No, I certainly don't think it's easy. I respect you for the way you've persevered through such times, and I hope you made it through okay <33 I deal with peer pressure, too. I'm a teen, okay? I know what it's like, as you did back then. I'm fortunate enough to have many good influences in my life, who thankfully don't pressure me to do drugs or to get intoxicated, and many would advise against it. I got lucky. But that doesn't mean I haven't dealt with people who want me to do things I don't want to do, or felt the natural distance when I was "different" from them. And I respect you for what you've pushed through.
I made it through just fine and so will you and you'll be happy you didn't let other people tell you what to say or how to live. Though, it is a good idea to take advice sometimes, boy, the many times I said, Dang, Dad, you were right in the last 15 years is annoying lol
It is just a phrase of speech, and a silly thing, you're right. Which is why I struggle to see why you're being so stubborn about it. I'm not asking you to change something huge. We're trying to correct you when you act in a condescending manner towards Robin, who asked not to be addressed as "just a kid" because it makes a person sound...small and incompetent. Which isn't true. It's that simple.
Really. It's that simple 
But I never said "just a kid". People keeping saying that like it makes it true but go back and read it again. I said You're a kid. Just like I would say, you're a blonde, or you're a trekkie. It's a descriptor, by putting your own voice behind it and assuming things I didn't say or mean is taking it the wrong way. I've said multiple times on this forum being a kid is not a bad thing. I like kids or I wouldn't have had 4 of them.
Do you remember what it's like to be young? I'm sure you do, at least somewhat, unless you're like my mom who can hardly remember anything at all haha. When you get treated like a kid, it can bother you sometimes. You're trying to become independent and to find your own way in the world when it can feel like the whole world is against you. I'm not blind to teenage drama or hormones or mood swings. Trust me, moodiness and I are old friends. But calling someone "just a kid" when they respectfully asked you not to is a little unnecessary.
Of course, I remember and I am also experiencing it again with my own kids. I let my kids do a lot of their own decision making and try to make them as independent of me as I can. Nothing worse than proverbial devouring mother. But I'm still going to call them "kids". I use Bud, Kid, Kiddo often. Literally just today, I was talking with some coworkers about unrelated things, and they were talking about going on a cruise with all the "kids" including their adult children. It's just a word. I will probably use it for the rest of my life to describe people younger than me, just like the older people before me.
And I think I came across as overly aggressive. Don't get me wrong, I do care about this. But it really is very petty and not a topic that needs to be continued further. I'll definitely admit to pushing this topic forward, yes, but I'm saying things I feel need to be said.
It is extremely petty to take offense at the word kid, or middle aged or whatever. (boomer actually only has the intent to be disrespectful) Generational differences exist and the best thing to do is laugh about it, accept they exist and move on. Honestly, I never thought that would be the thing in my post that set people off. I figured people would go on a tangent about science vs nature or something like that. I didn't even think that the word kid, would set off an avalanche.
At the end of the day, none of us can change your mind, you can continue to ignore our respectful asks (and you can't deny it, for the most part, our posts have been respectful), and we can all move on happy as can be expected I'm sure that's what many of us want.
No you can't and frankly, the more I'm pushed the less I want to do it. If Robin had private messaged me instead and asked, it's likely, I would have edited the post and removed it. But instead it had to be this big drama thing over the word "kid". But she won't do that because it's not her intent to be friends with me or even to be friendly toward me and frankly, at this point, I wouldn't trust it because of all of our history.
And I apologize if we came across as ridiculous, "silly girls," or generally overdramatic. I'll admit, teens do get like that sometimes (and yes, I am 16. I know what it's like to be a teen. I'm learning to drive and I have a job where I make actual money, so I do know what maturity feels like, and I think most of these posts have been delivered in a respectful manner, including yours, kikya). I think the reason we all see this as a big deal is because Robin is one of our own. We're protective of friends, which is in my opinion an excellent trait to have so long as it's applied in moderation (and I'm willing to admit that we may have pushed this a bit too far), so I'm sorry if we're coming across as unnecessarily pushy about this.
Other than one slightly emotional post about a past issue, my posts have been respectful and some of the responses have been as well. It's an admirable trait to defend a friend however, when will that friend learn to defend herself if you do it for her? and how many people does it take to "defend" one person who should be able to defend herself?
