In the most simple terms, the inner adult is always operating in the here and now, the inner child is always operating in the then and there. Inner adult equals present. Inner child equals past.

The inner child is very needy and at times afraid, the inner child wants to be right, is consistently going into the past and replaying incidents from that past and wanting to correct them. The inner child does not consider this as  wasted energy, the fact that  the past can not be changed has no relevance to the inner child. The inner child wants things to be different and thinks that by changing past events things will be different now.   The events and situations of the past cannot be changed, and yet the inner child will replay over and over all of the ways that the past could have been different, if only………….

The inner adult has no need to perform this exercise in futility. The inner adult releases the past and has no interest in it. The attention of the  inner adult is in the moment. The inner adult realizes that to fully experience this moment he or she must fully be in this moment. If the inner adult were to consider some past event it would not be in an effort to change it, it would be to reframe it and see it from a different perspective, see it as a learning experience rather than a painful experience.