What constitutes childish behavior?

Satya

Satya

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My last thread inspired a new question. What do you feel qualifies as childish behavior? What distinguishes childish behavior from adult behavior?
 
it's all subjective but to me, childishness is when you refuse to accept the reality of a situation and continue to act as if it's the way you think it is in your head. maturity is when you accept reality no matter how unpleasant, and find a way to deal with it.
 
May said:
it's all subjective but to me, childishness is when you refuse to accept the reality of a situation and continue to act as if it's the way you think it is in your head. maturity is when you accept reality no matter how unpleasant, and find a way to deal with it.
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By that definition, I would argue that childishness isn't a bad thing.

My definition would include good childishness and bad childishness. for bad childishness might be arguing over something lame or refusing to share or doing anything that kids learn not to do and play nice.

Making sand castles, being silly, doing embarrassing things in public, or just acting like a kid are all things we should do more often. People grow up too fast.
 
Therefore Chris said:
By that definition, I would argue that childishness isn't a bad thing.

My definition would include good childishness and bad childishness. for bad childishness might be arguing over something lame or refusing to share or doing anything that kids learn not to do and play nice.

Making sand castles, being silly, doing embarrassing things in public, or just acting like a kid are all things we should do more often. People grow up too fast.
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I agree, but what arguments would you consider to be lame? That's a pretty subjective term.
 
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Good question. I think it varies. There are varying levels of childishness. Some are considered immature, inappropriate for a situation, disruptive (in a negative way), unable to control behavior. There is the type of childish behavior which is good, positive, which makes us not take ourselves so seriously. Thing is, where do we drawn the line? I'm the least childish person i know so. I'm usually serious irl, so i'm probably not the best person to define or describe it. Most of the time, i think people clown around too much, which could be described as childish. But i guess it's a matter of interpretation.
 
Jonathan said:
I agree, but what arguments would you consider to be lame? That's a pretty subjective term.
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This is true. I might say arguments about trivial matters that are taken to be of high importance and usually only fueled by the dislike of the parties for one-another.

Like arguing that you did indeed take my pokemon card, and if you don't confess I'll stop talking to you forever. I knew some kids this happened to. A friendship lost over a holographic charizard.
 
Gotcha. It's like making up an excuse to alienate someone using something tangible, like frivolous lawsuits.
 
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Satya said:
My last thread inspired a new question. What do you feel qualifies as childish behavior? What distinguishes childish behavior from adult behavior?
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Depends on what stage of childhood you are using as a reference. My two year old went through a horrible biting phase, thank goodness that's over! My 6-year-old is in a phase where he thinks knows how things work, knows the rules, and wants to make certain everyone else around him does too.

A lot of what I personally would call childish (in a negative way) is attention-getting behavior, or behavior that shows a lack of empathy for others, or an unsophisticated understanding of other people.

Children have some natural empathy but it takes a long time before they can really understand things from another's perspective; many adults aren't very good at this either.

Escapism can be childish, again in a negative way. (drugs, or anything that we use to escape responsibility.) Including, erm... this site.

Childish behavior that I think is positive and which adults would do well to remember is honesty, expressing exactly what one is feeling, and creativity. If a child is hurt, angry, jealous, happy, excited, they simply can't and don't hide it and so many adults play games and hide their feelings. Plus children are so richly imaginative, we adults have learned and been slammed by so many restrictions and painful experiences that we often sort of box ourselves in and set limits. Children don't understand limits, and in a way that is a very good thing.
 
Janet said:
behavior that shows a lack of empathy for others
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Pretty much sums it up right there.

Also this:

May said:
childishness is when you refuse to accept the reality of a situation and continue to act as if it's the way you think it is in your head. maturity is when you accept reality no matter how unpleasant, and find a way to deal with it.
Click to expand...
 
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Janet said:
Behavior that shows a lack of empathy for others
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I agree. Making fun of people and saying things that you are well aware is going to hurt someone is childish. Recklessness and attention seeking behavior as well. Annoying people for the sake of soliciting a response and then guffawing at the person's hurt feelings or annoyance is incredibly immature and childish
 
narrowness of idea, opinion, and viewpoint;supported with unpleasant attitude; and completed with selfish actions.

All that's wrong with childhood, really.
 
I'm not going to tell you unless you give me some candy.
 
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