Why We Should Treat Our Partners Like Toddlers episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 28, 2026 · 5 MIN

Why We Should Treat Our Partners Like Toddlers

from The School of Life · host tscol

It seems like the height of patronising behaviour to look at an adult as if they were a child. But it can also be deeply sympathetic and generous. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/QqJkZ Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/fJSmV FURTHER READING "Small children sometimes behave in stunningly unfair and shocking ways: they scream at the person who is looking after them, angrily push away a bowl of animal pasta, throw away something you have just fetched for them. But we rarely feel personally agitated or wounded by their behaviour. And the reason is that we don’t assign a negative motive or mean intention to a small person. We reach around for the most benevolent interpretations. We don’t think they are doing it in order to upset us. We probably think that they are getting a bit tired, or their gums are sore or they are upset by the arrival of a younger sibling. We’ve got a large repertoire of alternative explanations ready in our heads – and none of these lead us to panic or get terribly agitated..." You can read more on this and other topics here: https://goo.gl/AfYtia MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on RELATIONSHIPS in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLrelationships SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Alex Morris http://pinvin.com/ #TheSchoolOfLife ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It seems like the height of patronising behaviour to look at an adult as if they were a child. But it can also be deeply sympathetic and generous. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/QqJkZ Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/fJSmV FURTHER READING "Small children sometimes behave in stunningly unfair and shocking ways: they scream at the person who is looking after them, angrily push away a bowl of animal pasta, throw away something you have just fetched for them. But we rarely feel personally agitated or wounded by their behaviour. And the reason is that we don’t assign a negative motive or mean intention to a small person. We reach around for the most benevolent interpretations. We don’t think they are doing it in order to upset us. We probably think that they are getting a bit tired, or their gums are sore or they are upset by the arrival of a younger sibling. We’ve got a large repertoire of alternative explanations ready in our heads – and none of these lead us to panic or get terribly agitated..." You can read more on this and other topics here: https://goo.gl/AfYtia MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on RELATIONSHIPS in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLrelationships SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Alex Morris http://pinvin.com/ #TheSchoolOfLife ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Why We Should Treat Our Partners Like Toddlers

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This episode was published on June 28, 2026.

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It seems like the height of patronising behaviour to look at an adult as if they were a child. But it can also be deeply sympathetic and generous. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of...

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