"Impossible" Children

After a discussion about recent research regarding psychopathy in children, we asked our students to tell us if there is such a thing as an “impossible” child.

Jeewon S., 13, HKIS

There is a wide boundary when it comes to labeling a child as “impossible.” Children all throw tantrums and make impulsive decisions at least once. There are, however, exceptions. To the most extreme point, an “impossible” child would be one who showcases no emotion to another’s pain or one who can’t control his or her temper.

        The classic problematic child horror movies are turning into reality. New research hasshow that children, especially those who have callous-emotional disorder, are more susceptible to becoming “psychopaths” if they already aren’t. Callous-emotional disorder results in people whose amygdalae (a part of the brain) don’t respond to other people’s emotions like misery, fear or happiness. Thus, the children commit violent actions and don’t care about the consequences or outcome.

        In the world, very few children can be categorized as “impossible”. A lot of parents don’t realize that they were once, too, headstrong children. They expect children to comprehend their high expectations and get mad if they fail to do so. More parents need to realize that there is no such thing as an angelic, perfect, cherub-like child, and lower their standards to have a better bond with their children.

        To understand a child, to truly form a genuine connection, parents need to observe and understand. And in the rarest cases of child psychopathy, parents should have as much patience and guidance and help them learn the consequences of their impulsive actions. But who knows: there is still hope and possibility for troublesome children to mature into well-behaved adults.