I feel false dichotomy here - you assume helping child to go through plateau must be forced.
It doesn’t have to be and some people need a little bit of help - you didn’t and that’s great.
Conversely there will be kids that need to be forced or nothing good will come out of them - there will be kids that should be left alone because pushing them will just break whatever they should be doing.
It is delicate balance and difficult choices - but there is no white and black here that will be right for everyone.
Yeah I didn't mean to suggest this dichotomy. And I agree with you. Just not sure how much you can force people, even the ones who "need" to be forced. Or what "good" will come out of that. Good in my mind is a person who knows themselves, is functional, and is comfortable in their own skin. That is, a person who won't lead a life of total suffering, which seems pretty common!
Exactly! Why? The few things I do better than most people are things I've stayed engaged with during those plateaus because I wanted to, not because someone else told me I should or that it was important. The people who respond positively to being forced into things generally end up not knowing who _they_ are, and end up generally unwell people.