By Michael Rubino, Ph.D, MFT, Patch, June 21, 2020.
We often expect children to be able to do things they are not emotionally ready for yet. One example one thing I observe on a regular basis are teachers and parents expecting little kids to be able to control their emotions like an adult. They expect the child to be able to rationally analyze a problem. This also occurs with teenagers. Teenagers physically look like adults so we expect them to act like adults. The problem while physically they may look like adults, in terms of their emotional and cognitive development, they are not adults yet.
The common issue in both these situations is the brain development of the child or teenager. We often see some children and teens doing things that we expect from someone older, so we assume they can do other things too such as control their emotions. However, typically a child's brain is not totally developed until the age of 25. The frontal lobes for children do not fully develop in they are 25 years old. This is why if a child experiences a trauma to the brain or spinal cord their chances for a full recovery are better than a grown adults. A child's brain and central nervous system is still developing and can over come the injury. However, this also means they do not have the analytical or reasoning skills that adults do. Therefore, they may have difficulties with their emotions at times.
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