Every person wonders at one point or another if their life is “normal”. When I was in middle school, I fell in love with the nearly 5-minute, 2016 Buzzfeed video “Is your life average?” The video depicts major milestones in a person’s life through dance. While the actors are dancing, statistics such as when a person might say their first word, have their first kiss, lose their first parent, and the age gap between siblings are displayed on the screen. There is no speaking or dialogue, and one continuous stream of music.
Now that it is almost a decade later, I am wondering if many of the statistics are the same for kids and teenagers today.
0-7: Early Development
The first age group we can look at is 0-7 years old. A few milestones that stayed the same were learning how to walk between about 9-20 months, learning how to talk between a year and a year and a half, having an imaginary friend between 3-7 years, and losing your first tooth at 6 years old.
One slightly different thing was siblings. The average number of kids per family in the United States is still about 2, however, now the average age gap has grown from 2.5 years to about 4. Another statistic that was different is the age at which children are learning to write. The video claims that children will learn to read and write between the ages of 4-5 years old.
Today, children are starting to hold a pencil and copy letters at 4, but they are not making sentences and reading words beyond memorization until about 6-7 years old. Learning later is now thought to be the better course of action since the child’s brain is more developed, and there is no evidence that children who learned to read later were behind their earlier reading peers by age 10.
8-13: Tween Development
Between the ages of 8-13, the main statistics were at what age girls and boys start puberty, and that has not changed.
13-18: Teen
The final age group we are going to look at is 13-18 years old. The statistics in this section mainly involve developing relationships and experimenting with substances. The video says the average age Americans get drunk for the first time is 13-14 years old.
A Harvard Health Publications study now says that the average age of getting drunk for the first time is 11 for boys and 13 for girls. The age range for getting high has become significantly smaller, with the video saying anywhere between 12-18. Now the average age to get high for the first time is between 12-14 years old. Another great resource is the Healthy Kids Colorado survey data. The survey collected data on how often middle and high schoolers experiment with substances, have access to weapons, and feel confident in their bodies. Instead of presenting the average age, these results show what percentage of survey takers have felt these ways in the past month. The survey says 13% of high school students and 8% of middle school students have used marijuana in the past month.
Throughout the years, the average age for a first kiss, 15 years old, and the range when teens fall in love for the first time, 15-19, has stayed the same; however, the average age when teens have their first relationship and lose their virginity has gone up. In the video, the average teen is supposed to have their first relationship and lose their virginity at 17, nowadays, most teens are starting at 18.
The website World Population Review has mind-bending maps and statistics on what the average age is for milestones across the world. This data can change the way you see yourself, people your age, and your country as a whole.
Despite the introduction of AI, a higher reliance on smart devices, and a global pandemic, kids and teens today are not living much different lives in terms of milestones. The ages above are the average age for milestones, but they are not when everyone will experience these parts of life. No one of a different age is doing anything wrong.
Everyone is on their own path, but after looking at these statistics, is your life normal?
