This one is short (surprise!!) and simple.
A lot of things can be really cute at age three, or even up to about age eight or ten, but they are downright annoying and disrespectful at age twelve, twenty, or forty.
Just to be clear, I am NOT talking about normal childish behavior in areas where most children mature as they grow and learn about life. Little children are not going (and we don’t want them) to act like mini-adults!!!
I am talking about behavior that turns into bad habits. Like a cute four year old lecturing an adult on being late to church, or a charming eight year old telling someone that their clothes don’t match.
It is not cute and charming anymore when they are older. As always, all children are different, and should be treated as individual people, but a good age to transition out of bad habits is about eleven years old.
Once bad habits are ingrained in our children, they are hard to break.
We will be doing them a huge favor if we help them break those kind of habits while they are younger.
