Since age and generation first started to be problematized, the focus has been on childhood, while adulthood has attracted less attention. In this article four examples are presented of how adulthood is constructed within the specific context of childhood research. Taking the departure in Deleuzian and actor network theories, four examples are given of subjectivites that emerge in specific events, where humans as well as non-humans are active agents: the ‘adult-in-charge’, the ‘adult-included-in-commonality’, the ‘incompetent child’ and the ‘adult-as-other’. It is argued that there are always the possibilities of, on the one hand, performing the expected acts and, on the other hand, escaping from a stable and restricted adult subjectivity.