What’s the Difference Between Childhood and Adulthood

Men face various phases of life. From being just a little fetus inside the mother’s womb, to being a toddler, a child, a teenager and then an adult, these phases are all being faced by any man and woman. And each phase is equally challenging as the others… challenging for both the person him/herself and the people around him/her who have been watching and guiding him/her all the way.

The most compared among these phases are childhood and adulthood. This is not only because these two phases are entirely opposite in terms physical attributes of the person himself, but also because of the number of other aspects which all seem to be on opposite sides. But, it is also worth considering that however opposite these two may look like, there are still worth noting similarities that are evident in the people going through these phases.

Childhood and Adulthood Differences

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Childhood covers the age between 2-17 years old for women and 2-20 years old for men. Adulthood, on the other hand, starts when the person reaches maturity and that’s 18 years old for women and 2 years old for the men. But the difference is not merely on the numbers as there is more to it than that.

During childhood years, the person seems to cling and acting like totally dependent to the people around him. The parents, older brothers or sisters, aunts, uncles and even the older neighbors will serve will be looked up to by the child.

They will be the people whom the child will depend in terms of the most basic needs he has such as food, clothing, shelter, education and much more. Whereas the adults, they are more dependent onto themselves alone. The already learned how to feed themselves and even look for the means where he can get his own food. Even his clothing is not provided by anyone else but himself alone.

Much more, at this phase of his life, he may already have a shelter of his own or he is already saving for one. At the same time, the basic educational level – primary and secondary – is already finished and its either he is finished or almost finished with the tertiary level. This would mean that he can be a university student, a university graduate or already part of the country’s workforce.

In terms of responsibilities, there is also a big difference between childhood and adulthood. During childhood, the person himself is not accountable to anything. It will be his parents or his guardians who will be responsible for whatever actions he may commit o whatever decisions he will made.

In fact, the child is normally no allowed to do any decision by himself. He is always guided and looked upon to. Wherever he may go, he needs to ask his parents’ or guardians’ permission. Whatever he wants to do, may it be for his life or for his things, he will need to consult his parents and/or guardians first.

If in times he commits mistakes, it will be his guardians or his parents who will take the blame. And they are the very people who will teach the child on how to learn from such mistakes. In the same manner, if in moments of challenging times wherein the child commit some deviant behaviors making him to sway away from the righteous parts, it will be the parents or the guardians who will be accountable for such deviant acts because it would seem that they have not given the right moral education for the child.

To sum up, during the phase of childhood, it will be the guardians’ and/or the parents’ responsibility to hone the child according to the society’s moral standards and they will be the very people ho will hold sole responsibility for the child – his actions, ways of thinking etc.

Meanwhile, as for the adulthood, the exact opposite happens. The person who just reached maturity and adult phase of his life will then have to be accountable for all his actions and decisions. He will now be the one to decide for himself and even for the little ones who are now looking up to him. He will have to decide what he wants to do with his life.

He will be deciding whether to continue working or not. He will be deciding whether to move and build a house of his own or stay where e is right now. Every big and little decision will be entirely on his shoulders during this stage.

Not only that, he may need to take responsibility for making decisions for other people who are now depending on him. Because he just reach the age where he may have his own family and kids, he needs to ensure that not only himself is safe from troubles and problems, he must take into consideration his own kids and other family members. In short, as one reaches adulthood, it would mean that the person himself is accountable for himself and other people.

It would seem that he will be returning the favor that his parents or guardians did when he was just o the childhood phase. Now it will be his time to serve as the role model for the youngsters. Now it will be his time to take the blame when he did something shameful and deviant. Now it will be his time to be responsible for the wrongdoings that his kids may have done.

In terms of financials, there is also very big difference. Because during the childhood phase, the child is not responsible to anything, it just a common tendency that he will no be worrying about the money. Thus, he would just want to buy things (with his guardians’ or parents’ permission of course) without thinking of where to get the money or what will happen for the future.

Whereas when he reaches adulthood, he will tend to be very practical in terms of financial consumption. This is brought by the fact that he is the one earning and will have to be responsible whether he will have enough saved money. He will need to learn to prioritize things which item is necessary, which item is just for luxury, etc.

Similarities

As for the similarities, most will be on the psychological part. The likes and dislikes of the person facing the different phase of his life may stay the same. Like for example, if the child dislikes some things or have some phobias over some things, this dislike and/or fear will remain until he reaches adulthood.

Also it is very typical for the child to act like an adult during role-playing while it is also typical for adults to act childlike some times during the adulthood. Thus, this sows that whether childhood or adulthood phase, the person himself is accepting what may lie ahead in the future or what he was when he was just a child.

Conclusion

Indeed, there is a big difference between childhood and adulthood. The physical appearance definitely changes. The level of responsibility grows from nothing to everything.

The awareness of financial accountabilities changes from being guided upon to being the driver or the person-in-charge. It is really a big change that every person faces as he moves on with his life. But however challenging and different each phase may be, each phase is always worth looking forward to.

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