The argument behind maturity and adulthood
The transition from childhood to adulthood is always a challenging encounter with different people giving different definitions for what is defined as adulthood. Many people use age as a mark for defining the entry to adulthood. Other people believe that adulthood is determined by the responsibilities that an individual is faced with and the obligation that the responsibilities have to be undertaken. The confusion between adulthood and maturity happens with a group of people thinking that maturity is sign of adulthood whereas others believe that maturity is independent of adulthood. The argument behind maturity and adulthood is that age is only a factor in adulthood, but maturity is purely based on the ability to accept responsibilities. The pattern of adult-life growth involves recognizing that one is an adult, being able to face challenges and the ability to make decisions that help in overcoming challenges.
The recognition that I was already an adult did not come without paying the price. Becoming pregnant at the age of nineteen was a lesson hard-learned that I was already an adult and had serious responsibilities to undertake. The years preceding the pregnancy had been a spend-down path with the assumption that my parents were still responsible for taking care of me as a child and thus had few responsibilities to deal with at the time. The pregnancy with a daughter was a significant turnaround since I had to realize that new responsibilities were ahead of me and that I had to be responsible for someone the same way I had depended upon my parents. As a parent, I had to understand that my daughter needed to get a better life and had to have her mother as a role model. My daughter had the right to have a mother for a benchmark, and I was not willing to make her lose that. Generally, age nineteen was a great age for me and can be said to be the year I became an adult.
Becoming a parent at a young age was a great challenge. The fact that I was still in school when I got pregnant posed the challenge that I had to balance between books and giving attention to my daughter. Also, finishing school and getting a job that would cater to the financial needs of my young family was not an easy task. The real challenge came in when I got my third child. Being a mother of three children proved to be a real task. It is always the responsibility of the parent to teach the children how to be respectful and being responsible. The responsibility to teach the children on the need to lead goal-oriented lives was my goal as a parent.
Several factors motivated the acceptance of responsibility. First, the age at which the pregnancy with my first came was at the peak of physical performance (Springer US, 2019). Psychologists have referred to the age between adolescent and adulthood as the peak where individuals can pursue happiness at all costs. Also, the observance of human goals and happiness activities were more significant players in making me accept the responsibilities that had come my way. My children needed a mother to lead them to happy lives, and I was prepared to be that mother.
In sum, the recognition of adulthood is an individual experience that is forced by circumstances. Though age could play some part in defining adulthood, the responsibilities that come to different people play the largest part in defining adulthood. Strive for happiness could generally motivate the acceptance of responsibilities and recognition of adulthood.