kidult

Blend of kid +‎ adult

kidult (plural kidults)

1. (informal, marketing, sociology) An adult who participates in youth culture and activities traditionally intended for children.
   • 1963, Alpha Kappa Delta, Sociological Inquiry, volumes 33-34, page 189:

     Organizational methods appear significantly more frequently in kidult programs, next most frequently in adult programs, and least frequently in children's programs. Escape methods appear most frequently in adult programs with kidult and children's programs about equal.

   • 2006, Kate Crawford, Adult Themes: Rewriting the Rules of Adulthood, page 192:

     By casting popular culture as simplistic and ‘kidult’, as distinct from the authentic adult culture she approves of, she reduces a complex culture to a generational divide: the new is childish; while the old and established is timeless, worthy of consumption by adults.

   • 2008, Dade Hayes, Anytime Playdate: Inside the Preschool Entertainment Boom, or, How Television Became My Baby’s Best Friend, page 86:

     In the 21st century, whose “kidult” blurring of the lines sees grown-ups listening to “kindie rock,” feeding their kids gourmet gelato instead of Good Humor, and dissecting the last Pixar film, the notion of a tree house in our collective backyard with a misspelled sign saying “Kidz only” is a healthy thing[.]

• adultescent
• adultolescent
• rejuvenile

• kidulthood

• man child
• Peter Pan syndrome
• postadolescence
• status inconsistency, status discrepancy