To refer to 17 year olds as 'children'?

[containsnuts]

I noticed this a lot in the media lately and wondered what other people think of it. At 17 you can get married, drive, vote (Scotland) and are considered criminally responsible but somehow still often referred to as a 'child' in non legal contexts. What's wrong with 'teenager', 'young person' or 'young adult'? What are your thoughts?

I say young woman/young man but you will always be your parents child

If it was my child then I think that’s fine, but I work with students aged 16-21 and honestly if I called them children they’d revolt 😂

According to the law in England they are still a child, and regarded as a juvenile for the purposes of criminal offences until 18.

I do agree it is tricky territory though, as they can do various things at sixteen, and often feel as if they are adults, but certain things they can't do until eighteen.

According to the United Nations protocols they are not adults until eighteen.

Legally they're a child at 17, but it's know people don't fully mature until mid 20s.

When people say children vs young person would depend on context and sometimes the language used says a lot about the person's view.

Trigger warning - CSE

For example on a current thread about grooming and trafficking 17 year old children around the world for the purposes of abuse, I'd say it's fairly clear that that 17 year old minor is a child. Unfortunately some people seem to object to this because a 17 year olds is apparently very worldly and lots of 17 year olds have sex and it's all a big grey area.The refusal to view victims as children is generally hand in hand with trying to discredit the women who have come forward.

I don’t know.

My children will all still be in high school when they’re legally adults (they’ll be 18 their entire senior year) but since they’ll still be in school, they’ll still feel like “children”? I don’t know.

Again, to stress, my OP was referring generally to more everyday situations

I don't see an issue with it; your children will always be your children. My parents and in-laws still refer to me (25) and my partner (29) as 'the kids / children' and I have no problem with it at all, and we're having a baby of our own soon

I certainly wouldn't use "child" to describe a 16 or 17 year old. I just don't think the term describes that age group.

Apologies OP, my example was just an example to illustrate why I think context matters when people are choosing which term to use and that the term they choose tends to reflect their worldview.

I should have chosen a better one.

For example, when a poster is disgusted at the idea of their 17 year old having to do any chores because 'they're a child' then child is being said probably as part of keeping the 17 year old young and the poster probably babies their 17 year old. But I've also seen posts where parents justify charging their 16/17 year olds to live at home and they quite deliberately choose to ignore the fact that a 16/17 year old is legally a child, and is in full time education or training and those posters will typically avoid any reference to child because it would mean acknowledging they're charging a child to live in the family home.

I wouldn’t refer to a 17 year old as a child, even if it is legally correct.

With my group of friends when referring to our children we say “the kids” as in our kids,

I don’t think I’ve ever had cause to refer to someone sith a label but I’d. It say child I’d say older teen or young adult. Young folks deserve as much respect as older.

toffeeandcream

RE. to your midwife being under 25. I started my midwifery training at 22 completing it at 23 years.I had just qualified as a nurse before that at 21.

I still refer to my now two middle-aged sons as ''my children'' when in general conversation.One of them is now a grandfather, he was married at 19 and became a father before he was 20.