When did you become an adult?

[abckidsmom]

I find that EMS is loaded with post-adolescents of many varieties. I would have thought that the nature of the job would force the majority of people into adulthood, but that's not always the case.

Discussing an old partner of mine today with my husband, I realized that the prime reason I hated that guy was because we were both egocentric barely-more-than-adolescents with no problem solving skills (or no desire to use them). We got in more trouble for stupid crap in the year we worked together than any trouble I've gotten in since. Basically, it was continual butting heads and failing to see things from the other person's perspective. And refusal to back down from being "right."

Now, through a trick that God is playing on me, I'm faced with the possibility of going to work at the place where he's been all this time while I've been having kids. So he's likely to be a supervisor, or at least up there in the seniority. Great.

But I think I probably have the skills to deal with him now, even if he is still the same way, because I think sometime around the second daughter I became a full-out adult.

How about the rest of you? Can you identify a turning point where you believe that you started behaving like an adult? Have you yet, LOL?

 

[medic417]

I became an adult about 13/14 due to some extreme things I dealt with but will not discuss. Now I am old and as my mind goes I seem to be entering a second childhood.

 

[Shishkabob]

Me? An adult? Ha! Good one.

*goes back to playing with the drugs people somehow trust him with*

 

[DrParasite]

still a kid, and proud of it.

now if only my coworkers will stop busting my chops about watching cartoons at work....

 

[katgrl2003]

Definitely still a kid. Why would I want to grow up? Being a kid is way too much fun.

 

[Lifeguards For Life]

Me? An adult? Ha! Good one.

*goes back to playing with the drugs people somehow trust him with*

You know, I am a paramedic, I have narcotics in my possession while on the ambulance. I am able to administer drugs to patients, make medical decisions, and see blood guts and gore.

But when I went on a date to the movie theater with a girl, I am not old enough to buy more than one ticket to a rated R movie. I was a bit embarrassed when my date showed up, telling her I tried to buy her ticked but am too young to buy multiple tickets to a rated r movie....:wacko::blink::blush::unsure::glare:

 

[rwik123]

You know, I am a paramedic, I have narcotics in my possession while on the ambulance. I am able to administer drugs to patients, make medical decisions, and see blood guts and gore.

But when I went on a date to the movie theater with a girl, I am not old enough to buy more than one ticket to a rated R movie. I was a bit embarrassed when my date showed up, telling her I tried to buy her ticked but am too young to buy multiple tickets to a rated r movie....:wacko::blink::blush::unsure::glare:

I was always under the impression that medics had to be 21+.. or at least in my state, cause of the whole narcotics deal

 

[Lifeguards For Life]

I was always under the impression that medics had to be 21+.. or at least in my state, cause of the whole narcotics deal

nah 18 here. But you also have to be 18 to become an EMT so the youngest you will really see a paramedic here is 19. Still don't know how old you have to be to buy your date a ticked to a r movie.....:glare:

 

[CAO]

Shoot...I'm still waiting on becoming a kid.

I've always been the serious one. I joke around all the time, but I'm always the first one to roll up my sleeves when it's time to work. I even won the "Most Serious" award in Kindergarten. If that's not going to set the tone for my education, I don't know what else will.

My mom jokes around saying I was born a 40 y/o man. Now I'm in my mid-twenties and she calls me a curmudgeon <_<

 

[EMS/LEO505]

16, year I lost my 2nd parent....that's when I had to become an adult.

 

[lightsandsirens5]

You know, I am a paramedic, I have narcotics in my possession while on the ambulance. I am able to administer drugs to patients, make medical decisions, and see blood guts and gore.

But when I went on a date to the movie theater with a girl, I am not old enough to buy more than one ticket to a rated R movie. I was a bit embarrassed when my date showed up, telling her I tried to buy her ticked but am too young to buy multiple tickets to a rated r movie....:wacko::blink::blush::unsure::glare:

Ha ha ha! Great!

I know what you mean. My first time into a bar I was 18 years old. Went to help clean up after a fight. It hit me that I was not even old enough to drink legally, yet I was old enough to work and ambulance, give drugs, and haul your drunk, sorry you know what to the ER.

As to when I became and adult.....Linuss about sums that up for me.

 

[TransportJockey]

16 for me, had some pretty intense stuff happen to me during my soph year of HS. But I still try to act like a kid as much as I can.

 

[fast65]

Eh, I'm still a kid, but I would like to be able to think that I'm a responsible kid

 

[clibb]

Had to "act" like an adult? 14/15. I moved to another state for hockey. Minded? I'm always going to be a child.

 

[46Young]

When I was 22, I decided to move out on my own accord, while on good terms with my mother. I just felt like a worthless loser living under mommy's protection, so I decided to grow the F up and make my own way in the world. I have a general disdain for those individuals that can't cut the cord, and mooch off of mommy and daddy until they're in their mid to late 20's, or even their 30's. I had basically nothing when I moved out, only a hand me down tattered couch, a twin mattres, an end table, pot a pan, a couple of bowls, plates, plastic silverware, some clothes, and a bath towel. If you're an out of work graduate, tough. You should have made a more realistic choice of a major, instead of taking out loans for something you thought would be cool to do. When I moved out, I worked as a helper on a Snapple truck for 300/wk cash, and I was also a bartender and a bouncer. Paying a few hundred a month towards your parent's place dosen't count. Let them have their home back. Their job is done.

I moved into a studio that was converted from a garage for 500 a month. A few years later, I upgraded to a rented room upstairs, the master BR, for 700/month. I was broke and in debt several times. I had to borrow numerous times to fix my car, and also to pay for EMT school. I didn't punt and move back in with mommy, though. It was then that I realized that I needed benefits and applied to my old hospital, North Shore LIJ. My mother passed while I was in the process, so I was left with no safety net, as dad passed back in '86. Had I not moved out when I did, I probably wouldn't have had the tools to do so, having been soft and protected from the world.

Before I had my daughter, I was still relatively immature. I wrote on another thread about throwing batteries at other driver's rear windshields in a fit of road rage. I would exit my car and call out the other driver. I've hammer fisted a few driver's side mirrors off in my time. A tire iron makes a great tool for fending off multiple attackers. I took the advice that someone could be carrying a gun or a knife as a challenge. Like I said, I've since matured. That mentality of not letting anyone get over on you or push you around served me well in my youth, but it was time to exercise a little more tact and discretion.

As far as my kids, I'll pay their way so long as they remain in school, and it had better be for something legitimate and useful, not some BS liberal arts degree or something equally useless. When they're finished, I might allow a year to gain some financial ground. After that, it's two options: Move out, or stay and pay fair market rate for rent, utilities, etc, and also be required to obey all the same rules of the house. You don't mature as a person by being coddled. It sounds rough, but they'll be better off for it.

Edit: Still to this day, my mind is more like that of a 21 year old. I'm talking about a 21 year old in our grandparent's day, not the "30 is the new 20," or "40 is the new thirty" references to male immaturity nowadays. We cut up at work all day, I'm full of energy, and like to play. I like watching GI Joe PSA's on youtube, as well as those Lego FF vs NH videos. I could still do a night out at a bar or a club and enjoy it. I can also play at the park with my 6 year old like I'm another 6 year old. Age is just a state of mind. You can be young without necessarily being immature.

 

[medic417]

When I was 22, I decided to move out on my own accord, while on good terms with my mother..

Why did you wait until you were a middle aged man like that? Disgraceful.

I actually moved out at 16.

 

[slb862]

Do I have to grow up?

 

[MrBrown]

Brown has seen a total of probably over ten psychologists/shrinks/head rearragners, moved out of home when he was 17 and ended up living with a bunch of meth freaks, has one parent who has not dealt with thier psychological problems from thirty years ago, has another parent who is a lying, cheating, manipulative incestious meth cook, has become so engraged with various limitations that he has had some sort of massive cellular annoix event more than once, has spent a night at the cop shop for suicide prevention and sometimes gets to go to peoples houses and deal with thier problems which may coincidently be medically related.

And Brown wonders why some days he feels like he is fifty?

 

[firetender]

And Brown wonders why some days he feels like he is fifty?

My parents had me when in their forties so my world was filled with adults in their fifties, mostly bitter about their lives. So I kind of grew up as a 40 year old!

Didn't have much of a childhood worth keeping...Not true; it was a very painful springboard that got me into and through many worlds that most don't get to experience (EMS having been one). I wouldn't be here had not my child kept me alive! Incredibly resilient little Sprite!

Now, my only sense of not being an adult is when I look in the mirror...I say "Who the hell is THAT?" What I expect to see is an adult in his twenties.

What I see is, well...different!

 

[abckidsmom]

Edit: Still to this day, my mind is more like that of a 21 year old. I'm talking about a 21 year old in our grandparent's day, not the "30 is the new 20," or "40 is the new thirty" references to male immaturity nowadays. We cut up at work all day, I'm full of energy, and like to play. I like watching GI Joe PSA's on youtube, as well as those Lego FF vs NH videos. I could still do a night out at a bar or a club and enjoy it. I can also play at the park with my 6 year old like I'm another 6 year old. Age is just a state of mind. You can be young without necessarily being immature.

I think that to a certain extent, the comforts, technologies and indulgences in our current culture encourage the immaturity you're talking about.

No, it's not necessary to be super serious and never have a good time, but I do think that it impinges on life to not approach it from a non-immature standpoint. (That's my lame attempt to not say "Grow up!")