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CHALLENGING THE LITTLE ADULT
ASSUMPTIONWhy You Need to Remember That Kids Are
Just KidsTHERE IS AN ENCHANTING but troublesome idea that parents and
teachers carry around in their heads about young children. This naive
assumption—or wish—causes not only discipline failures, but also
stormy scenes that can include physical child abuse. The idea we’re
talking about is known as the “Little Adult Assumption.”
The Little Adult Assumption is the belief that kids are basically
reasonable and unselfish. In other words, they’re just smaller versions
of grown-ups. And because they are little adults, the reasoning goes,
whenever children misbehave, the problem must be that they don’t
have enough information in their heads to be able to do the right
thing. The solution? Simply give them the facts.