem grown up to me since I cluelessly thought all fifth graders read huge thick books with many footnotes.
I remember telling my mom I wanted to go see the new Bill Murray movie (had to have been Scrooged). I even noted and said to her “I think I’m growing up, because I called him by his name and not by a character.”
Interesting insight to have had back then about yourself… 
Scrounging up whatever change we could find and biking up to White Castle, buying our own food seemed very grown-up.
Buying my own personal deep dish Pizza Hut pizza with the five books I read.
I earned that and it was awesome!
When I was less than 10 years old, my mother asked me to call 9-1-1 for her for some reason.
That was the first time I felt really grown up.
And I was terrified.
I guess I was about 10, my mother was rushed to the hospital to have a baby and I got stuck babysitting my two younger sisters. I expected my older brother would be home soon but he was working and unaware of the emergency. I fixed them Chicken noodle soup for lunch and Fried tuna teepees for dinner. My dad got home around 9 pm and was very impressed. I always enjoyed helping my mom in the kitchen so I did know how to cook several dished by that time even though I had never done them solo before.
Ok, hafta ask what these are.
I don’t remember the proportions but it is Tuna, eggs, celery onions, parsely.and you form a tee pee shaped cone cover them in cracker crumbs and fry. Usually served with a white gravy.
Oh, yum! A croquette. That cone shape is the traditional croquette shape. I’ve had both chicken and salmon croquettes in restaurants that were that shape. Though sadly, not recently. Now they’re usually just boring ol’ patties or logs.
You made those, and fried them, when you were 10? That is real culinary precocity. 
Re the eggs: would that be chopped hard boiled eggs, or beaten eggs to glue the mixture together before you fry it?
Raw eggs like meat loaf. I haven’t had any since I was a kid but they were one of my favorites. I didn’t make the gravey.
There was a local restaurant that served cone-shaped salmon croquettes with a cream gravy laced with bits of chopped-up dill pickle. Those were good. Restaurant is closed now.
I may have to try making some of these…
Okay, back to the topic at hand.
You know, that heady feeling of independence is an intoxicating thing to experience in childhood. It meant you were on your way to being a grownup, which we saw as a desirable destination. I wonder if today’s over-scheduled kids are denied that experience by helicopter parents? Do they even see reaching independent adulthood as a worthy goal? (I don’t have kids or even nieces/nephews, so I basically have no contact with children.)
I felt a little more intelligent when I remember my mother trying to sell me on Catholicism (I may have been 6), and I sort of wondered how she could believe that stuff.
This week I let my kid (10) kayak on shallow calm water beyond my line of sight into a little cove. There’s nowhere in that part of the lake where he can’t stand up (it’s clear fresh water, you can see the bottom), he had a life jacket on, and he’s a very strong swimmer (front crawl laps in swimming lessons and can hold his breath for freaking ever). I know the lake well and know there’s no current or hazard. He’d been very safe on kayak trips with me.
I was nervous, but he did great, going into the cove and back out again in a reasonable time. I would have been able to go after him in another kayak easily, but I wasn’t ready to get into the water as I was doing a few chores.
The look of pride and freedom on his face was worth it.
I don’t seem to remember particular moments like that for myself (I had an older sibling to follow around!) but seeing my son experience them is awesome!
Sweet!