As children grow and begin to enter the world of adulthood, they begin to assert their autonomy in ways both big and small, marking their transition from infants to the adults that they are meant to be. Many parents choose to respond to this transition by increasing control over their child’s life, whether it’s making decisions for them or treating them like an infant when they act like an adult. However, these types of controlling responses may actually prevent children from maturing properly as they enter adulthood and continue through old age, causing them to miss out on some of the most important aspects of the aging process.
Parents often think that taking control over their children is the best way to realize the children's potentialities. Parents may say becoming an artist cannot earn you a living, writing a book may land you in a jail, running a marathon can cause a cardiac arrest. These precepts stymie children’s development because the children cannot make any autonomous decision. The children remain infantile.
There is no way children can actualize their unique abilities when their free will is constricted.
