Childish is used negatively to criticize behavior that one does not want to see in adults. Childlike, on the other hand, is used either as a positive or neutral evaluation. Here’s a quote from somewhere that may help to explain:

“To advertising writers, connotation is a matter of life or death. There isn’t an ad agency in the world that would hire a copywriter who couldn’t tell the difference between “childlike” and “childish”—two words with the same denotation. The difference—connotatively—is huge. “Childlike” implies innocence and naturalness; childlike people are free of cynicism and corruption; in a world marred by vice and vanity and villainy, they’ve managed to remain guileless and trusting. They’re often thought of as “saints.” “Childish” people are something else: they’re arrested adolescents at best, and bigmouthed brats at worst; they make juvenile demands, they throw tantrums, and they know only one pronoun: “me.” Nobody has ever mistaken a childish man or woman for a saint. Two words: one denotation…vastly different connotations.”

To read more click: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=15915

http://www.goingthewongway.com/2008/06/18/difference-between-childish-and-child-like/

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