crosspost from tumblr . recently mention that still implement some kinds of age restrictions for younglings here , but think good to talk about why exactly , and how kossai handle .
in any plural collective , children can have much more life experience than age would imply , and no longer exist within child body . most major age restrictions fall into one of these categories :
- things that children can not safely accomplish with motor skills at this age - hence why children may get safety knives and plastic sewing needles , in effort to protect from injury
- subject matters that children lack emotional or social maturity to handle responsibly alone - ideally , need adult guidance to talk through at appropriate level
- things that would negatively influence development of brain and body , potentially hurt in ways that adults would not be - hence strict alcohol and drug laws
within plural collectives , though ? none of this is necessarily true . some will find that children can easily handle knives and drive cars , but need adult company to watch anything more complex than sesame street . sometimes , will be able to handle horror movies and raunchy scenes , but can not get dressed alone . sometimes might be fine to get high and chill out , and sometimes might negatively impact in way adults would not feel , even though not literally impact development .
age restriction is very personal as such - not only personal to collective , but to each individual child within collective . one of truly universal rules which have here is not to use public social media , or to talk with people who do not yet have discussion on how to handle young fronters . this is not because all younglings simply can not handle and be responsible , though this is true of some individuals , but because other people by and large do not know or care about proper respect .
often , other people get this idea that must baby-talk and become parental figure or such , to treat as burden rather than person - and honestly find fellow plurals to be worse about this than singlets sometimes . this is major frustration to everyone , so choose to cut off at source , as much as that also can frustrate . no real win , frustration either way .
other than that , though ? younglings do not necessarily have worse motor skills than adults , so what would be unsafe within milestone groups might not be unsafe personally . and to be clear , this can be very true of singlet children as well , as some families work hard to help with development as early as possible ! that in mind , both in home world and when front , even youngest here may be able to function with motor skills on par with adults . when certain tasks might be unsafe to accomplish , this is for same reasons as adults , not unique to younglings .
what is more impactful to kossai is emotional and social maturity . while younglings here still have many years more life experience than same-age singlets , and thus not exactly on par , this tend to be where young nature shine . as such , kossai do put restrictions on some media , as well as certain home world gatherings and events .
different age restrictions apply case by case to different media , events , and individuals - some flexible , and some not . some prohibit entirely to non-adults . some ask that adult be present for guidance , to be able to help and comfort . others allow solo engagement , but only if meet certain requirements personally .
( as mention last time , but feel might as well say again : kossai do lack memory barriers , and so knowledge about characters from any media is still accessible to all fronters . personal ruling is that younglings can play with any characters regardless of source media , but still must follow restriction for direct media or fandom engagement . there is simply no good way , or good reason , to try and enforce rules on private imagination and creativity . )
in any case , kossai do find that age in number is not always helpful - again , because of longer life experience , might compare to array of different milestone groups , not just one . these milestone groups also do not account for more personal quirks and needs - what might be OK to engage solo for one will need adult company for another , or prohibit entirely .
will also say that younglings here recognise and embrace differences from adults . to remain young here is , in at least some part , active choice - and just like some things belong only to adults , some also belong only to younglings . separations and limitations do not come from place of hate or over-protection , but to respect those differences and allow everyone happiness .
of course , this is how kossai do things . some of these things will almost definitely not apply to other collectives , but would encourage to think more about some of these points , and whether restrictions actually comfortable or ... well , too restrictive .
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kossai
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
