Wisen's notes

# Children are capable of making informed decisions

We always think that children will not be able to make good decisions in their life, which is why we parents should be making the decisions for them. Apparently this is a misconception because:

  • By the age of 15, most of the cognitive processes would have reached the adult level to make rational decisions.
  • Research shown that children at the age of 9 can make the same decision given the knowledge. (Lack of knowledge makes poor judgement).

# References

The Self-Driven Child (p. 57)

So what does “It’s your call” mean? Most simply: When it comes to making decisions about your kids’ lives, you should not be deciding things that they are capable of deciding for themselves.

The Self-Driven Child (p. 55)

Once properly informed, kids usually do make good decisions for themselves - and their decisions are almost ways as good as or better than our own.

The Self-Driven Child (p. 64)

[…] a fascinating study looked at the decision-making abilities of kids from ages nine to twenty-one.3 […] And those decisions resembled the recommendation made by most experts. […] Interestingly, half of the nine-year-olds chose that option, too.[…] We think this shows not only that nine-year-olds are capable decision makers, but also that when they come up short it’s because of lack of knowledge, not necessarily judgement.

The Self-Driven Child (pp. 64-65)

[…] He found that teens generally perform as well on this test as adults do.4 […] Research has found that by the time kids are fourteen or fifteen, they generally have adult-level ability to make rational decisions. In fact, most cognitive processes reach adult levels by midadolescence.5