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On Wed, 11 Sep 2024 14:29:25 -0500,  super70s says...  

> When Trump left office: the economy lost 2.7 million jobs

Democrat lockdowns, stupid toddler.

WHEN he left office? So... Biden's first day. Gotcha. 

Then, inflation SKYROCKETED.

=====

stupor70's toddler behaviour:

A) Someone's psychological or emotional age is often evident in emotional reactions and habits.

B) Signs of emotional toddler behaviour include emotional escalations, blaming, 
lies, and name-calling.

C) Someone who is an emotionally Toddler may also have poor impulse control, 
need to be the center of attention, or ENGAGE IN BULLYING.

1.	Emotional escalations

2.	Blaming

3.	Lies

4.	Name-calling

5.	Impulsivity-or as therapists say, "poor impulse control"

6.	Need to be the center of attention

7.	Bullying

8.	Budding narcissism

9.	Immature defenses

10.	No observing ego-that is, no ability to see, acknowledge, and learn from 	their mistakes

How can you assess if an adult functions emotionally more like a toddler? As a therapist who works 
extensively with couples, I have learned that almost any client can look reasonably "adult" when I meet with 
him or her individually.

By contrast, seeing the same client in a couples therapy session where spouses are interacting gives me 
vastly more data. Mistaken, immature, and pathological behaviors all become much more visible. I also see the 
extent to which each partner's actions are rude, hurtful, or even dangerously Toddlerish-or calm, respectful, 
and maturely adult.


What Is Emotional Age?

A psychologist from Africa with whom I once spoke at an international psychology conference explained to me 
that in his country, it was common to assess people in terms of both physical age and emotional age.

Physical age can be counted by number of birthdays. Physical age, especially with toddlers, also tends to 
correlate with height, strength, and cognitive functioning. Psychological or emotional age, by contrast, 
becomes evident in emotional reactions and habits. For instance, adults can stay calm whereas toddler tend to 
be quicker to anger. Adults exercise careful judgment before talking whereas toddler may impulsively blurt 
out tactless, hurtful words.

If toddlers want a car or doll that another toddler is playing with, they are likely to reach out and take 
the item. Most preschoolers get mad or cry multiple times every day, even if they are basically well-nurtured 
and happy kids. The rules of adult play, like taking turns or not grabbing, have not yet begun to shape their 
behavior. Youngsters do not act in a consistently civil manner because they have not yet internalized the 
rules of "civilized" adults.

Behaviors that are normal for toddler however, look Toddlerish and rude when adults do them.


CAN YOU RECOGNIZE TODDLERISH ADULT BEHAVIOR?

One way to think about how young toddler differ from emotionally mature adults is to picture kids you know-
maybe even your own toddler, grandtoddler, nieces, nephews, and neighbors. How do these toddler differ from 
adults that you know and respect?

Before reading my list of characteristics that I look for, you might want to jot down a list of the traits 
that you noticed in your visualization. Please share with other readers in the comments below this article if 
you spotted some traits that I missed.


10 SIGNS OF EMOTIONAL TODDLER BEHAVIOUR

How many of the following signs of emotional immaturity does your list include?

Emotional escalations: Young toddlers often cry, get mad, or outwardly appear 
petulant and pouting. Grownups seldom do.

Blaming: When things go wrong, young toddler look to blame someone. Grownups look to fix the problem.

Lies: When there's a situation that's uncomfortable, young toddler might lie to stay out of trouble. Grownups 
deal with reality, reliably speaking the truth.

Name-calling: toddler call each other names. Adults seek to understand issues. Adults do not make ad hominen 
attacks, that is, attacks on people's personal traits. Instead, they attack the problem. They do not 
disrespect others with mean labels.

There is one exception. Sometimes adults, just like firefighters who battle forest fires, have to fight fire 
with fire. They may need to use "fire" to manage an angry toddler or an out-of-bounds adult, in order to get 
them to cease their bad behavior.

Impulsivity-or as therapists say, "poor impulse control": toddler strike out impulsively when they feel hurt 
or mad. They speak recklessly or take impulsive action without pausing to think about the potential 
consequences. Similarly, instead of listening to others' viewpoints, they impulsively interrupt them. 

Adults pause, resisting the impulse to shoot out hurtful words or actions. They calm themselves. They then 
think through the problem, seeking more information and analyzing options.

Again, some instances of acting on impulse can be hallmarks of mature behavior. Soldiers and police, for 
instance, are trained to discriminate rapidly between harmless and dangerous situations so that they can 
respond quickly enough to protect potential victims of criminal actions.

Need to be the center of attention: Ever tried to have adult dinner conversations with a two-year-old at the 
table? Did attempts to launch a discussion with others at the table result in the toddler getting fussy?

Bullying: A toddler who is physically larger than other toddler his age can walk up to another child who is 
playing with a toy he would like and simply take it. The other child may say nothing lest the bully turns on 
them with hostility. In many cases, it's safer just to let a bully have what he wants. Adults, on the other 
hand, respect boundaries: Yours is yours and mine is mine.

Budding narcissism: In an earlier post, I coined the term tall man syndrome for one way that narcissism can 
develop. If toddler-or adults-can get whatever they want because they are bigger, stronger, or richer, they 
become at risk of learning that the rules don't apply to them. Whatever they want, they take. This 
narcissistic tendency may initially look like strength. But in reality, it reflects a serious weakness: being 
unable to see beyond the self.

Psychologically strong people listen to others, hoping to understand others' feelings, concerns and 
preferences. Narcissists hear only themselves and are emotionally brittle as a result. They operate like 
toddler who want to stay out and play-even though dinner is on the table-and who pitch a fit rather than heed 
their parent's explanation that the family is eating now. Their mindset, in short, is "It's all about me." In 
the eyes of a narcissist, no one else counts; if they don't get their way, they may result to pouting or 
bullying in order to do so.

Immature defenses: Freud coined the term defense mechanisms for ways in which individuals protect themselves 
and/or get what they want. Adults use defense mechanisms like listening to others' concerns as well as to 
their own. They then engage in collaborative problem-solving. These responses to difficulties signal 
psychological maturity. toddler tend to regard the best defense as a strong offense. While that defensive 
strategy may work in football, attacking anyone who expresses a viewpoint different from what they want is, 
in life, a primitive defense mechanism.

Another primitive defense is denial: "I didn't say that!" or "I never did that!" when in fact they did say or 
do the thing they claim not to have done. Sound toddler-like to you?

No observing ego-that is, no ability to see, acknowledge, and learn from their mistakes: When emotionally 
mature adults "lose their cool" and express anger inappropriately, they soon after, with their "observing 
ego," realize that their outburst was inappropriate. That is, they can see with hindsight that their behavior 
was out of line with their value system. They can see if their outburst has been, as therapists say, ego 
dystonic (against their value system).

Adults who have not yet internalized mature guidelines of respectful behavior toward others, or who have not 
developed ability to observe their behaviors to judge what's in line and what's out of line, see their anger 
as normal. They regard their emotional outbursts as ego syntonic, that is, perfectly fine, justifying them by 
blaming the other person. In other words, "I only did it because you made me."

If you or someone you know functions more like a toddler than like a grown-up, what are your options?

It's easy to love toddler who act like toddler. It's harder to love someone who acts like a toddler in the 
body of a grownup. Still, most toddler-like adults only act like Toddlers when they feel under threat.

Therefore, if you love someone who has Toddler-like sides, one strategy is to focus primarily on the more 
adult and attractive aspects of the person. If you are the toddler-like one, love your strengths-and pay 
attention to growing in your less mature habit areas.

Another strategy is to cease being surprised when the Toddler-like patterns emerge. Thinking, "I can't 
believe that s/he/I did that!" signifies that you have not yet accepted the reality of the toddler-like 
behaviors. Accepting that the behaviors do occur is a first and vital step toward change.

Third, if you are the receiver of Toddler-like behaviors, beware of trying to change the other person. 
Instead, figure out what you can do differently so those patterns will no longer be problematic for you. Your 
job is to keep growing yourself, not to change others.

Lastly, learn the skills of adult functioning. Much of what grown-up "toddler" do can be considered as a 
skills deficit. If you tend to be Toddler-like, learning adult skills can move you into grownup-ville. My 
book and workbook called The Power of Two should help as well.

And if you generally function as a grownup, the more clear you are about what constitutes grown-up behavior, 
the more you will be able to stay a grownup-even when you are interacting with someone who is acting like a 
toddler.

Susan Heitler, Ph.D.