Replies

Junior:
"Letting a child "follow his conscience" can lead to kids getting into all sorts of trouble -- because kids do not have a well-developed conscience until they are much older."

Campion:
"What, like 50? Get real. You mean they haven't learned to practice moral cowardice yet."

As much as I think the children have done a wonderful thing, I have to agree that they are not capable of mature reasoning since none of them look like they're even teenagers yet. Until they reach the age of at least 15, children are not capable of reasoning as an adult. This is why they need guardians until they are 18 and are treated different when committing crimes. Jean Piaget, who was not a psychologist, but a developmental biologist who formulated childhood delvelopmental stages related to major developments in brain growth. The human brain is not fully developed until late adolescence or in the case of males sometimes early adulthood. We often expect children to think like adults when they are not yet capable of doing so. The gradual internalization of rules and maturing conscience for decision-making takes place in one of the last developmental stages.

Therefore, I think that even if it was the children's idea to bring Terri the water, the seed was planted by someone else. I'm sure the kids don't understand the entire situation, which is even more sad that they got arrested for a kind act. It's just too bad it didn't work! Someone needs to give Terri some nourishment and soon.