Example: My younger sister Hannah started talking at a much faster rate than most children her age. She loved using big kid words that made her sound much older than she actually was. Because of this, my parents and even my siblings and me, would treat Hannah as if she were 8 when in reality she was only 5. This has been a struggle for her as she has grown up because we have expected more out of her than was age appropriate.
Sometimes we expect more from young children than they are capable of understanding or doing. If we will take in mind their age, we can learn to be more patient with them and maybe change our requests to fit their age of development.
Another example: You may desire to teach your young children the principle of hard work. So, they may be assigned a daily job. However it would be inappropriate for you to expect your 5 year old to wash the windows perfectly. They will do the best they can and you can't expect more than that. You could help show them the proper way of doing a chore but until they are older, they may not have the mental/physical capacity of doing so.
Let's see if there is anything from the gospel that relates to this.
"How grateful we should be for a kind, wise, loving Savior who will help us overcome our faults, our mistakes, and our sins. He loves and understands us and is sympathetic to the fact that we face temptations."(Meaning of Repentance, Burton).
From this I learn that our Father in Heaven also recognizes and acknowledges the fact that we are all still "children" in our spiritual development. He knows that we will not be perfect in this life. We must learn to treat our own children with this knowledge as well.
Sources: Kohn, pg. 130,
The Meaning of Repentance, Elder Theodore M. Burton, Of the First Quorum of Seventy, Ensign, Aug. 1988, pp. 5-9
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