> there's an obvious difference to children kicking their siblings and being childish and them playing with toys yes playing with toys is abstraction and a method for the development of imagination and creativity rough-housing with siblings is a method to which children bond, establish trust, boundaries, and appropriate levels of physicality all are necessary > news flash, when you call a child childish they don't think that of themselves, they think about the children 5 years younger than them yes, and thats the problem. because they then refer back to the adults in the room and seek to emulate them further. which is an over-correction and encourges repression of the child they are in that moment > if you tell a 16 year old to stop being childish, they don't think oh i'm still a child so it's ok, they instantly think of 3-6 year olds. i would argue that they understand the implication then so their high brain function can overrule the subconscious implication. they understand that what is meant is "you're acting below your age" and they're almost out of childhood so its more valid then than it is if you say it to an actual child
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