I admit that I have been accused of being overly rational; of course, I also know that I can be as moody and irrational as the next person, but overall rationality tends to be my guide. As a parent, however, I have learned that there is little sense in my clinging to rationality or expecting my children to be rational. I used to think that if I just exposed them to a more rational way of looking at things they would see things my way. Instead, I learned to enter the land of irrationality more often…
I think that we parents are battling a couple of things here: personality and developmental stages. Some children are just naturally capable of seeing things in a more rational manner and it does take time for children to develop the intellectual capacity to weigh things out in terms of practical and rational concerns. Even so, I cannot help but think that irrationality seems to fit better with childhood than rationality does. After all, we have to take fears and anxieties into consideration and the fact that it is difficult for children to have enough life experience to be able to see the big picture in a situation. Developmentally, young children tend to see the world from a very small perspective—one in which they are at the center—and this does not lend itself to very rational thought.
Still, don’t give up hope! As children get older and gain experience, they do get more rational. Plus, I do think that we parents can model some rational thinking skills as we teach our children over time how to consider situations, problems and circumstances with some rationality. Meanwhile, we can learn to be understanding of the moodiness and irrationality that is also part of human behavior!
See Also: Why is My Toddler Afraid of Dogs?
Help Your Child Triumph over Irrational Fears