It is less unreasonable than believing I changed radically from one extreme to another, then back again, then back again, then back again. People change but not 180 degrees a year during the summer for fifteen years!
Why do you say it must be a 180 degree turn? I argue that the differences can be subtle and maybe not even noticed by the child. I'll give a few examples. I'm not arguing this happened to you or that it's even common. I present these hypothetical situations to demonstrate that the changes need not be radical.
First, think growth spurts. Many of us had them, and suddenly we found ourselves awkward and clumsy. Maybe one summer a kid sprouts up quickly. When school starts, they have races in P.E. to determine team captains. The awkward kid trips over his own feet - something he never did in prior years. He gets laughed at. He gets picked last for teams. In the hallway some bully decides to trip him, and the kid falls. His personality is not to fight back, and thus the cycle begins: Day One the formerly "normal" kid is a social outcast.
The next year he has grown into his skin. Maybe over the summer he went to camp and played a lot of sports. The first day of school the next year he doesn't win the race, but he's pretty fast. He gets picked first instead of last. Nobody trips him. The school year proceeds differently even though he's the same kid who, if he got tripped, wouldn't retaliate. Only now he's the fast kid everybody wants on their team. He was just as fast last year, only nobody realized it because he was always getting tripped by the bullies.
Another example. Today I was discussing this at lunch with a business partner. He said that when they switched to the New Math in elementary school, he was stumped. He just didn't get it even though he was fine with the old math (think adding numbers by "carrying" versus going left to right from highest place value to smallest). The same kid then became unsure of himself and got ridiculed as being dumb. The cycle starts.
Or take my four year old. He has a pragmatic speech delay and a couple of minor social delays. When I take him from preschool, where he gets assistance, to daycare, sometimes the group is engaged in an activity. Even though he knew the kids well, he was visibly shaken when having to enter an organized group activity. Fortunately, these kids didn't bully him, and I worked with him to help him get over his fear. Now when we show up, he quickly assesses the situation, spots a place to sit, and joins right in. Same kid, minor difference.
I could easily see his visible reluctance and stress leading to kids pulling the old, "You can't sit at our table" routine. This would compound his stress, and next time around it would be even worse. Just a small amount of growth on his part makes that less likely.
And before anybody jumps my ass, I fully realize that these situations could still result in the kid getting bullied or not bullied. Social structures are like that. Life is like that. But that doesn't change the fact that small differences can have big results.
I'm saying there wasn't anything different about me, apart from a height increase. I was there. I know.
That's fine. Do you still act like a five year old? Or did you suddenly change when you got your high school diploma?
I happen to believe that it's very hard for people to judge differences in themselves even when they are looking for them. I also believe that children are even less capable. I also don't believe that as a child you were critically examining yourself for small changes that affected your place in the social structure.
Kids change. If you want to argue that you were an exception, that's fine. Teachers see it. Coaches see it. Parents see it. When the kid is given a fresh start, such as starting a new school year or going to camp, they have an opportunity for aspects of their personalities to come out where they didn't come out before. That's a good thing.
