How do you talk to someone whose worldview appears different from your own? It’s easy. When communicating with someone, say, on the opposite side of the planet, words tend to flow naturally. We know instinctively that understanding people involves gaining an insight into their life experiences. By contrast, many of us struggle when speaking to children. The usual rules of human interaction seem not to apply and, instead, we fall back on mimicry and condescension. We try to connect by using exaggerated gasps of enthusiasm or forced emulation of their language and tone. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-Two Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 48 How to Talk to AI Can you be rude to a robot? Arts & Culture Issue 39 Learn Lenience We were all young once. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Pay it Forward How to be a mentor. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Be Accountable On youth and responsibility. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Think Back A reexamination of nostalgia. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Grow Up In praise of aging.
