Adultescence

On his blog, Dad has commented on the fact that our society lack a definitive "coming of age" ceremony, a specific point in a young man's life when his boyhood ends and adulthood begins. In fact, our culture makes a decided lean to the opposite, avoiding holding young people responsible for much of anything. The obvious result is that young people aren't terribly good at shouldering responsibility even as they age, often resulting in adults who aren't able to conduct their lives in a mature fashion.

Reading through the morning paper as I occasionally do, my eye was drawn to this Winnipeg Free Press article that was written along a similar vein. It seems that social scientists have coined a new term to describe this relatively new phenomenon: "adultescence".

"The boundaries between childhood and adulthood have become increasingly blurred," said sociologist Barbara Mitchell, professor of gerontology at Simon Fraser University in B.C. Of course, Mitchell doesn't add that in blurring those boundaries, modern society has created adults -- even seniors -- who, fundamentally, are still children.

Our children are our future, we're constantly reminded. Apparently, though, the meaning of this mantra is a bit more literal than we had previously imagined.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." - 1 Corinthians 13:11