T h Corny A T G amIr R L

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

You Know You're Working Too Much When . . .

you start to analyze Harry Potter's choices based on his developmental levels.

Yesterday little j was sick so I read three chapters ( = three hours) of book 5 and all I could think about was how a lot of his decision making was entirely age-appropriate for his developmental level, and how the adults had expectations that were too high and developmentally inappropriate for him.

Clearly Harry's prefrontal cortex is not developed enough to see that going after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is a dangerous idea. And there are a lot of identity issues he has yet to grapple with, and these tasks are made all the more difficult without strong adult influences (e.g., parents) to give him consistent guidance -- in other words, he doesn't have the scaffolding he needs for optimal development.

Really, I think I could construct a whole class around The Psychosocial and Cognitive Development of Harry Potter. Ahhh...perhaps in my next career!

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