A radical idea - viewing kids as babies till 5

[Chaos Coordinator]

there is a lot of wisdom in this theory. i myself have often thought the same thing when considering the children that i am involved with - up until about 5.5 or 6, i still think of them as babies, who need to be carried and held close and who are not really good at handling responsibility. even with my sunday school kids, a year ago i did not DARE take a long blink while they were in my care, but now i can run copies or go potty and leave my 10 month old son for a few minutes in the care of my kindergarten age student with the specific instructions "you know what behavior i expect of you, so just keep an eye on the baby and make sure he doesn't eat anything or get hurt." not that i expect that to go perfectly, i know accidents happen, but at the same time i trust this nearly-6 year old to keep my 10 month old alive for 5 minutes, i mean that's kind of a big deal, ya know?


but as far as the reference to when they reach maturity, i would say that 13 is still way way way too young. it's a very slow process. i am in my mid 20s and only recently have begun to feel 100% separate from my own mother (weaned, essentially). the brain does not finish maturing until the mid 20s when you are able to hone your skills at predicting outcomes. teenagers are still children in adult bodies. some will be more adult-like than others, but they are still children nonetheless.