Adultism

Reading Response:

This week, before reading from the Adams text on ageism and adultism, I honestly was not prepared to take them very seriously. I thought "now this is reaching, just a little".  I understood that some people don't have much respect for older adults, but I didn't count myself among them and I certainly doubted that the oppression of people based on age was a reality experienced by many.  

Well, I was wrong. 

I think what I found most striking, was the part about adultism. Because I work with children and have for a long time, I was pretty sure I knew it all.  The authors posed the question: "Would you treat an adult or peer the same way you treat a child?" My response was no, of course not, but that is because children don't really have the developmental capacity to be completely autonomous.  I still think this is true, but to a lesser extent.  The book mentions holding a child's hand when crossing the street being a reasonable safety accommodation, and I agree. Another thing they mentioned though that I had to check myself on was taking objects out of a child's hand.  I realized I do this all the time, and I would not disrespect people of other age groups that way. When I let the boys I watch play games on my phone while we are in the car or doing something boring like waiting at the dentist's office, when their time is up, I realized I have often just taken it out of their hands.  Generally, I thought that I ask first, but when I thought about it more I realized that not only do I just grab it more often than not, but by taking things away from them I was denying them the opportunity to make good choices and grow by just returning my phone when it's time to do the boring stuff; go into the dentist, do homework, or pick out clothes for tomorrow. 

Although I have always considered it to be extremely important to give kids as many choices as possible so that they don't feel overly directed, I realized that there are more areas in which I can incorporate choices with the kids I work with.  They are amazing human beings, and are capable of a lot more than I have given them credit for.  I remember when I was a kid, I thought to myself  "I am never going to forget how it feels to be this age, so that I never treat kids like they are stupid."  Well, I have some adjusting to do if I am going to live up to that.  It is really interesting to look back and remember how I felt I had been wronged as a kid just because of my age. I think that this section of the reading has been really valuable to me and definitely has implications for behavior changes on my part.  I also think I will be more careful in how I interact with older adults.