Prepared for Departure

The typical high school graduate is 18 years old. High school graduates vary primarily between the ages of 16-19, with most places having a maximum age of 21. The legal voting age is 18. The legal age to buy tobacco is 21. The age to enter the military is 18. There is so much attention placed upon the decision making and buying power of many people in this age group that we often ignore the necessity to continue to train them about how to make decisions.

There is a legal definition of being an adult that aligns itself with the calendar and another that aligns itself with reality. Now, before you get all twisted with this, let’s be clear that everyone handles the development of their family members differently. The importance of how we teach, train and develop our young people does not come without adversity and adversaries. Adversity in how difficult making decisions can be. Adversaries, who have as their only objective, trying to figure out ways to sway, manipulate or otherwise take advantage of beginners who do not understand the impact of their decisions.

In the nomenclature of today’s young adults, this adulting thing can be overrated and overwhelming. In spite of this, it seems as though there are more and more ways fully developed adults are trying to find to have big decisions made by younger people. This can be a sobering reality that if we, parents and children, do not handle properly can create challenges for years into adulthood.

There are banks that want you to be in debt before you have an income. This will require solid understanding of how to handle money. There are schools that want you to enroll in them. This will require solid understanding of how to handle what you want to be. There are people who are in sports organizations that are aiming lower and lower to get our children involved in their activity. This will require solid understanding of how to handle priorities and resources.

The landscape of time allows us the benefit to learn from it. The disadvantage of youth is that they have not had the benefit of having a lot of it. Time is not the only factor for maturing, knowledge, principals and setting standards for your life are also important ones.

There is a whole lot of learning that goes between knowing stranger danger and deciding on a mortgage. We all have to keep learning and growing to adequately prepare a person for departure from the familiarity of the home.

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