Maturity, No jokes about cheese, please. Options

[Polocrunch]

I have recently found myself discussing maturity and what makes you mature or immature. I thought I'd bring this to Matazone because we're all of varying ages and maturity, and many of us have done a lot of maturing and growing while we're here.

So what is 'maturity', what does it entail and how does one recognise it?

[snooodlysnoosnoo...]

I'd say that maturity entails being able to recognise when it is appropriate for you do to certain things. For example as a child you learn when it is appropriate for you to talk and when it's not and this is the very begining of the maturing process.
You build on this as you grow; you learn when it's appropriate to joke and when to be serious, when to hold your tongue and when it's ok to speak your mind etc.
I think a large part of being mature is being immature every now and then so that you don't grow a stick in your a**e and act like a stuck up... stuck up thing.
Although I'm probably completely misintupreting your question.

[Snugglebum the D...]

I think maturity comes with responsibility.

As you get older and become accountable for your own actions, you have to mature. The stuff you get away with as a kid just isn't appropriate in an adult world.

Something like that anyway...

[Polocrunch]

Snugglebum, do you think that your having a baby affected your answer here?

This isn't much to do with the thread, but it would be interesting to see if people's definitions of maturity reflect their personal experiences.

[Snugglebum the D...]

Snugglebum, do you think that your having a baby affected your answer here?

Absolutely! I'm forever trying to deny all that makes me responsible and mature. I never thought that I'd be mature enough to be held accountable for a whole other life.

Some people shouldn't be allowed to pro - create. I'm pretty sure I'm one of them...

[beleraphon]

taking responsibility for your actions is fine, but thinking before acting, and having the willpower to not do something because of the consequences implies maturity.

[Righteous]

I think seriousness has something to do with it as well. I'm not saying that to be mature you have to be like Mr. Spock. It's more like taking your life and its direction seriously and knowing when to be serious. Responsibility is a big part of that. Snuggs reminded me of when my parents met. He was plesently suprised that she wasn't some goofy twenty-something like the ones his friend had introduced him to before. According my dad, she was "very mature. In fact, I thought she was at least twenty-five." My mother was twenty-one when she met my father, who was thirty-one. What made her so mature, according to my dad, was the fact that two-and-a-half years before, she had my older sister and took responsibility for her daughter and began taking her life seriously. That's one aspect of maturity, I think.

[PsychWardMike]

Hmmm... Maturity. I guess I'll be the first to say something to the effect of your body. Yes, your body definitely shows off a lot of your maturity - I don't mean just boobs or hair or anything. Take the eyes of an 18 year old and put them up against those of a thirty year old. You can see experience and, indeed, maturity through someone's eyes. Hell, I've looked into 6 year old's eyes that have shown more maturity than others.

Does that make sense?

Apart from that, I think maturity has a lot to do with everything mentioned, but will throw in the "learning from your mistakes and fortunes." People put too much emphasis on learning from your mistakes (You touch a stove that's hot and it burns you. You don't do it again.) but never enough on your fortunes (You use said stove to make a tasty soup.) Learning from the past is a definite sign of maturity.

How about that? Does that one make sense either?

As for STD (hee hee!) (Yeah I'm immature) I don't think I'll ever be mature enough to take care of another life.

[MistressAlti]

Maturity is realizing the responsibility of your actions before you do them, and also to carry through on those responsibilities after those actions have affected your life and the lives of others around you. Maturity is acknowledging your possibilities for success, as well as your flaws and limitations, and working toward whatever goals you set for yourself.

[Jonman]

Maturity is directly proportional to the amount of hair that grows in places where hair shouldn't.

I'm dead mature, I am.

[Righteous]

A quote from my haggard, cynical old dad:

"Maturity is getting older and realizing how stupid you were."

I just figured I'd throw that in.

[{Gothic Angel}]

Ooooh! Ooooh! I was talking about this with my best friend the other day (over a cup of coffee in starbucks- any day now, we're gonna have to move to Europe).

Being 16 year old girls, we have a distressing tendancy to think and talk about sex 24/7 and her mum keeps accusing her of being "really immature" to the point where its actually upsetting her cos no matter what shes talking about she gets accused of immaturity. I don't think thats fair so after a long debate we came up with the following:

"Maturity is not leaving immaturity behind. It is knowing when it is appropriate to be immature and when to grow up. It's being able to pick out the important things in life that really need your attention and serious thought, but also knowing when to have fun."

See! I can be clever

[snooodlysnoosnoo...]

"Maturity is not leaving immaturity behind. It is knowing when it is appropriate to be immature and when to grow up. It's being able to pick out the important things in life that really need your attention and serious thought, but also knowing when to have fun."

See! I can be clever

woo! at least I'm not the only person who thinks that.

sorry.

/spam

[FishFace]

But at the same time you DO need to act maturely every now and again. This is because people who say "You're always serious" really get on my nerves. I'm not. Just because I don't marinade my brain with drugs, scar my lungs with tobacco or get p***ed off my face every friday does NOT make me serious.
You have to be serious in some aspects but loopy in others. It's called balance

But yeah, it's something to do with levels of thought. "I know that this will mean that you will think that I will think that she will..." etc. Younger people can't do this as well as older people, and this is part of maturity. Certainly part of the 'dictionary' maturity
However, there is a more abstract thing for it, too - ethics, morals, introspection, etc all come with maturity, I think. Of course, some can be left out, others can be added, but that's the type of stuff.

[Pixelgoth]

I agreed with most peoples points here. So I won't repeat them However what about maturity being dependant on the person involved. For example, a 16 year old might consider a 10 year immature and a 25 year old might consider a 16 year old immature and so on. Am I making sense?

[Spacehappy]

I agreed with most peoples points here.  So I won't repeat them   However what about maturity being dependant on the person involved.  For example, a 16 year old might consider a 10 year immature and a 25 year old might consider a 16 year old immature and so on.  Am I making sense?

All of those ages groups consider me immature. I personally feel it's what you do in a given situation. Some serious situations need humour, some silly situations need seriousness, i think being able to recognise what a situation needs and when is the sign of maturity.

I personally have a huge way to go, as you can see from the meet photos

[Mutilation]

and many of us have done a lot of maturing and growing while we're here.

How did I manage to go backwards? Nobody knows.

But maturity is not being a jerk, so I am a 4 year old Nintendo fanboy.

[Pixelgoth]

All of those ages groups consider me immature. I personally feel it's what you do in a given situation. Some serious situations need humour, some silly situations need seriousness, i think being able to recognise what a situation needs and when is the sign of maturity.

I personally have a huge way to go, as you can see from the meet photos 

Perhaps I should have said these groups expect the lower age groups to be immature?

[Sir Psycho Sexy]

Maturity is threatening people online *nods*

[Pixelgoth]

Maturity is threatening people online *nods*

Shhh you or I'll set my Dad on you!

[Feyliya]

Maturity is also being old enough to distance yourself from things enough to truly understand them. Being able to step back from yourself and look at another's point of view.

Maturity is to realize that you know nothing in the grand scheme of things and that you will never know anything in the grand scheme of things and that nomatter how great you are at something that there will always be someone or something better than you at it and that it's okay because you are you and you are unique and the universe wouldn't be quite the same without you as you are in it.

Maturity is realizing that everyone has opinions and beliefs that differ and realizing that sometimes nomatter how long or hard you try you will never be able to talk someone into believing the same things the same way you do. Being able to agree to disagree.

Maturity is being able to walk your own path without worrying what others will think of you and realizing that it really doesn't matter what others think of you.

It's kind of sad how few "adults" today fit my standard of maturity...

[danm567]

The word "maturity" has 3 senses in the dictionary:

1. adulthood, maturity -- (the period of time in your life after your physical growth has stopped and you are fully developed)
2. maturity, matureness -- (state of being mature; full development)
3. maturity, maturity date, due date -- (the date on which a financial obligation must be repaid)

May I recommed you check out:

http://www.uwec.edu/counsel/pubs/defnMaturity.htm

[TehRoxxorCOD]

Like everything else not set in stone, maturity is relative and highly subjective. Therefore, I submit that "maturity" is the state that oneself is always in, whereas "immaturity" is the state of one's younger sibling.

[Faerieryn]

Can't remember whether I have posted her or not but I can't find my post so here goes.

I feel that maturity is one of those things that you don't realise you have until you compare yourself to others. It comes from having responsibilities, looking back on your life and judging your mistakes and accepting them and being able to see and accept other people's mistakes without judging THEM