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Most countries approve of 18 years and above as the formal age of adulthood. Nigeria is not an exception. It is believed that once a person reaches eighteen, the person should be able to know what responsibility is, live independently, and differentiate between evil and good properly
It is from that age that the government can recognize such a person and can assign responsibility to the person. Whether a person a tall, big, smart, or intelligent, as far as the individual is not up to eighteen, he or she is still considered a child as such the person can not enjoy certain privileges.
Is it too early or late?
Well, these days children tend to grow very fast and their intelligence Quotient level is very high. Some teenagers can handle situations that most adults can not
Some of them are smart and mature in their dealings. Going by this one might be tempted to say eighteen is even too much, it should have been sixteen or seventeen.
Maturity is the thing of the heart, it has little to do with physical looks or numbers. Some persons even at age 50 still behave like children and some children, at age sixteen already are adults.
The number and the size don't matter, though experience also counts, the more we live, the more we experience certain things in life, and certain aspects of childishness get pruned from us.
There is nothing wrong with 18 years, it's a very good ground for a start, at that age, some particles of childhood are still, sometimes even down to 24 years. One can have all the time to make all the mistakes, and make necessary corrections by the time the person is arriving thirty, he or she must have learned so much about life.
But does age really matter? Many people look at age and some, even physical looks, as a parameter to judge maturity but for me, those things don't count, I consider the attitude of the person. Let's not get carried away by age alone, the way people speak, the way they think and how they handle situations that come around their way can show how mature they are.
My sister's ten-year-old boy is learning gas welding just close to their house. His mom gives him food every day before he goes to work.
Last term when school resumed, the boy brought some money to his mom and said "Mommy, use this money and get me some books."
She was surprised, she questioned where he got the money from and he told her, it was the breakfast money his boss used to give them, he had been saving his from the first day until that time.
My sister didn't believe him, so she took him and the money to his boss, the money was about one thousand Naira. She asked the boss if he gives them money for breaks and he said "Yes, he does' ' and told her the amount he gives them daily.
When she related the matter to me I was surprised, where did a child like that learn the relevance of savings at that age? Many adults in his shoes would have wasted that money even if they always carried food from home to the shop.
In the end, a person can be mature at any age, and also be a child at any age regardless of what is approved by the government and society.
