“The purpose of the extreme scenarios presented in what-if questions about taking children seriously is to suggest that therefore taking children seriously would lead to disaster. But in fact, the more extreme the scenario, the easier it is to persuade a child that that course of action would be a mistake.”
– Sarah Fitz-Claridge
“What if my child [insert disastrous thing here]?”
My intention is to write a new general answer to what-if questions, but in the meantime:
See:
- “What if…?” questions revisited, which is a criticism of my problematic but strangely popular 1995 answer:
- “What if…?” questions
Sarah Fitz-Claridge, 2022, Taking Children Seriously FAQ: ‘What if… ?’, https://takingchildrenseriously.com/what-if/