Finishing Touches to Developmental Stages

Robertson, Gary. Do I Hafta Grow Up? The Adult's Guide to Unfinished Business of Childhood. Author’s Signature Edition. c2007.

This guide to an understanding of the North American psyche by the director of Springs Foundation, a non-profit organization with a mission to discover, develop and deliver healing methods in the new paradigm fields of Energy Psychology and Energy Medicine, seeks to clarify the glitches in our thinking that result in both personal and interpersonal problems. The author’s healing model draws from, and integrates aspects of, the three fields of: general medical practice, psychology and religion.

After exploring what makes us truly grownups, Robertson discusses our possession of individual focused agendas. He then queries how, despite such agendas, we lose the power to choose a life for ourselves, becoming enmeshed in a web of responsibilities, obligations, and a scripted course instead. He discusses identifiers of incomplete childhood development that are so commonplace that they necessitate the involvement of between a third and half of all Americans in the law enforcement industry.

Tracing our origins from the womb, Robertson shows how, as complex beings – physical,
emotional, mental, and spiritual– we endure a multi-layered experience that goes through predictable stages involving unrelenting challenges. He concludes that missing a fundamental competency affects all thereafter, either diverting or detracting in predictable ways.

Simplifying the writings of such theorists as Freud and Erick Erickson, Robertson shows how the development of self worth and basic trust during the oral stage of development can go awry: If we are given material objects to relate to, then our primary attachments will be to things, rather than people. He argues for unconditional acceptance and enough satisfaction of our individual needs to enable us, in turn, to respond empathically to others. Individual differences need to be recognized and accepted, rather than disregarded in favor of an external standard for measuring who we should be and what we should be doing.

The degree of confidence that we have in our capacity to make decisions as adults relates directly to how safe and protected our second year of life, the exploratory age, is. Later attachment anxieties can be related to unresolved separation issues. The development of our cognitive skills, which is of key importance to our fully autonomous adult functioning, tends to be downplayed by a society intent on over prescribing behavior.
The capacity of three year olds to question elements of their surroundings leads to this being an information gathering age, which sets the stage for the establishment of personal power in four year olds.

Robertson reveals through a case study comparison of Navajo (Dine’) and Caucasian childbearing practices how the latter foster a spirit of competitiveness. Maintaining that basic respect for others results from rewarding respectful actions, he explores how we manipulate others in order to get what we want by playing psychological games and by our performance. He also shows how we use defensive tactics to protect our personal space from unwelcome intrusions. Robertson then discusses our compelling desire about age five to establish ourselves as distinct individuals, complete with life plans, roles, sex role identities, and intended occupations.

Robertson shows how, during the latency phase from six to nine years old, challenging external controls in the form of parental rules results in incorporation of tried and tested personal behavior regulation. From age nine to thirteen, we identify with fantasy characters and learn how to make decisions based on our incorporated rule system. Puberty is a period of testing of personal identities, culminating in our emergence as a nearly grown person.

Robertson claims how, from adulthood to retirement age, most often we live our
lives as they are prescribed for us by our scripts, completely out of touch with the reasoning behind our decision making. Realizing that the lives we envisioned have not been accomplished or failed to deliver the expected satisfaction, we have midlife crises that evolve into resignation to the inevitable – the aging process.

Robertson rounds off his detailed discussion of the developmental stages of humankind with his revelation of an operational model, derived primarily from case histories. By thoroughly examining our first five years of being, he firmly lays the ground for all that follows, resulting in our accepting his deductions as both logical and inevitable. In the latter half of his text, Robertson directs his psychological focus to a sociological analysis of the malformations of thought prevalent in contemporary American society. He shows how the lack of equality and integrity in relationships, stemming from inadequate establishment of boundaries and power relations during early childhood, leads to co-dependent, manipulative lifestyles lacking in authenticity.

The questions that Robertson asks throughout the text provoke questioning by the readers, who inevitably become caught up in the developmental issues under debate. His sense of humor reveals itself in numerous asides that lighten the tone of the text (such as when he refers to the autistic-like behavior of teenagers listening to music), but that in no way diminish it. He delves into the reasons for dysfunctional behavior in adulthood, which sometimes are rooted in infancy. Although Robertson occasionally refers to the work of theorists such as Freud and Erickson, his explanations are clear and straightforward, requiring no prior acquaintance with their writings. Robertson’s alternative way of thinking is conveyed by his allusions to the cumulative effect of karma that results in current states of being.

This is a work to be cheered – I found myself spontaneously clapping at points. Both thoughtful and provocative of thought, Do I Hafta Grow Up? Robertson, Gary. Do I Hafta Grow Up? The Adult's Guide to Unfinished Business of Childhood. Author’s Signature Edition. c2007.

This guide to an understanding of the North American psyche by the director of Springs Foundation, a non-profit organization with a mission to discover, develop and deliver healing methods in the new paradigm fields of Energy Psychology and Energy Medicine, seeks to clarify the glitches in our thinking that result in both personal and interpersonal problems. The author’s healing model draws from, and integrates aspects of, the three fields of: general medical practice, psychology and religion.

After exploring what makes us truly grownups, Robertson discusses our possession of individual focused agendas. He then queries how, despite such agendas, we lose the power to choose a life for ourselves, becoming enmeshed in a web of responsibilities, obligations, and a scripted course instead. He discusses identifiers of incomplete childhood development that are so commonplace that they necessitate the involvement of between a third and half of all Americans in the law enforcement industry.

Tracing our origins from the womb, Robertson shows how, as complex beings – physical,
emotional, mental, and spiritual– we endure a multi-layered experience that goes through predictable stages involving unrelenting challenges. He concludes that missing a fundamental competency affects all thereafter, either diverting or detracting in predictable ways.

Simplifying the writings of such theorists as Freud and Erick Erickson, Robertson shows how the development of self worth and basic trust during the oral stage of development can go awry: If we are given material objects to relate to, then our primary attachments will be to things, rather than people. He argues for unconditional acceptance and enough satisfaction of our individual needs to enable us, in turn, to respond empathically to others. Individual differences need to be recognized and accepted, rather than disregarded in favor of an external standard for measuring who we should be and what we should be doing.

The degree of confidence that we have in our capacity to make decisions as adults relates directly to how safe and protected our second year of life, the exploratory age, is. Later attachment anxieties can be related to unresolved separation issues. The development of our cognitive skills, which is of key importance to our fully autonomous adult functioning, tends to be downplayed by a society intent on over prescribing behavior.
The capacity of three year olds to question elements of their surroundings leads to this being an information gathering age, which sets the stage for the establishment of personal power in four year olds.

Robertson reveals through a case study comparison of Navajo (Dine’) and Caucasian childbearing practices how the latter foster a spirit of competitiveness. Maintaining that basic respect for others results from rewarding respectful actions, he explores how we manipulate others in order to get what we want by playing psychological games and by our performance. He also shows how we use defensive tactics to protect our personal space from unwelcome intrusions. Robertson then discusses our compelling desire about age five to establish ourselves as distinct individuals, complete with life plans, roles, sex role identities, and intended occupations.

Robertson shows how, during the latency phase from six to nine years old, challenging external controls in the form of parental rules results in incorporation of tried and tested personal behavior regulation. From age nine to thirteen, we identify with fantasy characters and learn how to make decisions based on our incorporated rule system. Puberty is a period of testing of personal identities, culminating in our emergence as a nearly grown person.

Robertson claims how, from adulthood to retirement age, most often we live our
lives as they are prescribed for us by our scripts, completely out of touch with the reasoning behind our decision making. Realizing that the lives we envisioned have not been accomplished or failed to deliver the expected satisfaction, we have midlife crises that evolve into resignation to the inevitable – the aging process.

Robertson rounds off his detailed discussion of the developmental stages of humankind with his revelation of an operational model, derived primarily from case histories. By thoroughly examining our first five years of being, he firmly lays the ground for all that follows, resulting in our accepting his deductions as both logical and inevitable. In the latter half of his text, Robertson directs his psychological focus to a sociological analysis of the malformations of thought prevalent in contemporary American society. He shows how the lack of equality and integrity in relationships, stemming from inadequate establishment of boundaries and power relations during early childhood, leads to co-dependent, manipulative lifestyles lacking in authenticity.

The questions that Robertson asks throughout the text provoke questioning by the readers, who inevitably become caught up in the developmental issues under debate. His sense of humor reveals itself in numerous asides that lighten the tone of the text (such as when he refers to the autistic-like behavior of teenagers listening to music), but that in no way diminish it. He delves into the reasons for dysfunctional behavior in adulthood, which sometimes are rooted in infancy. Although Robertson occasionally refers to the work of theorists such as Freud and Erickson, his explanations are clear and straightforward, requiring no prior acquaintance with their writings. Robertson’s alternative way of thinking is conveyed by his allusions to the cumulative effect of karma that results in current states of being.

This is a work to be cheered – I found myself spontaneously clapping at points. Both thoughtful and provocative of thought, Do I Hafta Grow Up? is well worth the read, and reread… And yes, BTW, Robertson does answer his own question both cogently and clearly. is well worth the read, and reread… And yes, BTW, Robertson does answer his own question both cogently and clearly. Lois C. Henderson