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This is how I generally think of general descriptors of people's ages:
Baby: Birth to about 2
Early childhood: 2-5
Child: 5-12
Teen: 13-19
Young Adult: 20-39
Middle Aged: 40-59
Elderly: 60 +
These are of course approximations in the childhood/adolescent years. Sissy is 19, but I think of her more as an adult than an teen, though she is indisputably a teenager.
I like this system, as it divides adulthood into three roughly equal sized divisions, with an equivilent number for childhood, and a transitional period in between them. I use "teen" instead of adolescent, as adolescent is quite vague, while "teen" has a concrete meaning that everyone agrees on.
I also don't think in terms of value judgements of any kind. A 60-year-old is in my classification system old, but that doesn't imply a lessened ability to do things, or that I would expect certain behaviors from an old person. Young, middle-aged, and old are to me, nothing more than neutral descriptors, much like a number. I know my mom had a difficult time when she turned 40, and I've never been able to figure out why. Once you're past your last big milestone birthday, 21, birthdays are of little importance other than as a personal holiday. Middle-aged or elderly doesn't mean less able, worn down, or anything but that your numerical age has reached a certain point.
Gilda
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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.
~Steven Colbert
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