--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "sparaig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: <snip> > > > A 14-year-old is basically an immature adult. BIIIG difference > > > between 14 and, say, 4. If you deal with a 4 year old as though > > > they're an adult, they may well not have a clue what you're > > > talking about, NOT because they don't have the life-experiences > > > to related, but because they don't have the processing ability > > > to grasp the concepts. > > > > Right. Suppose you told your 4-year-old child that > > one day you would die, and they would never see you > > again? And you added that while this probably > > wouldn't happen for many years, it very well could > > happen tomorrow? > > > > That would certainly be "the truth," but telling your > > child this "truth" would be very likely to do them > > some serious psychological damage. > > Or it might just enable the child to grow up with > a realistic approach to death and dying, as opposed > to the fantasyland of the Western approach to dying. > > What you described is the way that Tibetans I knew > in Santa Fe raised their kids. Those kids were among > the happiest and most well-adjusted I've ever met.
Might work in that cultural context, depending on exactly how it was done. In the Western cultural context, and phrased as I did above, it would be a disaster. Giving the child a realistic approach to death and dying, moreover, is not necessarily something that can only be successfully accomplished if you start at the age of 4. (Also, I wouldn't automatically take your word for it that the Tibetan children were all that happy or well adjusted.) But Lawson's point had to do with a child's neurological development, not just with psychology. I don't know the exact cutoff point of the Piagetian stages of development, but there are certain concepts a child is literally incapable of dealing with, no matter how intelligent the child or how sensitively conveyed, before certain neurological hookups in the brain have been completed. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
