Tykes And Teens

MOON IN ARIES
The moon, planet of hidden emotion, is traveling through the youngest sign of the zodiac, Aries. A bout of childishness will emerge in many people, but in subtle ways. Keep an eye out for your own inner child and try to give him or her what she needs before he or she takes over and you find yourself watching unattractive children's theatre.

So, continuing with the lesson in child development (oh, stop it, you were fascinated by the last post), we discussed another theorist - Piaget - who has four stages of development. As my professor was discussing these stages, one thing became abundantly clear: adolescence is just a repeat of early childhood. I'll pause for the resounding, "Duh!" from all of the parents out there.

Let's examine the evidence.

The main quality that exemplifies the early child: they are egocentric. Well, of course they are; they have no concept of other people, except for the parents, who, if they're typical parents, dote on the child. I mean, come on, even if there are older siblings, the parents are going to show attention towards the younger child for awhile. Unless the child is taught to share, a young kid is going to focus completely on themselves and believe that everything revolves around them. No one could feel differently from them. The only rules that really apply are created by them. Everyone thinks exactly the same as they do.

Sounds like a lot of teenagers I know. Egocentric? Check. Name one teenager you know that doesn't think that the world revolves around them. Exactly. They believe they are invincible; they can do whatever they want at any time without repercussion because they knew best. They take this to the extreme. They are consumed with themselves. No one could possibly understand them.

Taking it a step further, I believe that age 15 is the equivalent of the terrible twos. Where a two-year old is "no"-it-all, a 15-year old is a know-it-all. It's the wonderful age that a teenager believes that they know everything and it starts almost the second that the 15th birthday occurs. Fortunately, eventually, that dissolves and the teenager regains a sense of humbleness.

...hopefully.