No Longer Sacred?

When I was a child, there were certain things adults simply did not do, or allow to be done in the presence of children.  I knew people whom the adults in my life abhorred, yet I knew nothing about their abhorred behavior because, when I was around, it didn’t exist.  However, it seems that nowadays, all bets are off.

One of the reasons I enjoy creating literature for children is because I believe kids deserve to experience something free of the raw intensity of our adult world.  Yet, there are those amongst us who think nothing of destroying the veil between cherished childhood and jaded adulthood… who, in fact, believe it to be not only acceptable, but necessary.

I was afforded the blessings of a wonderful childhood, precisely because I was not exposed to those things no child should ever see.  And I’ve heard the argument before: “But children need to understand what goes on in the ‘real’ world.”  To this, I respond, “And you don’t think they do?”  Let’s give our children a little more credit than that.

There’s a reason children are not allowed into bars, and it’s not because we’re afraid they might pour themselves a highball.  It’s because adults do things in bars, largely because of alcohol, that children have no business seeing or experiencing.

Ratings and age restrictions are in place to protect our children.  The vast majority of our lives are spent in adulthood, so how about we allow kids to be kids for as long as possible.  They’ll have plenty of time to be cynical and jaded.  Childhood is a beautiful time in life… let’s let it stay that way.