Monday, August 17, 2009

Should 18-year-olds vote?

We celebrated Nick's 18th birthday on Friday.
Nothing like a brother to help you party on...
Becca is a party animal, too. Cute boys. Well... maybe I should say crazy boys.
Nick brought his good friend, Chris, to his birthday dinner at the Texas Roadhouse Grill. They have the best prime rib ever! We are glad that Chris could join us.
Happy Birthday, Nick! We love you!
Really now . . . I have serious doubts about the age we consider our kids adults. I think they are too young at 18 to have the responsibility of voting, being on their own, getting married, and especially fighting our wars. Why do we push them out so early? Maybe we should let them hang around until they are 20 - no longer in the "teens" before bestowing all of the responsibilities of the adult world - let them get a couple of years of college under their belts and experience life other than high school before turning them totally loose. We don't let them legally drink until they are 21...
Riding the Birthday Saddle . . . Yee Haawwwww!
After the birthday dinner, Nick went to work with Allen and experienced what it is like to be in a jail. I think it really opened his eyes. The next day, poor Nick had the flu! He barfed all day long. What a way to spend your first Saturday after starting school! We were pretty worried about him and almost took him to the emergency room to get hydrated but he rallied in the evening and started keeping liquids down. He laid low on Sunday and drank lots of Gatorade and sprite. Today he was all better, thank goodness!

4 comments:

Sarah MomE25 said...

I have a really strong opinion on this age thing. And that is, that it depends on "who", not "when". Some kids are way more ready or mature then others. As you know, I got married extremly young. I was more of an adult at that time in my life then most 30 year olds. And the timing was very good for us. It put us both in a better situation then we were currently in. Now having said that, from my motherly point of view, I dont want to ever let my kids go.Not at 16, 18, or 21. That will be so difficult. They will always be my babies.

Patty said...

I agree that at 18 they haven't experienced enough of life to make big decisions such as voting.
I do agree that some 18 year olds are more muture than others but the majority are trying to find out who they are and what they want to be.

Bethany said...

18?? Why didn't I know he was that old??

Janet said...

After being a bishop in a student ward Lenny thinks the age of accountability should be at least 25.