# When does a girl stop being a LITTLE girl? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796 "2015-07-10T20:20:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/21 "2015-07-11T02:03:03Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > So apparently in this case “a buck and a half” means a small amount, not one hundred fifty pounds. Which explains why **Skald’s** back hasn’t collapsed yet. Dang! I was picturing \*\*Skald \*\*in a strongman’s outfit! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/22 "2015-07-11T02:14:20Z")
When they start having Barbie and Ken walk around naked and sleeping together. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/23 "2015-07-11T02:44:23Z")
When they stop dressing up like princesses and start acting like “princesses.” ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/24 "2015-07-11T02:44:40Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > “Only little girls ride piggy-back on grown adults.” I agree with this statement. I also think that only little girls declare themselves princesses. I also think that 12 is rather old for all of those things. That’s almost done with middle school. Around 8 or 9 would be a more usual cutoff, if not earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/25 "2015-07-11T04:49:11Z")
[When she’s tall enough to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl.](https://what-if.xkcd.com/imgs/a/77/height_coaster.png) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/26 "2015-07-11T05:06:01Z")
I just now realized that the line for little kid and little girl are different. You guys mentioned puberty as a line for “little girl,” which seemed weird to me until I realize that, unlike with “kid” and “teen,” we don’t really have another word for a post-pubescent female who is not an adult other than girl. Even males have terms like man and I consider a little kid to be just above toddler and below a tween. (Kid includes little kids and tweens.) With only two terms, I guess I’d have to split the middle, and keep “little girl” until 11 or 12. Though I wonder if I would do that for boys. For some reason, “little boy” seems younger to me than “little girl.” I think there’s some cultural baggage there–with women wanting to be small and men wanting to be big. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/27 "2015-07-11T06:22:53Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > Once you hit double digits, you’re not a little girl. I would say seven or eight. This. And climbing on males you are not immediately related to should be discouraged at this point. Call me old fashioned, but it is inappropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/28 "2015-07-11T06:56:46Z")
I’m sure there must be some ‘percentage of your age, plus whatever’ factor in play too. My grandmother , even in her sixties and seventies, was quite capable of referring to twenty-five year old shop assistants as “the little girl behind the counter” ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/29 "2015-07-11T07:10:47Z")
The pre pubescent growth spurt. See school photos by grades - there is a year or so when the girls are taller than the boys. I’d call that a handy cut-off. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/30 "2015-07-11T09:25:17Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > With only two terms, I guess I’d have to split the middle, and keep “little girl” until 11 or 12. Though I wonder if I would do that for boys. For some reason, “little boy” seems younger to me than “little girl.” I think there’s some cultural baggage there–with women wanting to be small and men wanting to be big. I’m male, and recall that even at the age of about eight, I got mortally offended if my parents referred to me as a “little boy”. (I was altogether a loathsome child.) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/31 "2015-07-11T11:56:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Anyway – Kyle’s “not a little girl” remark got me to thinking. At what age would y’all say that “little girl” is no longer an appropriate descriptor for a young human female? Going by my father’s use of the term towards his youngest daughter, who is now in her 50’s, apparently infinity. It annoys the crap out of me, but at this point there’s no stopping him. I _did_ get my sister to stop referring to me as “baby sister” and switch to “youngest sister”. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/32 "2015-07-11T12:00:24Z")
I think it also depends upon the kid and when they quit acting “little”. I knew young women in college that still had stuffed animals and squealed like little girls (and would do stuff like cry to get sympathy). Then I’ve known a few 8 year olds who acted like they were going on 28. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/33 "2015-07-11T15:02:04Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Going by my father’s use of the term towards his youngest daughter, who is now in her 50’s, apparently infinity. > > It annoys the crap out of me, but at this point there’s no stopping him. > > I _did_ get my sister to stop referring to me as “baby sister” and switch to “youngest sister”. I still call my youngest sister, now in her 30s , my baby sister. And my one living brother calls me his baby brother calls me baby brother (I’m 45). ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/34 "2015-07-11T15:03:15Z")
I used to be a substitute teacher and in my experience, the difference usually occurs between third and fourth grade, so around age nine, they become girls. A third grader once told me that she’d never marry, because at her cousin’s wedding, her cousin had kissed a boy right in front of everybody. She would never do such a thing! (And the rest of the girls agreed with her.) I told her that she shouldn’t marry anyone she didn’t want to kiss. By fourth grade, though, I started to hear about crushes. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/35 "2015-07-11T15:04:33Z")
Also, my now-21/year old niece deliberately held on to little girl status for as long as she could. She refused to call herself a teenager till she was 14. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/36 "2015-07-11T15:05:44Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > This. And climbing on males you are not immediately related to should be discouraged at this point. Call me old fashioned, but it is inappropriate. I am going to try really hard not to be insulted by this. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/37 "2015-07-11T15:27:59Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I knew young women in college that **still had stuffed animals** and squealed like little girls (and would do stuff like cry to get sympathy). (My bolding) – and what’s wrong with stuffed animals? Not a part of my own life; but IMO something cool and fun for people of all ages, who are that way inclined. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/38 "2015-07-11T17:17:44Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I am going to try really hard not to be insulted by this. I dunno. I’d be pretty insulted. Actually, if you want to be nicer than you need to be, I can be insulted for you. If you give me a minute, I might even be able to work up some outrage. Sexualizing and shaming young people of either gender who are comfortable with their bodies and their friends is inappropriate. Nosing your way into other people’s lives in inappropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/39 "2015-07-11T17:22:44Z")
Generally, after the first candle-lit blood ritual but before the first summoning. ---
**Author:** ![Curid1992](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Curid1992](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Curid1992)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796/40 "2015-07-11T19:59:19Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > My 3yo is a little girl. My 10yo is not. So somewhere in between those two. I’d say 9 is a good cutoff, just before double figures. I’d agree with you there. Once you’ve entered double digits (in terms of age), you certainly wouldn`t be classed as “little” anymore. I’d be tempted to say around the 5-8 mark. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-girl-stop-being-a-little-girl/724796.md?page=3)