maturity

AP English language and composition

Maturity
Looking at the word maturity from society's perspective, what it means is to become an adult, to be a man or a woman instead of a boy or a girl, or to simply be old enough to attend the screening of an R-rated movie. But the actual meaning of being mature goes beyond turning 18 years old. Becoming Mature means gaining the ability to manage your self, knowing how to handle certain situations and thinking of the consequences of your actions. My mother always told me, maturity is defined by how you handle education, relationships, conflicts, being a parent and your everyday life. In reality maturity has little to do with the date on your birth certificate.

Middle school was where all the peer pressure and bad influence started to come my way. Throughout those three years I was bullied by a group of students that would pick on me for refusing to skip class and smoke marijuana after school. It is possible that there is a mature way to smoke marijuana but in my eyes and even at that age I knew that no thirteen or fourteen year old should do such thing.I was only fourteen at the time but despite my age I was able to reject these influences that in the long run would have affected me somehow. Thinking back to those hard years of middle school makes me realize how mature I actually was. Being able to reject the easy way out of the bullying was my true accomplishment and proof of maturity. Despite the torture, my achievements in middle school and high school are due to the way I handled peer pressure and thought about my decisions. Therefore there is no age to maturity, being mature is thinking about your decisions before making them, and realizing what's best for you.

Being faithful and patient in a relationship is another form of maturity. A beautiful and long term relationship comes from two people that know how to avoid the temptations of being unfaithful, and how to unite as a couple to find the right way out of difficult situations. An immature person would choose to walk away after or during an argument and have an affair as a way to release anger or frustration which would eventually create a much bigger conflict in their relationship. It takes maturity to step in and be the person to share his or her opinions without the need of an argument, it takes maturity to analyze the consequences of betraying the person you love, and it also takes maturity to resist the temptation of releasing your anger and frustration in the wrong way. A mature couple would know that the best way to handle a situation where there is an argument is not to walk out of the situation and be unfaithful to their partner as a form of escape, but to talk to their partner and discover the solution to the problem as a couple. Being mature means working with your partner, and making your relationship last without ever being unfaithful.

Another way to determine a persons level of maturity is by their way of handling certain conflicts. An individual is mature enough if they are able step away from situations before they become altercations. It is very easy to get angry and react to a situation in the wrong matter but there are also alternative ways out of the situation, ways that only a mature individual would turn to. For example, an immature person would verbally or physically react to receiving an unpleasant look while a mature person would ignore the problem and go along with their lives in order to avoid anything unnecessary. A mature person is who is able to think through and realize that an altercation is not necessary while and immature person is who reacts immediately without thinking through and realizing the consequences of their actions. The true maturity comes from walking away from the conflict instead of feeding into it and making it larger than how it was to begin with.

The most important way to determine maturity is how a person manages the role of being a parent. This way of defining maturity is important because the level of maturity a child will have as an adult or growing up is determined by the level of maturity of the parent while raising him or her. A child is like a sponge, everything around them is absorbed as the years go by. Therefore a mature parent would know that it is best to act appropriate and mature so they will influence their child positively. Being a mature parent consist of creating discipline in the child without spoiling or bribing the child for respect. A mature parent knows that the child should be taught to respect at all times and not when he or she is given something of interest, like a toy for example. therefore a mature person is truly defined by how they manage their children and how mature their children become in the future, because like I mentioned previously, a child is like a sponge and everything he or she sees from the parent he or she will absorb.

Maturity is not about how old you become or what privileges your age gives you,. Maturity is truly defined by how you handle the hardest situations in life those of which are, going to school, being in a relationship , being involved in conflicts, and being a parent. A mature person knows how to think through his or her actions and how to use his or her intelligence to get through all the ups and downs life brings their way. Being mature is truly about growing up inside and has nothing to do with how old you get on the outside.