Small Questions – Young Adult

Posted by on May 31, 2018 in Small Questions

It is kind of insane that we have different age groups broken up by key identifiers.  Like a tiny human that can walk and talk, but kind of walks around like a drunk, is a toddler.  While a newborn is human who is fresh to the world and covered in that womb smell (new baby).  While a few arbitrary measures of time (days/weeks/months) later that newborn transforms into an infant.  So on and so on.

So for the first 18 years of life, humans are sliced and diced into categories based on age – newborn, toddler, kindergartener, middle schooler, teenager, young adult.  I probably missed some.

Now, I know that this because we experience the greatest level of growth in those first 18 years.  But it kind of sucks as an adult who is young, that I can’t call myself a young adult.  Instead we have to call ourselves by our age bracket: twenties, thirties, forties, fifties… ageless… elderly.

So my small question: Why don’t I get to call myself a young adult?  Who makes these arbitrary rules?

Theodore, just asking the hard questions.