Do you remember as a child sitting at the edge of your desk, gazing out of the window and past the enclosures of your school, thinking ‘I wish I was a grown-up’, ‘what do grown-up do when I’m at school?’

The exciting yet terrifying step into adulthood has been traditionally defined by the 18^th birthday, or the 21^st, or the first car, or the time you picked your drunken dad up from the pub. For some of us though, adulthood is seemingly hard to define, have you hit your 22’s yet still feel like you’re 17? Or felt really weird paying your first electricity bill? It seems most of us from different ages, sexuality, gender and races feel completely different about what adulthood constitutes, or what it is at all.

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We spent the day asking the members of the public about being a grown-up; the responses confirm that the step into adulthood isn’t as certain and defined as we think.

Luke Cassidy, a 31 year old plumber, thinks it’s, “when your parents ask you for help”.

Lia Cassidy is 32 and works in marketing; she reckons it’s, “getting a job! When you get working and become an independent woman.”

Terry Moyland is 78, retired, and admits when it comes to adulthood, “I haven’t got there yet”.

We got a sensible response from the 27 year old geologist, Rachel Morgan, who said “It’s definitely when you get a mortgage”.

Body Piercer, Mya Clements is 24 and thinks adulthood is best defined when “you have others depending on you and put others in front of yourself”

We concur with 19 year old student, Steph Lazenby, who said “When you eat nutella out of a jar and get away with it”.

21 year old student, Alex Cook, came up with a good-un: “When you’re completely independent from your parents financially… and demographically”

For the 30 year old teacher, Victoria Gaunt, it’s “when you start paying bills and responsibility kicks in”.

PJ Attard, the 27 year old miner, is with Terry in regards to adulthood: “How do you know when you’re a grownup? I’m not sure if you ever do!”

So there we have it! If adulthood still seem like a big mass of undefinable to you, here’s an official definition from Macquarie:

-adulthood, n. a person who has reached the age, variously defined in different political systems and legal contexts, at which an individual is considered to be fully legally responsible and can assume certain civic duties, such as voting

Nadine Walker