Why isn’t there a word for your grown up kids?

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  • June 28, 2017 11:11 pm at 11:11 pm #1307099
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    I’m writing a story about a lady and her kids.

    It makes sense at first because her kids were kids, children – BUT – later on, I have to explain that her kids are now adults.

    Why do I have to use all of those extra words when it’d be apparent had there been a word that means one’s grown up kids.

    Thank you! 🙂

    June 29, 2017 8:11 am at 8:11 am #1307160
    Ex-CTLawyer
    Participant

    There is no single word for this category of child in the English language.

    In court papers, we family law attorneys use the term: ADULT OFFSPRING

    June 29, 2017 9:00 am at 9:00 am #1307191
    Meno
    Participant

    Why not just say “her kids, who are now adults…”

    You just need to say that once. After that you can just call them kids or children

    June 29, 2017 6:47 pm at 6:47 pm #1308018
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Yes I can see how that would work in some cases.

    Right now I have a story to write (and have written similar ones – also wishing there was such a word) thay goes like…

    X and is amazing. Because of X’s awesomeness, her family is going to Disneyland!

    Why is she so amazing? First if all, X took her kids out of the Community Carnival where management fed little kids to side show employees who didn’t captivate enough of the audience to earn dinner that evening, and brought them to Disneyland with her!

    Now X, and her kids, who are now all grown up – Benji (24), Rooty (32), and Dudu (27) – are going to Universal Studios!

    June 29, 2017 7:34 pm at 7:34 pm #1308025
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    CTLAWYER: Wow, well thank you! Adult Offspring sounds less appealing so I can be grateful for having to work with this.

    Hmmm. Meno I hope my rights to the story are safe here… and I wrote it to show how it wouldn’t make sense, but that is after the details and stuff. I want to focus on X in the beginning, and only after learning more about the kids do I go into talking about them and their ages.

    If I dated it from the start, like “20 years ago X took her first child Sam into the woods…” people would get the age but then that could date the story or maybe create distance with the reader. I want the reader to feel it in the now.

    Thank you for making me think about it more creatively.

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