Well, there's all that "inner child" talk that became fashionable awhile back...and I think it makes a good deal of sense, actually...but how come no one ever talks about a child's "inner adult"? ;-) My inner adult interfered a great deal in my childhood and adolescence. And while he helped me avoid making certain reckless mistakes that young people often make, he also tended to isolate me from my peers and make me overly serious and that led to other problems. He may have gotten in the way of a certain amount of fun I could have had. All things considered, though, I think he played a fairly useful part at the time.