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Kids Politics

The dividing line between child and adult concerns is already too blurred for comfort. Now they have books to explain politics to kids - i.e. depending on the parent's leanings what the case is against liberals or conservatives. I haven't seen any of these titles in the local public library yet and hopefully they will stay out of the school system. It is hard to fathom the need for such indoctrination at a tender age. Is this not a way to incubate extremism ?

The comments on MeFi on this are hilarious. I guess it is the best one can do - find humor in something painfully sad. It seems like present day adults have made it their life's purpose to take away from children their right to an innocent, uncomplicated childhood. Such attempts adultification of children could do more harm than good. We probably need a Greenpeace like organization to advocate and fight for the inviolable right of all children to their childhood. Constant involvement with kids is a relatively new concept and if that ends up depriving them of their opportunity to develop self-awareness maybe it is not a good thing.

You wonder why is no longer good enough for kids to be kids ? The Archbishop of Canterbury once gave an excellent sermon on this theme. He says among other things : childhood is most positively valued and fostered when we resist infantilism; when adults stop being infants, children can be children. That is perhaps the best summing up I have read of what ails us present day adults.
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