What makes you feel like a real grown up?

[RealHousewivesOfTaunton]

I made a slow-cooked beef stew today. Slow-cooking anything is a feat of organisation and planning that makes me feel like the sort of "real" grown-up normally only found in paperback novels. I then ruined it by pretending I was a medieval publican serving stew to the travellers at my tavern, but I had a moment of feeling like an actual adult.

Going to parents evening is another one, especially when the teachers are younger than me.

What makes you feel like a proper grown-up?

When I was 18 and started going out to nightclubs and bars, I remember thinking to myself, I'll never get bored of this. Even when I'm in my forties, I'll still be doing this

@Comedycook I felt exactly the same! And now I couldn't think of anything worse! 😂

Driving. I still can't believe I have a license to drive a car lol! I was a late driver (in my 30s when I took my test) so I just assumed I'd never do it. When I had my first baby I took the bus to go and meet a friend and it was such a horrific experience I made the decision then and there to learn to drive and I did! I feel like a real grown up now.

If I get the bin out before the others on the street.

Being in charge of every decision in my life day to day.

100% independent and self-sufficient, and I bloody love it. 😎

Always having milk, bread and toilet roll.

Just got my Government pension forecast.
Not sure if it makes me feel grown up or old.
😪

Cutting grass with a scythe and being at the age when I learned not to give many fucks 😀

Not much, really. The only times I can remember feeling like the real deal were when I drove adult DC to visit MIL in her nursing home. But only on the journey up the hill, never on the way back down.

Giving the vet permission to put my beloved sick dog down

Also this!

I didn't have an orgasm that a man gave me till my late 20s. I just tolerated sub-standard sex because I had cripplingly low self-esteem for the first decade of adulthood.

Now I am clear about what I want and feel very comfortable 'directing' a man who needs help with what he's doing.

🥺💐x

My own son, calling me to ask how to fix a leaking toilet in his flat.

Making dinner for my DC’s friends. Putting my electric car on to charge. Using comparison sites for insurance. Taking car to be serviced. Weeding, planting, anything involving pottering in the garden.

Scything is badass adulting. I have never scythed :(

I had this discussion at work today. There are a high number of people I think of as adults, with letters after their names and such, who feel like they're playing at being a grown up when they're at the airport on business trips.

Booking our marriage ceremony.

Getting my pregnancy notes for the second time.

Taking my baby home on the first night (without my mum who usually held my hand through most things growing up) and knowing I was the person feeding them.

Realising I no longer cared about my looks as long as my baby was healthy and happy in the early days. I'm pleased/sad to say I now do care about it again and I'm not fond of the ageing motherhood has caused.

My Mammy was a late driver too, definitely 40's & she HATED it but I admire her for trying, it was such an inconvenience growing up, even with good public transport so I swore that I'd drive at the earliest opportunity, it's a massive life skill & I think it should be taught during the dreaded "Transition Year, TY" in schools over here

Booking holidays or taking the kids to the GP.

On the other hand, I also like to imagine I'm a tavern wench when I'm cooking a pot of stew. Or if I'm balancing a laundry basket on my hip and hoiking my skirt up as I go upstairs, I'm a 18th Century peasant. Coughing and in bed, I'm a consumptive maiden. 😂 I even have outfits!

Driving, I only learnt a year ago (late 30s) so feel suddenly grown up and also surprised I'm allowed to drive this death machine.

Using the power tools at work, using the band saw for instance makes me feel like grown up. I'll get trained in the circular saw next and then I'll be a proper adult.

I feel like an adult who is going to get caught pretending to be one. I really can’t believe I’m an adult. I mean, I know I’m old enough to be one (I’m 40), but in my head I’m still the same as I was when I was young. I’ve just been around longer now.

Nothing really makes me feel grown up, despite the fact I do some very grown up things. I think I’m in denial.

I got my gutters replaced last year. I kept admiring them for weeks.
I think I’m a grown up now

Living alone at last. Only took sixty years.

Holding down a steady job.

know that in three days I'm going to be leading an event for 240 people (which I've organised), is a scarily adult prospect,

Turning in a light switch in my first flat the day I moved out of home, and knowing I'd get a bill with my name and address on it for the electricity I was using, was definitely my first adult wake up call.

re-pressurising the boiler!

I think I'm a bit odd because I sort of felt like an adult even when I was a child. Or at least, I strongly suspected that adults were bullshitting a lot of the time and didn't actually know or have any real justification for the things they said and did with an air of authority.
I was right