It wasn't as straight forward as Carl's or Herschel's side, of course, but somewhere in the middle. Carl could have easily backed away or specified "put your gun down beside you" but he didn't. But yeah, the kid was doing some shifty stuff. The one thing I am glad about is that Carl didn't go running in after saying he should be there. I think that would have tipped the scales and he would have trumped Andrea as worst character of the series. Now that Andrea is gone, I think he is anyway. I think he's getting the hang of "Carl, stay in the house!"
He's been given responsibilities and fulfilled them, and has even taken some independent and heroic actions, such as saving Tyreese, siding with Michonne, and so on, that have long-term positive benefits for the group. But most importantly, he's remained level-headed. When he complained about not being taken places, he wasn't just being petulant. To me it came off as him making a logical argument; he's a good shot, has seen combat, and they need manpower, thus they should take him. It's understandable why they didn't, but the impressive part is that even then Carl didn't turn petulant as he would have in previous seasons, but instead stayed behind and did his job fully. That's how you show that you are an adult and can handle responsibilities.
Whether the characters of the show like it or not, their society has reverted back to something like the middle ages, or some other distant past, and children then were rarely afforded a chance at childhood. When life expectancy beyond 50 becomes a dream, suddenly being 12 or 13 is no longer so young.
