And the first more important question for consideration is the age of the child or adult your are talking about.
It seems like it would be, doesn't it?
I can't tell, though, whether you're proposing that the difference is that one has more legitimate authority over a young person than a middle-aged one, or that youth may be assumed to still be capable of change, while middle-aged people are not.
In either case, I'm not sure I agree. It's been one of the hardest things for me, working with both teens and adults: facing the realization that in all likelihood, this person will never significantly change. And it's happened to me in working with both teens and adults...and then there are both who /do/ change, in spite of amazing odds against them.
It's excruciating. No matter how old a person is, 15 or 75, when they're in the grip of a pattern of thought and behavior which is ruining their life and making it impossible for them to be with others safely or sanely--it's like the thing that will help is right there just outside your grasp, just outside *their* grasp, which is more important. It's painful and exhausting and it sucks, for the people trying to help and the people who need help, both.
no subject
It seems like it would be, doesn't it?
I can't tell, though, whether you're proposing that the difference is that one has more legitimate authority over a young person than a middle-aged one, or that youth may be assumed to still be capable of change, while middle-aged people are not.
In either case, I'm not sure I agree. It's been one of the hardest things for me, working with both teens and adults: facing the realization that in all likelihood, this person will never significantly change. And it's happened to me in working with both teens and adults...and then there are both who /do/ change, in spite of amazing odds against them.
It's excruciating. No matter how old a person is, 15 or 75, when they're in the grip of a pattern of thought and behavior which is ruining their life and making it impossible for them to be with others safely or sanely--it's like the thing that will help is right there just outside your grasp, just outside *their* grasp, which is more important. It's painful and exhausting and it sucks, for the people trying to help and the people who need help, both.