As someone who interacted mainly with adults growing up, I’d disagree. Being an adult isn’t a great filter of good character. As a kid I was exposed to some backwords ideologies and toxic attitudes from adults, exasterbated by the fact that since they were adults they came with a position of authority. This also made it difficult to make friends and socialize with peers when I got into my teens, I felt like I missed out on a lot by not smoothly integrating into teen culture.
Having a handful of solid adult role models is key, but a lot of social skills are learned by trial and error, and it’s way more helpful when you’re learning those alongside others who are also figuring it out, that’s also how new ideas and new cultural zeitgeists are created, by challenging old concepts and not having the baggage of the old way of doing things.
Obviously there’s pitfalls with taking all your social cues from hormone riddled peers, but it’s a trial I think everyone needs to go through to prepare them on how to socialize with the world at large.
Having a handful of solid adult role models is key, but a lot of social skills are learned by trial and error, and it’s way more helpful when you’re learning those alongside others who are also figuring it out, that’s also how new ideas and new cultural zeitgeists are created, by challenging old concepts and not having the baggage of the old way of doing things.
Obviously there’s pitfalls with taking all your social cues from hormone riddled peers, but it’s a trial I think everyone needs to go through to prepare them on how to socialize with the world at large.