David Pickup, a solicitor, considers the laws on growing up.
Now every year His parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up as usual… When the festival was ended …the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem …After three days they found Him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. From Luke 2
This familiar story is the only account of Jesus in His boyhood years. Because of her fright, it would have been one family story that Mary never forgot. At the age of 12, in that culture, Jesus would be just about to become a young man, and therefore have been eager to begin adulthood. Jesus knew He was not lost but in the right place. He said, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
Children grow up by enormous leaps and bounds. Turn your back for a minute and they have aged years. In Britain, the law does not fix any one age for when a child is suddenly a grown up. Instead, it is a gradual process.
At age 10 you can have your ears pierced, but your parent may have to be with you, and you can be convicted of a criminal offence.
From age 13 you can work part-time. I remember getting a card from a doctor to show I could legally work. I carried it around with me on my milk round and was slightly disappointed the police never asked for it!
At 14 you can enter a pub, but only if the landlord allows it. You cannot buy or drink alcohol, only soft drinks.
At 16 you can marry, with your parents’ consent. You can also ride a moped, and drink alcohol in a restaurant with a meal. You can open a bank current account and get a debit card.
Once you are 17, you can hold a driver’s licence.
At 18 you can vote, get a tattoo, bet, and buy and drink alcohol in a pub.
At 21 you can apply to adopt a child, become a driving instructor and apply for a licence to fly commercial transport aeroplanes and helicopters.
I suppose reading all this you might be wondering “why didn’t I do all these things as soon as I could?!”
Source : Parish Pump
