The Difference Between Childish And Childlike
The word “Childish” and “Childlike” seem so similar yet have different meanings. They both suggest the same thing: Being a child. The term Childish refers to the negative side of a child and childlike refers to the positive side of a child. People think both of these words are interchangeable but they are not. I’ll explain more about the difference between these two words, so you can have a better understanding of what they both means.
Childish Being childish is when you come up with immature behavior and get mad or throw tantrums because you didn’t get things your way. You become easily offended and triggered when someone challenges you or has a different opinion than you and doesn’t agree with what you’re saying. Childish is when you think yelling will make you right at what you’re saying. People would call someone “childish” in a negative way, because of their unreasonable and rude behavior. We don’t want a partner who is childish, right? We don’t want to marry a man-child or woman-child, right? No one wants to be with a childish person because they are stubborn, annoying and get easily mad. You find them annoying and irritating. Everyone would find them annoying and irritating. They haven’t been raised right with disciplines and consequences, that’s why they behave very rude to people and get away with it.
They are insensitive to other people and only care about themselves. They never take consequences for their actions or say apologize when they have done something wrong. They always go in a victim-mode and blame everyone else for their problem instead of taking the blame and responsibility for themselves. They only talk about themselves to someone, but once the other people talk about their day, the childish person pays no attention and doesn’t care nor listens. They seek attention and, approval and validation all the time because they are narcissistic. Their emotions are like a rollercoaster. They invade people’s privacy behind their backs and lies a lot to get what they want.
They are extremely stubborn and defensive. They don’t like admitting what their true intentions are. They get super stressed out and mad if something isn’t working right for them. The smallest things would annoy them. They are not engaging in any activities with other people and always exhausted to do anything. They make excuses for everything. They get easily stressed out instead of trying to meditate at the moment and relax knowing everything will work out. They don’t think like that. I would say the word “Childish” is closer to “Narcissistic” than “Childlike”
They love to shame and belittle other people, so they can feel better about themselves. They don’t care about their family or friends. They hear what people say but they don’t listen to what people say. They speak before they think. They think they are entitled and God’s gift to the world.
Childlike Being childlike is someone who is imaginary, visionaries, and has the creativity of an innocent child. They carry the positive qualities of a child. They are just as honest as a child. They follow their dreams and believe in themselves. They beam the light of a child and resembles an innocent child. They carry good behavior and respects everyone despite their race, religion, culture, background, and career status. Childlike people are sweet, gentle, and pure of heart. They have the heart of a pure child. They apologize if they ever did something wrong.
They can balance between being a grown-up adult and being childlike. They can be productive for the whole day and end their day by watching a family-friendly movie they used to watch in their childhood. They are never too old to watch movies they grew up with as a child. They are never too old to play board games/video games. Some people think playing a game as an adult is childish. It’s not. It’s being childlike and using your creativity. I play games sometimes to unfold my creativity and use my brain. It’s healthy.
They are full of energy and excitement. They are enthusiastic about life and happy for other people’s achievements. They are open-minded and have a high sense of curiosity to learn new things every day. They are not afraid to ask questions in a subject or find any questions being too stupid. That’s how they learn and become smarter. They come up with good ideas for solutions and improvement because they use their creativity. Kevin from “Home Alone” used his creativity to trap the bad guys.
They are compassionate and true to themselves. An artist who paints is an artist because they use the creativity of a child. That’s childlike. They use imaginations to create their next painting. Childlike is someone who laughs in delight and joy of a child. They are optimistic about life. They see the beauty in life, that every adult overlooks.
To be childlike is to be trusting, innocent, pure, delighted, joyful, loving and honest. You have strong faith in yourself that you can do anything in life. You’re utterly fearless and brave to do what scares you the most and makes you feel uncomfortable. You’re not afraid to get out of your comfort zone and learn new things every day. You’re not afraid of failing and continues to practice and practice till you get it right because you believe in yourself.
Being childlike is someone who views the world with newborn eyes. Childlike is someone who never complains about anything in life and finds joy and beauty in life. Being childlike leads to being mature.
I hope it’s been cleared out for you. I used to think they were the same thing until I dug deeper into the subject and meaning of these two words. I understand people can be confused with both of these similar words. Anyone can be childish or childlike, whether it’s an elder, adult, teenager, tween, child or baby. Anyone.
Grow up and have the heart of an innocent child. Don’t be childish. Be childlike.
Originally published at https://www.mindfullfillmentality.com.
