Why Are Children So Judgmental?

So since when did people in their 20's get so damned judgmental? They've barely lived a life, and though some more tragic than others, they don't really have a lot of "life" to use on balance. To listen to them you'd think THEY had experienced the death of their own parents and child, the end of a nearly 30 year marriage to infidelity and humiliation of ridiculous proportion, and the sheer terror of being 55 years old and starting completely over. They are young and their significant other will never cheat on them, their child will never take his own life, their future will never be uncertain and terrifying. It's easy to sit in judgment and say "Sit quietly, stop crying, you're upsetting our lives." The thing is, once our children grow up, we think of them more as friends. Because they are adults. But they aren't really. They will always react as children to us. They will be defiant and argumentative and judgmental, because they can. We have to continue to love them, no matter how heartless they are to us. And we do. But make no mistake, it diminishes them in our hearts. The compassion they would willingly give a stranger or even a co-worker, they wouldn't DREAM of extending to their parents. Until they experience something horrible. And then they will require us to be gentle and comforting, with no memory of the coldness they showed us. And we will. Because we're parents. An

d frankly, that sucks. Sometimes it's just damned tiresome "being the bigger person". Sometimes it would be wonderful to, just for once, say "Yeah? How does THAT feel??"