"Children want to do what grownups do"
About this Quote
Cleary’s line is a small domestic truth with big cultural reach: kids don’t just want things, they want status. “Do what grownups do” isn’t about mimicry as a cute phase; it’s about apprenticeship. Childhood, in her universe, is less a protected garden than a border checkpoint where you can see adulthood up close but can’t cross without permission. That friction powers her stories: the longing to be taken seriously, the humiliation of being managed, the constant negotiation between imagination and rules.
The intent is quietly corrective. Cleary spent her career refusing to write down to children, and this sentence is her thesis for why: if kids are aiming at the adult world, then children’s literature shouldn’t treat them like decorative innocents. It should acknowledge ambition, envy, bravado, the itch to participate in “real” life. The simplicity of the language matters. No metaphor, no moralizing. It reads like a parent’s observation, but it lands like a social critique: adults hoard authority, and kids respond by imitating the performances of power they’re allowed to witness - shopping, arguing, deciding, earning, driving, even just being listened to.
Context-wise, Cleary wrote in mid-century America, when childhood was increasingly sentimentalized and cordoned off. Her genius was to show how porous that border actually is. The subtext is a rebuke to every adult who says, “You’ll understand when you’re older.” Children are already understanding; they’re rehearsing.
The intent is quietly corrective. Cleary spent her career refusing to write down to children, and this sentence is her thesis for why: if kids are aiming at the adult world, then children’s literature shouldn’t treat them like decorative innocents. It should acknowledge ambition, envy, bravado, the itch to participate in “real” life. The simplicity of the language matters. No metaphor, no moralizing. It reads like a parent’s observation, but it lands like a social critique: adults hoard authority, and kids respond by imitating the performances of power they’re allowed to witness - shopping, arguing, deciding, earning, driving, even just being listened to.
Context-wise, Cleary wrote in mid-century America, when childhood was increasingly sentimentalized and cordoned off. Her genius was to show how porous that border actually is. The subtext is a rebuke to every adult who says, “You’ll understand when you’re older.” Children are already understanding; they’re rehearsing.
Quote Details
| Topic | Parenting |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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