Being called "kid" as an adult

Aaron112

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Does it drive anyone else nuts?!?
Didn't/doesn't Jesus say, unless you become as little kids you can never see the kingdom ?
I've enjoyed that - being and becoming even as a little child to be sharing in God's Kingdom.
 
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RileyG

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Didn't/doesn't Jesus say, unless you become as little kids you can never see the kingdom ?
I've enjoyed that - being and becoming even as a little child to be sharing in God's Kingdom.C
Children. Not kids. Children. Huge difference.
 
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Aaron112

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I am not familiar with his background.
I was not either, yet was very naive watching tv. It is produced to entertain people to distract us all from Godly lives. It does that every second of every day that so many billions watch.
 
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Bobber

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Does it drive anyone else nuts?!?

I am nearly 27, not a "kid," and haven't been for some time, and find it rather condescending.

Maybe I'm overreacting lol

Also, I much prefer the term "child" or "children" when referring to children.
Well I think you're somewhat over reacting. Maybe not totally depending on the tone of the one saying the statement. When I was 13 I looked upon someone in their twenties as full grown adults. Now I'm 65 I many times do look upon people in their twenties as still kids in a sense but I truly don't mean anything condescending about it. I even look upon people in their late 30's as kids FOR my kids or offspring are of those ages. You'll always think of your offsping as kids no matter how old they are.

When I'm thinking about veterans who were in WW2 and when I look at when they enlisted....my father and uncle both around 19.....the things they went through and many of them not surviving the war, and you look at the lists of names and are hearts are filled with sorrow and the thought that comes to mind is many of them were as we'd say mere kids. We're not saying that condescendingly but with tears in our eyes. These dear young people or very young adults didn't really get to live out a life. They were still in a very young stage of their lives.
 
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timewerx

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Wait till you hit 40. You'll take it as a compliment!

Nope, it's creepy!

At 41, at a wedding, I was approached by a bunch of teenagers from our new family. They thought I was one of them. I've been prevented from boarding a plane before because the staff thought I'm using fake ID / passport as I don't look my age. I had to reenter the airport building wearing a different jacket, going a different line and generally avoiding the same people who stopped me and it worked the 2nd time. Old neighbors look at me like an anomaly and moving away helped.

In the last few years, I've been undergoing the same level of physical training as an endurance athlete. It helped make me look older and closer to my actual age but not by much.
 
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Techo

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I think it depends on the way it's said, and by whom. Your Grandfather, for example, could call you that as a term of affection;
My son is 40 .... I sometimes refer to him as "kiddo" .... he's my "kid" and always will be ;o) He don't have a problem with it. It's a term of endearment actually.
I'd love to be able to end a statement with 'kid' or 'kiddo' but it seems unlikely that will ever happen... or that I'll ever have any contact with them. If you get that from family, count your blessings.
 
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Daniel Marsh

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Does it drive anyone else nuts?!?

I am nearly 27, not a "kid," and haven't been for some time, and find it rather condescending.

Maybe I'm overreacting lol

Also, I much prefer the term "child" or "children" when referring to children.
You are overacting, take into account of the age difference of those calling you a kid.
 
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RileyG

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You are overacting, take into account of the age difference of those calling you a kid.
ok. it just irritates me personally. I don't know why. I do not even like the word "kid" to begin with, I prefer "children" IMHO
 
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Techo

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Yeah... I suppose I'd not use 'kid' myself but 'child' or 'children' seems a bit less personal than 'kid'. Personally I'd prefer 'son' or, for one of my girls, 'lass' (but not 'lassie'... my distant Scottish ancestry only goes so far and a children's TV show killed that endearment).
 
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Divide

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hmmm...maybe. I still don't like the word "kid," as I still find it extremely condescending. heh heh

Nahh, really? Look at who says that to you. How old are they? They might be 50 or 60? Then you would still be a kid to them. I bet 20 year olds don't call you a kid, lol. So you shouldn't take offense on how someone talks. Flip the coin next time and see more than just what was said but by who in what circumstance. You are being too thin skinned!
 
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LovebirdsFlying

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"Kid." "Young lady." "Girl," as opposed to "woman." Oh, don't get me started.

(Too late?)

For what it's worth, I am pushing 60, and I thoroughly despise being addressed as "young lady" or hearing, complete with audible scoff and dismissive hand wave, that I'm "still just a kid." First of all, putting the word "just" in there automatically makes it patronizing, in and of itself. It renders me somehow less than the person speaking to me. Nobody likes to be told that they are "just" a housewife, or "just" a bus driver, or "just" anything. Furthermore, I am not at all worried about the implications of growing older. There is NOTHING wrong with age. Being young is in no way superior to being old. Therefore, I don't know why any of these phony-sounding reassurances that I am not old are thought necessary.

Besides, "young lady" is what they called me when I was four years old and they were telling me to stop dilly dallying and get myself into that bed. Continuing to call me "young lady" at my age is nothing if not condescending.

Especially since, when I was growing up, it was well drummed into me that people of the age I have now attained should be addressed as "ma'am" or "sir," as the case may be. Nowadays, my husband does indeed get the "sir," while I still get "young lady," the same as I did when I was a preschooler.

No, OP, I don't think you're overreacting at all. Unless I am too.
 
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LovebirdsFlying

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Oh boy! Did I get grief when I called my wife 'woman'! If we'd had a dog then I'd have been sleeping in his house... on more than one occasion (I'm a slow learner sometimes). She was my 'sweetheart' and she loved me calling her that.
Acknowledging me as a grown woman rather than a girl is not the same thing as addressing me directly as “woman” which is either innocent or disrespectful depending on context. John Lennon’s song “Woman” comes to mind, and in some translations of the Bible, that’s how Jesus addressed His mother.

I suspect you know that, and you’re making the same joke my ex-husband made when we were married. He had a habit of addressing me as “woman,” in the context of, for example, “Bring me my beer, woman,” or “Get back in the kitchen, woman. When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you!” I asked him to please not call me woman like that. He can call me *a* woman, but—

That was as far as I got before he cut me off. He maliciously turned the “a” into an inner-city slang sounding “hey,” with a dropped H, snapped his fingers at me, and barked, “(H)ey! Woman!” Acting for all the world as if he were only doing what I asked, you know darn well he was making fun of me.
 
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Techo

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Some times even the best spouse acts or speaks without sufficient consideration of how the other will react. And then you have the spouse who you wonder what you ever saw in them that you chose to marry them. Obviously there are a lot of duds out there but also there are some really nice people. It just takes care and consideration to find them.

Numerous times I would say something and my wife would hear it from a different perspective. She would then get annoyed at me. It took a fair bit of the twenty-two years we were married before we learnt that we weren't just saying something to annoy the other and that we actually meant it in some different way to what the other thought. It may have taken the cancer to adjust our understanding of what things are important and what we can just ignore.

But as far as using certain terms I suspect that it really comes down to context, intent and who is using those terms.

My dad is 95 and if he called someone, say 30 years younger than him, 'young lady' he would consider that he was complimenting them since, compared to him, she was young and there is the perception that older people would still like to be considered 'young'. But then, dad probably has a slightly warped sense of humour. He'd say, in the hearing of one of his female friends 'There goes a good looking sheilah'. Down under 'sheilah' is slang for a woman. She would get annoyed but we are not sure why. Her name is Sheilah.

My Great Aunts (3 of them and all never married) hated being called a Great Aunt or even Auntie. We had to call them 'the girls'... even when they were up into their 90s.

Sorry this has become so long... I just meant to post paragraph three but the post from LoveBirdsFlying left me sad and I was not sure if what I had previously posted might have touched a raw nerve. Love and Hugs!
 
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