That's quite the accomplishment, and is by far not the norm. I am 25 and have only been financially independent since 23, and even I am the anomaly amongst my peers.
I don't see what's wrong with my stereotype in this case. Most people under 25 are not financially independent, and it's mainly due to the society we live in, not the children themselves.
When my Dad was growing up, people had full time jobs at 16 years old and were married with kids by 25, where as today, the average person doesn't even graduate college before 23.
Stop calling us "children." It's offense and rude. How very convenient that the cutoff of adulthood is your own age—if you're going to insult vast numbers of functional adults, at least insult yourself in the process. Silly child.
First of all, you are in fact wrong. The majority of young adults do in fact live independently. [0]
Second of all, if you think that adulthood isn't reached until 25, why would you be advocating for reinforcing this supposed infantilization?
[How very convenient that the cutoff of adulthood is your own age]
I chose the number 25 because it is usually a few years after most people have graduated college and have entered the work force. The number 25 is used in many places as a "special" age. Insurance companies, rental car companies, hotel bookings, etc...
[you're going to insult vast numbers of functional adults, at least insult yourself in the process. Silly child.]
I don't know about your peers, but from my graduating class of ~1000, I would guess there were less than 100 who were completely independent by 23.
[First of all, you are in fact wrong. The majority of young adults do in fact live independently.]
I'd like to lend my support to "old enough to realize that the real world sucks".
By that measure, I reached adulthood two weeks short of my 25th birthday. That, of course, was when I was laid off for the first time, just after signing a year-long lease on a new apartment.
That's probably just coincidence, though. I'm sure that many people realized the real world sucks earlier than I did.
Most people don't get college degrees, so that's a poor jumping off point to begin with. Near 68% of Americans do not have a bachelors degree. Many who do enroll simply drop out long before graduating.
I see plenty wrong with the stereotype. I've been on my own since 17, too. I'm 28 now. In that time I've worked at nearly every job you can imagine, with no parents to beg money from or go back home to live with. I know what grinding poverty feels like, and how it's all the worse when you actually have a full time job. Doesn't mean I wasn't financially independent. There's lots of us in the same boat.
I eventually ground out night classes while working and job-hopped my way into industrial automation and a halfway comfortable life, so I understand the appeal of passing judgement from a high and mighty place - but don't. It's a particularly pernicious intellectual weakness.
I'm not trying to condescend people who aren't financially independent. Maybe the use of the word "children" wasn't the best, because I can see how it gives off that vibe. I am just pointing out what I have observed.
Most people at the age of 23 are not in a position to support themselves yet, which is kind of off-topic w.r.t my original point anyway.
The fact that there are people like you who were able to work hard and make good things happen at a young age doesn't nullify the fact that the average 23 year old is still dependent on their parents.
But what I was really getting at is that there is a certain level of judgement/wisdom that is obtained by working hard and living on your own/supporting yourself.
This can be learned at any age (as pointed out by my comment about my Dad working at the age of 16). However, many people today are not exposed to these types of desicions until after they get done school, which is usually at the age of 23.
Some people are forced into an adult mindset earlier than others. I've known 14 and 16 year olds that could be trusted with more responsibility than most 30 year olds. I've also met 60 year olds with a child's mindset. Clearly, age doesn't cause maturity, but it's certainly correlated with it.
An outlier can't be treated like the center of a distribution. Your own experiences don't mean that most 18 year olds aren't still children. It's not like the government is going to start maturity-testing people to decide when to start dispensing a basic income. They're more likely to test a "representative population" and set the age to the point where 2/3 test as "adult", or use one of the traditional age-cutoffs like 18, 21, or 25.
Don't stereotype.