Childlike?

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You just described me pretty well. I'm also with you as far as the difference between childish and childlike. I know people who are childish, and I don't see myself that way most of the time. However my interests and priorities still seem like those of a child. Also my relationships with other people. People who are childish, on the other hand seem emotionally unstable and have a difficult time with reason. Spotting a childish person is especially easy when you see them looking after young children. They're easily controlled by the kids, and can't handle conflict without breaking. I'm very stable with kids. They seem to feel safe around someone with an even temperment and the ability to take the lead.

I was physically as well as well as emotionally immature, so successful integration into the adult world was never a real possibility. Doctors were no help; what I had was "good enough" and I was abandoned to find my own niche as a manchild. I spent so much energy trying to WILL myself into physical maturity I had nothing left for the emotional part. So I may very well be childish, but given that I was afforded no help, what is the basis for complaint?

I wouldn't say that I am childlike. I would say that certain adult traits never developed properly. Emotional maturity, for one. I tend to respond to things on an emotional, instinctive level. I have a hard time setting priorities. I tend to be a bit naive about people. I don't see this as childlike, though, because I can consciously recognize these weaknesses, and use my reason to overcome them. I have some deficits in areas that children are also deficient. That doesn't make me childlike.

There is no reason to feel guilty because an adult "normal" is out of our reach. Once we know why, we have to take stock of the situation and plan in accordance some sort of possible life.

yeah good advice Paolo:) Knowing why I have this issue does reduce the guilt about not being able to attain adult normality. Now I can plan my life with a lot more clarity.

I relate to a lot of the things people have said, especially having relationships with older people who are either like motherly or fatherly to me and feeling like the child and everyone else is the adult - I even feel like some kids are older than me!

I'm also very childlike. I have the emotional maturity of a 9 year old. I cry easily. I also like the cool toys that they make for boys, these days. I also like the toys that I grew up with. I have 40+ Corgi Routemasters in my apartment. I'm thinking of getting rid of some things in my display cabinet to make room for even more of them. I also like looser fitting clothes than what they make for women my age group these days. I'm very modest in my dress and language. I also love bright colours. I have orange sheets and an orange comforter. I also have lime green pillows and blankets. I also have a cute little mop of Mod hair, like Mick Avory in the August of 1964. People have said that I'm innocent and unworldly. I don't mind them saying that about me, because it's true.

I am often described as "childlike". I've been told that I'm at the emotional level of a 12 year old. The other women in my life tend to take on a mothering role towards me.

None of this bothers me though. In fact, I actually enjoy being thought of as a child. I frequently become nostalgic for my physical childhood, so when other adults still view me as a child, it makes me very happy.

I'm also extremely nostalgic for certain periods of my childhood; although that may just be because the 80's were totally awesome

I once saw someone (an autistic someone) who had some trouble with word-finding, and would gesticulate a bit at those moments. For a second, I could see part of where a "childlike" impression could come from. It looked kind of like how kids look when they're just starting to learn how to express themselves verbally. (It's not something that would make me think of or treat someone "like a child," though.) I suspect there's a lot of other things that lead to that impression, though.

Sometimes, I feel like a kid in an adult body, but at other times like an adult in a kid's body, sort of -- due to other people's projections. There is an evil little impulse in people that I (nowadays) can spot, but that they can't tell that I can see. It's the "I can mess with the person and they won't be able to tell, so I'm going to do that" kind of thing. ...And a lot of other experiences in life that I've had, and that inform me, but that apparently don't "show."

Also, I've found at times that it can cause people to let down their guard and reveal themselves, making it easier to see who they really are.

I froze at about 15-16 years old i think, but i keep learning...so, all the things that people used to say about me being "smart for my age" still apply in the way i view myself. I see myself as a gifted kid, growing more and more gifted as time passes, but not growing up.

YES! I literally squee-d when Glee made a Willow reference last night

Haha, nice; haven't watched that one in a long while. I'm currently on a Jim Henson kick

Willow is my all-time favorite movie. I've seen it 40x.

We shouldn't feel guilty for our life being mutilated, for being deprived of a plenitude of life, the same way a freak should non be ashamend to be a freak, to be blind, to be mute, to be lame or phocomelic or to be mind-blind; but I know that we feel ashamend and often guilty for our disability. We tend to interpret it as a deserved penalty. So here is the problem. Not easy.
And there is also a vicious circle here, because the more we feel ashamed, the more we feel guilty, the more this increases or aggravates our disability.

i have such a hard time not feeling guilty about who i am. embarrassed . .ashamed.
sometimes i seem so normal. i swear that when i'm at my best, no one would know there's anything wrong with me. they'd think i was completely normal.

yet i can't hold a job.
i spend days on end locked in my apartment.
i have a very difficult time taking care of myself sometimes (hygiene).
etc. etc.

it just feels like. . .why if i can be so "normal" sometimes. . .can't i do something with myself? why am i such a p.o.s.?
just makes you feel broken.

i bet there's a ton of you here that know exactly what i'm talking about here.

it's just hard as hell not to feel guilty about being so messed up.

I've always been called naive and innocent, but I am also viewed as being very mature for my age in some regards. My mom says I have a very "old soul" and I've heard her sentiment repeated by others. But at the same time, I have no problem running around the house gleefully making animal noises. Or stopping to play with the roadside ice.

It's a strange combination of teacher vs. student, adult vs. child. So there are some people that latch onto me because they feel I have some wisdom to impart to them. And there are others who feel compelled to defend and protect me.