"Because they recognize that their bodies are in the present, few people doubt that they themselves live in the present. Yet, as adults, we stand so far back mentally from what we are doing that it's as if mere shadow figures are playing out the event. Out attention is on the decisions we have made about this kind of activity, our judgments of the people involved, and our thoughts about what else we could be doing. Even when we like something, we wonder if it will end too soon. Most adults can't eat a simple meal without worrying whether they have enough — or too much — of this or that on their plate.
"In contrast, very young children — even when they don't like what they are doing — are wholly within the activity. They interact with strangers, friends, or old 'enemies' with little thought about those classifications. They don't endlessly compare what they are doing to similar past events, and they don't become preoccupied with when it will end. Even if they are tugging on their parent's arm to leave, their minds are completely into the tugging."
