I'm 15, but think like a little kid?

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Hello everyone, this is my first thread

Anyways, I have a question for everyone in here, I would like to know if anyone here with AS has the mentality of a little kid. I am 15 however I feel like i'm 12 years old and although I enjoy it I feel like I'm making a fool out of myself whenever I do something. I still play with little kids instead of kids my age whenever I go to those family party things. Is it wrong for me to have that mentality? Does anyone have a similar experience? Thanks

I think there's been a study that says that the social and emotional maturity of an Autistic teenager or young adult is roughly equivalent to two-thirds of the chronological age. I often think and act like a kid too, and I'm eighteen...

i am stuck at mid twenties… that is half my biological age.

I'm 28 and sometimes I feel like I'm still in my mid to late teens. It feels like I graduated high school just a few months ago.

I think like a little kid also. I just don't want to grow up.

I'm a 21 year old living in the body of a 38 year old.

When you're autistic, you often don't soak up the culture around you; you don't really internalize the norms of the world as thoroughly as other people do. That means that many times, we are interested in things that aren't considered typical of our age, gender, social status--or typical of anybody at all, if it's a truly unusual interest.

Don't let anybody put you down for that. If you like to play with younger kids, then you like to play with younger kids. Besides, if your interests match theirs better, why shouldn't you? One of the most annoying things in the world is somebody who is so insistent on declaring that he's older than other people and thus superior to them and thus can never do any of that "little kid stuff", ever. That shows insecurity and ageism. Your enjoyment of things that are "younger" than your peers' interests tells me that you're less vulnerable to ever becoming one of those annoying people, even if you do eventually get interested in things that are "age-appropriate".

I'm 22 and most of the time, I feel like I'm 22.

Back when I was a teenager, a lot of people believed I had the mentality of an 6-year-old child, which was somewhat true at the time.

Don't feel bad about that, my young friend! I'm 44, but usually feel MUCH younger- say teens to 20s? So I think you are acting like a "normal", Autistic Teenager!

I think this is a common feeling for a lot of people, not just Aspies.

There's a part of me that "feels" three or four, but generally I think 17 is about right- old enough to know I should be mature and responsible, but young enough to not be mature or responsible.

I'm 42, but I think my mental development is stuck at about 16.

Interesting to read this. One of the reasons people at my school didn't like me was because they considered me and my interests "childish". I was called that quite a lot. I was also the only one in my peer group who didn't want to grow up. I wanted to stay a child, because I couldn't get my head around the things adults did and I didn't like the look of them.

I am in my 30s now but had a very abnormal path of development. I think the observation by another poster about not absorbing the cultural norms around us is very true. I never passed the typical milestones of maturity because they didn't interest me and many of my interests are still teenager-ish.

You're still very young so this isn't something you should worry about. It's actually quite normal to be a bit behind others your age because everyone develops at a different rate (particularly if you are autistic). Try not to worry about what others think of you.

I'm the opposite, I'm 16 and think like people alot older than me.

I was born aged 20-something. My parents say I was always a mini-adult and childhood was wasted on me (I think that is why they didn't notice anything was the matter with me, they thought I'd grow up and find my own niche). But over the last 10 years or so, I seem to have regressed. I feel more like a child set loose in the world nowadays than I did when I left home at 18.

And my interests are getting more childlike now as well.

I'm nineteen and I still wrestle with my brothers like I was ten. I also sometimes fail to think in a fully adult fashion.
I always tell averyone I was most comfortable with myself when I was nine.

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No. Some in society may be biased, but screw them.

EDIT: also beware BS moral panics, so if you are a late teen or later dude, beware - some might call you a pedo if you stay with only children....or something.