In our mentality, growing up is painted with a negative color. Being an adult is boring, difficult, and generally the end of life and freedom. It is not surprising that most people delay this moment as long as possible, not taking responsibility for their lives and preferring to remain a psychological child or teenager. However, Wikipedia is not so gloomy in its definition of an adult. An adult is a person who has reached a certain age, and in relation to whom there is reason to believe that he has physical and mental maturity. An adult individual has the necessary knowledge and skills that allow him to make important decisions on his life path. Compared to adolescents, adults are endowed with greater rights and greater responsibility. As a rule, adults are able to provide for themselves. Entering adulthood, depending on local legislation, is accompanied by the acquisition of rights such as driving a car, traveling abroad independently, participating in political life (obtaining the right to vote and be elected), sexual relations and marriage. That is. adult life implies the expansion of freedom, while a child is a subject being. It only seems that he can live for his own pleasure. But in fact, adults decide for him. They decide what to wear, where to go, when to return home, where to study, with whom to communicate. And it doesn’t matter how old this child is, five or thirty. He is a child, which means he is dependent (primarily financially), which means that he will dance to someone else’s tune. And an independent adult can choose where and how to live. If growing up goes correctly, then a person does not lose himself, but, on the contrary, finds himself. He, like pieces of a puzzle, puts together his personality: from his interests, needs and acquired skills. If he is missing some piece, he is able to find it and put it in its place. An adult does not give up his hobbies and desires. He integrates them into his life. He is looking for a flexible balance between “I want” and “I need.” Proper growing up is a gradual expansion of responsibilities and rights. Those. It’s not like a person woke up one day and whoops – he turns out to be an adult. Here's a bag of adult life for you, grab it. Of course, this will be a shock and an unbearable burden for many. Hence the attitude that growing up is difficult, unpleasant and not everyone can do. Therefore, it is necessary to cultivate the adult part in a child long before he turns eighteen and officially comes of age. But at the same time, expand not only the area of ​​responsibility, but also the area of ​​rights and freedoms. Then, by the age of twenty, he will come not with horror of adult life, but with interest and curiosity for new opportunities that are opening up..