francene--blog. Year 2013
  • Home
  • Blog

Sept 24th

9/24/2013

 
Picturewww.123rf.com
There is no single law that defines the age of a child across the UK. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the UK government in 1991, states that a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier (Article 1, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989).

Now, child psychologists are being given a new directive which is that the age range they work with is increasing from 18 to 25 years. Read more here.

There are three stages of adolescence—early adolescence from 12-14 years, middle adolescence from 15-17 years and late adolescence from 18 years and over. Neuroscience has shown that a young person's cognitive development continues into this later stage and that their emotional maturity, self-image and judgment will be affected until the prefrontal cortex of the brain has fully developed.

Some young people may want to stay longer with their families. Perhaps they need more support during these formative years. All young people don't develop at the same pace.


Picturewww.lovethesepics.com
The solution to not having 25 and even 30-year-olds living at home is making them do their own washing, pay their own way, pay towards the rent, pay towards the bills, to take responsibility for cleaning up their bedroom and not waiting on them hand and foot.

My brother-in-law and his wife have taken their son back into their home after he left to live with his girlfriend. They were struggling, so the solution was for them both to move back to his large home. Both families are living together comfortably with the retired parents gaining extra help and companionship, while the younger people are working and gaining free lodgings.

I left home at 18 to marry my first love. By the time I was 23, I had three children. If I could re-live my time, I wouldn't have been so headstrong. And yet, my family circumstances weren't ideal so perhaps my choices were limited. My sisters both married well and are prosperous.

What are your experiences as a young person? When did you feel ready to be independent?


Ray link
9/23/2013 09:17:06 pm

I can see the point of this in some ways. I know my own personal experience some 20+ years back had a lot of emotional growing still going on in the twenty something years. Good question to bring up for sure.

Francene Stanley link
9/24/2013 03:10:39 am

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Ray.

Deanna link
9/23/2013 10:05:48 pm

Great post. It always seems that the "setting" of the legal age within a country, is so arbitrary. A government chooses the legal age based upon its own agenda, not necessarily in the best interest of the children. For example, I attended college at 16 years old. In the USA, that would be very early, however, in the UK, that would be on time.

Francene Stanley link
9/24/2013 03:12:43 am

I'm sure it all depends on the individual. We all mature at different rates. However, neuroscience results are very interesting in that part of the brain isn't mature until 25 yrs.

Author Rebecca Mugridge link
9/24/2013 08:06:33 am

When I was 15 I was working full time, living with girlfriends and paying all my own bills. By 17 I had also completed 2 years of my chosen field of study while working too, by 25 I had my firs baby and had a well established career in my chose field, in hindsight I probably would have liked to stay at home much longer, at least 18 but I was so headstrong and determined to support myself!!

Francene Stanley link
9/24/2013 07:15:22 pm

Well done, Rebecca. Your experiences show a modern woman's strength.

Alana link
9/24/2013 08:41:22 am

I am 60- I left home when I was 21 and never had to return. I felt I was ready before then but who knows. Some of this is definitely cultural - 150 years ago,no one would have thought it was terrible (at least for a boy) to leave home as a young teen and live independently. Didn't mean it was right, but that was the culture of "then".

Francene Stanley link
9/24/2013 07:17:16 pm

To aouward appearances, we seem to be maturing earlier. Yet, so much is going wrong with youngsters nowadays, one wonders if they should have stayed home longer.


Comments are closed.

    Author

    Francene Stanley, author of many published novels. If you like my writing, why not consider purchasing one of my books? You'll see them on the sidebar below.
    Born in Australia, I moved to Britain half way through my long life.

    Picture

    Archives

    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Catastrophe
    Creativity
    Family
    Life Experiences
    Mother
    News
    Novel Writing
    Novel-writing
    Retirement
    World

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.