The fact that he is 72 doesn't mean that he is not a child though. Dragons have a different maturity rate and technically by psichological standards, Uru is still a teenager. In the first half of the story some of his attitudes and actions are distinctily childish compared to the other characters, and after the time skip he is indeed portrayed as more mature, but still less so than the adult humans. Just because for a human 72 is old enough to be an adult several times over, for a dragon it's obviously a completely different story. It would be weird if they treated him too much like an adult when her body and his thought process are still that of a teen/tween.
I LOVE this story!! So Heart warming!! I wish they could be happy forever!!!
BUT the fact that they start treating a seventy two year old dragon like a child it pisses me off...i dont care if she is arks old playmate, a knight and has a sad story...all of a sudden she is stronger then a dragon and treats him like a child??? WTF!!! seriousl?? are you kidding me!!! Fuck off!!! I loved the story until that point.