Seems like Claudio knew that  if you treat a child like a fool, you ran the risk that, whether the child thinks that you are the fool, because you're speaking to them like that, or that they grow up thinking they are a fool, which is much worse.
Parece que Claudio sabía que si vos tratas a un chico como si fuera un tonto corres el riesgo de que, o el chico crea que vos sos un tonto, porque le estás hablando así, o el chico crezca pensando que es un tonto, lo cual es bastante peor.