A kidult is an

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

whose interests or media consumption is traditionally seen as more suitable for

child A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

ren."Kidult"
Oxford Dictionaries It can also mean a parent who acts childish with their children, but does not take on their duties as a disciplinarian. Similar

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words

Christopher Noxon Christopher Lane Noxon (born November 21, 1968) is an American writer and freelance journalist. Early life Noxon was born in Los Angeles, California, to National Geographic documentary filmmaker father, Nicolas Noxon, and Mary Straley. His ...

, '' Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown-up'', 2006,
online book preview
and adultescent. A related concept is that of

Peter Pan syndrome Peter Pan syndrome is a pop-psychology term used to describe an adult who is socially immature. It is a metaphor, based on the concept of not growing up and being trapped in childhood. It is not a recognized mental health illness. The term has ...

, where a person is reluctant to grow emotionally after childhood.

History

In the past,

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

recognized the concept of ''

puer aeternus ' (Latin for 'eternal boy'; female: ; sometimes shortened to and ) in mythology is a child-god who is forever young. In the analytical psychology of Carl Jung, the term is used to describe an older person whose emotional life has remained at an a ...

'', or "eternal boy". Today, often called

, it means a person remaining emotionally at that of a teenager or even a child. The name is derived from the archetypal literary eternal boy,

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

. The term ''kidult'' was first used in the 1950s by the television industry to refer to adult viewers who enjoyed television programs targeted at children. '' Thunderbirds'', for example, was designed specifically to capitalize on this "kidult" demographic, and aired in the evening rather than in the afternoon to accomplish this. One of the most well-known and extreme cases of Peter Pan syndrome and the kidult mentality is

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

. Jackson had explicitly stated that he did not want to grow up, and owned a large collection of arcade games, toy cars and fantasy and sci-fi memorabilia. Michael also had a fascination with the Peter Pan character, and attempted to create a theme park on his property called

Neverland Ranch Sycamore Valley Ranch, formerly Neverland Ranch"Neverland Never More"
, by William Etling (author ...

Modern usage

In the early 21st century, there was a sudden increase in reporting that for an adult to have interests traditionally expected only from children is not necessarily an anomaly. This is mostly due to the rise of the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry was quick to recognize the trend, and introduced a special category, "kidult", of things marketable for kids and adults alike. Enormous successes of films such as ''

Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenso ...

'' and ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'', of animated television series such as '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' the target demographic of young girls, of

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

books traditionally targeted for teenagers"The grown-up world of kidult books"
''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

,'' 11 January 2003 *''Quote'': "

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''The ...

's ''

His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), ''The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and ''The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follows ...

'' trilogy became the first children's book ever to win an adult fiction prize (the

Whitbread Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s. Its largest division ...

)" and the fact that

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

is among the world's top adult (without kids) vacation destinations seem to indicate that "kidulthood" is a rather mainstream phenomenon. Kidulthood also appears to exist on the Internet, with grown adults treating each other like children, especially in political discussion on Twitter, by calling people "homegirl", "girlie", and "sweetie". And unlike ''puer aeternus'', "rejuveniles" successfully marries adult responsibilities with non-adult interests. When

appeared on ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focuse ...

'' on June 29, 2006, he remarked that "There's a big difference between childish and childlike". Karen Brooks has written about what she calls the "

commodification Within a capitalist economic system, commodification is the transformation of things such as goods, services, ideas, nature, personal information, people or animals into objects of trade or commodities.For animals"United Nations Commodity Trad ...

of youth": entertainers sell "the teen spirit" to adults who in the past were called "young at heart". In South Korea, the buzzword ''kideolteu'' was used in 2015, highlighting the market trend of increasing toy sales (such as drones and "electric wheels") to adults.

References

{{Young adult development Hobbies Neologisms Popular culture Adulthood

History

Modern usage

See also

References