Constant Child - Ego II

At the least harmful end, this can result in staying out late or refusing to get a job for a college graduate who has yet to launch their own life.

At its worst, individuals choose to remain angry at all authority figures. When the police officer makes a demand, the first instinct is not compliance or to ask for the reason why, it is to do the opposite of what they were told to do.

The rebellious child for whom nothing is ever their fault can become a chronic offender in the penal system, for which everything is the fault of society and never their own, but the instinct to disobey any command lands them in trouble again and again.

By choosing a constant Child-Ego, the person gains freedom from social constraints that a parent-ego would impose. They also ignore the consequences the adult-ego would rationally recognize and mitigate.

Long-term consequences of the constant child-ego can include:

•    Large credit card debt from impulse purchases.

•    Failed relationships by choosing to ignore warning signs that someone was not a match or outright dangerous (drunk, drugged, violent).

•    A resume littered with many part time jobs or a succession of short term positions, because the person rushed in to get a “hot” job or quit the job on impulse.

•    College loan debt and no job in the field because they picked a degree on whim or to impress others instead of looking at their interests and abilities against potential life long employment paths.

•    Having an unplanned baby by failing to control impulses, not ensuring adequate protections were used

•    Having a baby to love them but being unable to support the child or creating a baby to cement an insecure relationship and then being left alone to raise them. In either case, the incredibly stressful  result of having to raise a baby alone, often in poverty, is the result of not waiting to select a stable, long term partner before having a child.

(continued from part I)