Maturity of a person lies in the development of the mind.

We understand that a person is truly matured by the way his/her mind works, how he looks at things and acts on them. If the mind is unable to differentiate between right and wrong, truth and myths or the seriousness and priorities of a situation, then the mind cannot be considered developed or matured enough to understand things well enough to see the differences and the needs, to separate one from the other.

So, the body may develop and grow into the size and shape of an adult but if the mind does not grow and develop in maturity, the person, his feelings, emotions and thinking will remain childish and immature. The mind can only develop through knowledge and experience as well as the use of it to solve and settle matters properly and correctly.

Opportunities for the mind to develop must be given so that decisions and independent thoughts could be derived at confidently. Thus, we ought not to spoon-feed or pamper our children. Giving assistance and so helping the child along initially is invaluable but overdoing it can lead to spoon-feeding and developing the habit of consistently depending on the parents or other people for answers and solutions to the many problems that crop up in life.

Parents could at the first ten years of life of the child allow the child to tackle small problems such as making decisions on less important matters. Then, as he or she grows older, allow the child to decide on more important issues such as considering whether there is a need to attend tuition classes, in which subjects he/she needs assistance and where he could go for such assistance. That does not mean that the parents do not need to do their homework and discover the best place or the right teacher for the child to go to. As the child makes decisions, the parents could give suggestions and opinion to assist the child come to the right decision. Thus, the child could be helped indirectly to come to the best possible move.

Parents are guides, giving knowledge and experience where necessary and extending a strong protective arm and body when needed, indicating the right path when children are in doubt and backing off when they are sure the children have got things right.
Such are the moves that we extend to assist them with opportunities to strengthen their mind in their progress to maturity.