Floh, none of these 'boys' are married, most live at home or in a dorm at their parents' expense, they work at minimum wage jobs, and the ones under 21 can't buy a drink. Socially, they are definitely not men! Yet most are well-educated or getting to be, poised, worldly, competent and street-wise. Right now, there are a bunch of males in our library, playing video games, drinking Red Bull, breaking wind, laughing and insulting each other...No one would ever look into that room and say, There are 10 men in your library, Morag.
And I have worked for changes in the laws that permit those under 18 to be tried as adults. It sickens me to see the ill-treatment that juveniles are subjected to when they run afoul of the law, particularly when the juveniles have never been properly cared for by their parents.
I think that young people in America do grow up more slowly than some in other countries. In many ways, adult life in the US is harder than it is in the EU. Health care is not guaranteed, university is very expensive and must be financed privately, and the work days and work years are longer for American workers. I never got more than 3 weeks vacation when I was working, and that was only after 20 years.
So we do tend to allow our kids to have a longer period to be care-free and marginally irresponsible. You're only young once, and we are happy to see our son enjoying his youth and his youthfulness. He was mature enough at 18 to lead a party of his friends on a 2 month Eurail adventure last summer, and he handles his considerable freedom in a responsible way. But would anyone (except a cop) consider him to be a man? No.
