I so clearly recall telling my mother that I was depressed in 5th grade and her responding that, "you don't know what it feels like to be depressed." I'm sure that she meant no harm and truly believed that at the time.
I do think that it is common for adults to believe that children's emotions differ from adult emotions in the degree of depth. I'd have to say that they probably do not differ in that manner and children are probably even less equipt to deal with the depth of those emotions because they lack the perspective that comes with more life experience.
