When did you first realize you were an adult and how old were you?

I’m still waiting.

not there yet. I still think I’m nineteen.

For me, the realization occurred over time—no one big moment. I do recall that when I was in my 30s and married, yet still feeling I was in my 20s, calling my mother and telling her that I had looked in the mirror that morning and realized I wasn’t a kid anymore. “Honey,” she said, “you haven’t been a kid for a very long time.” That was kind of a shock.

I had to be half adult at far too young an age.

It’s quite difficult to remind myself that I’m allowed to have fun.

I lost my adulthood at 13. I regained my childhood at 51. Dotage will no doubt surface my infant self.

When I was 61 and my husband left. (Only half-joking.)

Edit my answer above. I lost my CHILDHOOD at 13. I shouldn’t start typing before the coffee is ready.

When my german shepherd saw me as more than a friend.~

When my first child was born (I was 23).

@gailcalled When my first child was born I felt like I was still a kid thrust into an adult situation.

For me, the realization (realisation?) came suddenly and in an unexpected way. One day when I was about 29, after a hard days work, it struck me; I smelled like my dad did during my childhood.
I know this was not the first time but it was the first time I put two and two together and came to the conclusion that just like my dad was, I was the adult now, even though I did not know everything like an adult is supposed to.

Subsequently I have come to realize that he was probably just faking it like I still do. Guess I should have issued a spoiler alert before making this statement. I can picture all these youngsters mouths dropping open at this admission. Ah lost innocence!

I realized my mom was a fallible human around age 15, but truly felt like an adult around age 20, even though I moved out on my own when I was 17.

Soon….very soon.

I’m an adult? Really? Damn… how sad.

I’m only 23. Feel like I’m about 22.

The first time a clerk called me “Ma’am.” I was around 28, but despite the fact that I recognized my adult status, I didn’t feel it for much longer. Come to think of it, I still don’t feel entirely grown up. I function as an adult, but I don’t _feel_like one particularly.

I’m still a half-adult-half-child. So the answer is I DON’T KNOW

Probably around age four or five. My personal definition of adulthood as certainly changed over time, but I have always been very independent, mature, and…well, adult-like, ever since I can remember. In relation to the other kids around me who were my age, I have always felt like an adult. I was one of those kids who always wanted to be a real adult already. People would always say the usual, “Don’t be in such a hurry/grow up too fast, you’ll look back one day and miss being a kid.” But I haven’t missed it at all, for the most part, and I find that I am growing into “official” adulthood quite nicely, since I am finally starting to feel my age. I have always been very self-aware as well; I knew I was agnostic, though I did not know a word for it, by around that time. I know that this must sound odd, but it’s true.