As children’s self-identities begin to take shape, they begin to see themselves as having the capacity to start making decisions for themselves, at first experimentally and in small matters that do not impinge on the adult world. But increasingly, as they mature, children’s self-concepts move in the direction of greater self-direction, and during adolescence their need to take significant responsibility for managing their own lives becomes so strong that it often puts them in open rebellion against control by the adult world. The tragedy is that in our culture the adult world tends to hold onto its concepts of the child as a dependent personality until the last possible moment.