Poll: Have you punched or kicked someone since you were 10?

Why is age 10 the cut off date? Does something momentus happen then that would justify it's use?

10 was a magical age, when I got my own ID card. When you're a military brat, the ID card opens a world of unsupervised activity, like the theater, the library, the PX, the commissary. It represents the age when you have to stand on your own, even though your parents are technically still responsible for you.

Of course, it's not my poll, so that's just a guess. :-)

i think that's just a general age where one could be expected to have outgrown that "little kid" kicking, slapping, biting and punching thing that can go along with tantrums.

that's about the age where you start realising that things you do have a real effect on people, that hitting someone could cause them pain.

once you reach that point, the act of kicking or punching takes on a different significance.

at least that's my interpretation of it. *shrug*

I don't know about that. The amygdala of a ten-year-old is very, very immature at that age.

However, even though they don't truly understand the full consequences of many of their actions, they can understand the basics and the added factor of what they're just not supposed to do

i never claimed they had full competancy.

i stated that at 10 years is when they start to understand consequences.
assuming a progression, when one starts something, they wouldn't have full competancy.

oh, and the frontal cortex is also very involved in the process of controlling ones behaviour, and while it's obviously not as developed as an adult's, it's significantly more developed than a 6 year old's.

some standardly accepted periods of development.
these are approximate, average age periods, and it should be noted that there is much discussion currently over cultural specificity as opposed to absolutes
prenatal: conception- birth
infancy and toddlerhood: birth - 2 years
early childhood: 2 years - 6 years
middle childhood: 6 years - 11 years
adolescence: 11 - 18 years
early adulthood: 18 - 25 years.

piaget's stages of cognitive development
here it should be noted that these have been improved upon and further developed, but i have this in front of me and since it's well accepted as decent basics, i'm not going to worry about it too much more than that

concrete operational: 7-11 : reasoning becomes logical, organization into classes and sub-classes develops, thinking falls short of adult intelligence and is not yet abstract

formal operational: 11+ : capacity for abstraction develops, and conceptualising multiple outcomes of problems/situations.

so, okay, 10, may not be where i would put the line in the sand, but there is significant research that around this age child do begin to develop the cognitive skills and social awareness that would make striking out randomly a less acceptable thing to do.

bold and italics added for emphasis because apparently i wasn't clear enough in my initial post.

oh and also, the original comment was my best interpretation of why 10 years was chosen as a line for the purposes of the poll.

whether you agree with the specifics of the science or not, that still does seem, to me, to be the basis of the concept behind the poll, as i read it.

exactly. I was thinking of 12 or 13 or saying puberty but chose the round number. It was arbitrary as would any cuttoff. I

not including that which happened in a controlled environment (martial arts classes) and also not including accidental (kicking someone who crossed the centre line while swimming lengths).

talking with a friend in the hallway at school. someone grabbed me from behind and lifted me up. without thinking I kicked down the inside of his shin*, twisted to the side, and elbowed him in the solar plexus. when he dropped me i spun around with fist ready... and recognized a good friend who thought it'd be fun to get in a surprise hug on the last day of school.

i was a little jumpier in those days, and needed a fair bit of personal space. after that incident, i got LOTS of that ;)

*he lost a stripe of hair down his leg... through a layer of jeans.

Butch and fierce, indeed. :)

rawr!

In my mind, I've done mountains of damage to other people. I'm a very violent person in my brain.

In real life...I don't remember ever hitting or kicking anyone, except in self defense as a young child because I was the little sister.

there is VERY little that can push me to resort to physical violence.

Other than jokingly punching friends, etc..... I don't think I've ever hit someone in anger since, ya know, being a little kid.

If I had to in self-defense... or... probably more likely, defense of a loved one.... I would.... but thankfully it's never come up.

I was blessed with being very tall, big and intimidating from a young age... so, I never NEEDED to fight. :)

Sounds familiar. :-)

Yes, coming out of anesthetic, I kicked a nurse. Right before I pulled out my IV.

Does an unintentional punch in the struggle to defend oneself against tickling count?
:)

*andrea the non-ticklish makes another tick in her "ticklish" list for future reference*� Eeeeeexcellent...

Ack! My Achilles heel has been discovered!

You're ticklish on your heels? Not your arches?

i would say that counts :)

that DEFINITELY counts.

I don't think you're qualified to offer an unbiased opinion. ;P

Not that I can recall.
I've wanted to, though.
And I make no promises about the future. Since I seem to hang out with people who also hang out with unpredictable people who I don't like, who are getting dangerously close to a verbal smackdown.
And if my verbal smackdown prompts a physical response, you can be certain I will be defending myself.
Um, yeah.

I've gotta go, I'm about to be late for something...

yep. mostly unintentional kicks in soccer. and even though i've sometimes wanted to, no serious punches either.

i can be very physical with the people i'm close to. um, probably more than some of them would like. especially, as above, when they are trying to tickle me. plenty of kicking, no punching that i can recall.

i have been physically assaulted before, but i don't seem to think fast enough to kick. luckily, pushing hard & running like hell has worked well enough so far.

I stopped getting into fights when I was around 13 or 14.