> Until relatively recently, psychologists assumed that children did not start to care about their reputation and peers' perceptions until around age nine.

Did they really? Cause anyone in contact with kids must have seen status seeking/preserving behaviors much sooner. The teachers compensate for it by checking on kids instead of expecting then to ask everything by themselves.

The other thing is, there is right amount of asking questions. Some of it is too much and more independence is needed. Some of it is too little - and kids need to learn to guess the right amounts.