# When do you stop being a kid?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 27, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820 "2016-05-27T15:47:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/1 "2016-05-27T15:47:57Z")
Many of my friends wanted to stop being called kids around junior year of high school. I am now 22, and many people still refer to me as a kid. People may refer to _their_ sons and daughters as kids forever, but that is not what I am asking about.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/2 "2016-05-27T15:54:24Z")
I can and do refer to anyone under 65 as "kids ".
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/3 "2016-05-27T15:54:40Z")
Other: it depends on who is calling you “kid”.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/4 "2016-05-27T15:59:38Z")
When your parents are dead.
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### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/5 "2016-05-27T16:10:16Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#):
>
> Other: it depends on who is calling you “kid”.
This but I went with 16. By then you can legally (in many states) drive yourself, work, and screw and that pretty much sums up adulthood to me.
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/6 "2016-05-27T16:12:52Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> When your parents are dead.
Even if you are named as “the defendant” at the trial?
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/7 "2016-05-27T16:13:01Z")
I would say that most people stop “being a kid” when they hit their teens. I would probably stop calling people “kid” somewhere in the college years.
However, the word “kid” can be used to refer to someone’s children at any age. “Bob’s kids” might be in a retirement home.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/8 "2016-05-27T16:13:37Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> When your parents are dead.
Stop being a kid, become an orphan instead.
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/9 "2016-05-27T16:17:08Z")
In my case, much like cold fusion, it’s always at five years older than whatever age I happen to be at the moment.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/10 "2016-05-27T16:19:28Z")
When I stopped viewing diet and exercise as ways to change my appearance and started viewing them as tools to avoid fatigue and chronic disease.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/11 "2016-05-27T17:20:44Z")
When you stay the hell offa my lawn!
Tho I said 18, a lot depends on context - both the facts surrounding the person, and the conversation you are engaging in.
Just the other day, speaking to a 3d party I referred to someone as a kid - living at home, employed pt-time. When I realized he was 22, I corrected myself to say “young man.”
In fact, I’d probably say that my use of kid vs young man/woman for anyone aged 15-25 would largely depend on context.
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### Author:  [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/12 "2016-05-27T17:21:00Z")
Other: When both your parents die.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/13 "2016-05-27T18:37:00Z")
35, at a minimum. Nobody is going to take you seriously about much of anything that doesn’t involve adding fries and a shake before then.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/14 "2016-05-27T20:26:05Z")
I was about 30.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/15 "2016-05-27T20:29:30Z")
[How it looked, how it felt](http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2651)
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/16 "2016-05-27T21:27:13Z")
> [@Spiff](#):
>
> Other: When both your parents die.
My mother’s death pretty much forced me to grow up…but my father was around for many, many years beyond that!
Meanwhile, of course, there are infants in diapers whose parents have both died…
I do see your point, but it admits of too many exceptions.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/17 "2016-05-27T21:27:59Z")
For most people, it’s at least 5 years after you first thought you weren’t a kid anymore. Some people never stop being a mean little kid. I mean, look at…that guy. You know the one.
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### Author:  [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/18 "2016-05-27T21:29:55Z")
I’m 54 going on 12. I’m still a kid.
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/19 "2016-05-27T21:37:42Z")
I’d rather be called kid at 40+ than sir at 22.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-stop-being-a-kid/755820/20 "2016-05-27T21:54:58Z")
I remember my very first job, 52 years ago. Everyone called me “the kid.” I really don’t think anyone actually knew my name. Though I’ve changed in so many ways, I’m basically the same person I was then.
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