How quickly do bois grow up?
There is a strange dichotomy in many of the TG stories – it seems to be accepted in the wider (real) world that girls are mature more quickly than boys – both physically and especially emotionally.
But in the TG-Story world, time after time, the ‘new-girl’ displays skills and abilities far in excess of her age-equivalent girl friends. Two reasons spring to mind - wishful thinking and perhaps that the pressure of being T-in-hiding actually gives such people a speedier maturity.
I would enjoy some feedback - as I feel there is a story here !
Thanks
Alys P
Comments
bois?
Is this some recently discovered gender?
As far as I'm concerned neither recognised gender grow up as fast as they did 50years ago. They might look it but underneath, nah.
Most children these days are wrapped in cotton-woll by their parents. They are not allowed to be independent. Not allowed to do things like travel on the train or bus on their own. They are ferried everywhere by their loving parents.
Now does that prepare them for the big bad world out there?
By time I was 16 I'd been all over the place on my own either by bike, bus or train. Cycling down to Brighton was not a problem even though the round trip was 50miles.
I'd been to festivals and even the free concerts in Hyde park including the one given by The Rolling Stones. All on my own.
When I left home to become a student, I knew the ropes. I'd also been working for 4 years and going t ocollege at night.
I even knew how to fill in a Tax return.
Would the typical 16-17yr old even have a clue about that?
Sure things were different then but this wrapping up of children in cotton wool is in my eyes a bad thing.
It seems that today, parents are more protective of their girls. Back to victorian times eh? Then you had to have a chaperone with you.
Just my £0.02p worth . Can be totally disregarded.
A big part of this is because
A big part of this is because of the way the government watches everything. People have been arrested because they let their child play in the front yard alone.
maturity really depends on the person and their situation.and maturity often comes from struggle and problems. This can be gradual healthy build up or a sink or swim situation that can make or break a person.
In the well written stories the characters mature quickly but in a realistic fashion with all the complications thereof. The less well done ones have them mature immeDiately and become well rounded adults with barely any help.
both genders
Experiencing life in both genders could give different perspectives which might result in more "maturity". A similar effect might come from being bilingual. But I think most comes from authors making heroines artificially mature. In real life, new women may actually be more immature due to missing growing through girlhood.
Maturing.
I think Samantha D has a valid point. It's partly life circumstances that determine how quickly one matures.
In the 18th and 19th century children were going down mines at aged 9 or 10 though sadly an extremely high percentage never reached any degree of chronological maturity because they were often dead before they were 16.
Seriously dangerous life circumstances (if a child survives them!!) certainly accelerates maturity of sorts but one then has to define maturity and not confuse it with ignorance or naievity.
My own life circumstances have been well documented here, but I was too ignorant and too naieve to realise just how dangerous they were.
After escaping (absconding) from borstal at aged 14.5 years, then living on the streets and descending into transvestite child prostitution, I eventually ended up crossing the Atlantic as a cabin boy before my 15th birthday.
Did these experiences mature me? Possibly not or even more correctly; probably not - for I certainly could not relate to people in the ordinary social ways. I was certainly dysfunctional and cripplingly defensive but I was also street wise, selfish and quick to spot any opportunity.
I survived I suspect because I had no moral compass or social inhibitions about attempting just about anything.
There was never any 'guardian adult' throughout my early years to say 'be careful! - look out! - you could hurt yourself doing that! - that's wrong! - that's not acceptable and so on. I had no values to give me caution or evaluate risks and I had very low expectations.
Did this make me mature faster? I don't think so! It wasn't until I met older men who cared, that I learned about standards, respect, and consideration for others. I was nearly twenty three when I met my future wife, before I acquired those characteristics and then learned to live by them. Acquiring those qualities was a very painful epiphany.
Maturity is gained partly by parental example (education) as well as life's experiences.
Some may say kids have it easier today because parents try to protect them but I have to say this. I wouldn't like to be a kid growing up with all the immense pressures to get high educational grades and avoid getting a police record and so on and on and on.
I finally achieved some modest life success and I couldn't read or write at 15. So I have to say; - Define maturity; to me it seems a very subjective issue..