Compared to adulthood? Children don't work, don't take care of beings totally dependent on them, and don't face death in the face, generally. That's the fantasy eden of pre-adulthood
I have to say that it’s a simple fact the concept of childhood is not defined by trauma in any world culture, it is defined by innocence. The concept of childhood trauma is so staggeringly overblown it’s on par with trans violence. I’ve seen studies that 25% 50% up to 75% or more children have experienced “trauma”. It’s a bullshit call for sympathy for organizations which serve traumatized children. I had a rank alcoholic father an a bipolar mother, was bullied in school, yet strangely I found childhood not defined by incidents, but by wonder, nature, friends, music, teachers I loved and family who looked after me.
Yes; there are children abused Id be silly to say that it wasn’t true. But not 75% of children are traumatized, not 50%, not 25%. Being frightened, getting in a fight, a natural disaster, serious illness - these are events which don’t define childhood for the vast majority of children. Going through a single event is not a traumatic childhood. It’s a normal childhood. It’s forgotten as an exception.
Except for annoying helicopter parents and overexposure to Internetworking, children today - worldwide - have the most amazing chance of an idyllic childhood in the history of mankind. Illness, poverty, war, famine - simply don’t exist anywhere near the scale of when even wartime childnood in London, bombs dropping during the Blitz, children still found life magic.
I think my opinion is probably skewed because of 12 years as a social worker in Oakland and then 2+ decades teaching public school. There are quite young children who are sexually exploited, forced to witness domestic violence, neglected by drug- and alcohol-addled adults…
We don’t have Dickens-like workhouses for six-year olds in this country, and minors are no longer subject to capital punishment, but the conditions of childhood can still be pretty nightmarish. And it feels sometimes like our institutions are half-hearted in their safeguarding efforts.
It's peculiar but the existence of such children is sad in part precisely because we expect childhood to be a trouble-free eden; the contract between expectation and what happens to some is jarring and troublesome.
Well I feel peculiar reading this because I see "except for exceptions". There are children who have more traumatic than average. Any general statement is true "except for exceptions". I stand by my statement.
We're fine. I find that framing puberty as 'dysphoric youth' is the essence of the problem. dysphoric is 'unhappy', there need be no medical phrase for 'unhappy' or 'anxious'. A common condition of children entering puberty is anxiety, dread and unhappiness. It's not a medical condition although we have been told it is, by a psychiatric group which believes the treatment involves sterilization and excising tissue, akin to trepanning. They've totally lost credibility, and labeling ordinary young people's 'transition' and doldrums, however severe, as a medical condition is as laughable as believing 'The Exorcist' was a documentary.
You were with me until you claimed that childhood is a carefree Eden. That’s a fantasy, not reality.
Compared to adulthood? Children don't work, don't take care of beings totally dependent on them, and don't face death in the face, generally. That's the fantasy eden of pre-adulthood
I have to say that it’s a simple fact the concept of childhood is not defined by trauma in any world culture, it is defined by innocence. The concept of childhood trauma is so staggeringly overblown it’s on par with trans violence. I’ve seen studies that 25% 50% up to 75% or more children have experienced “trauma”. It’s a bullshit call for sympathy for organizations which serve traumatized children. I had a rank alcoholic father an a bipolar mother, was bullied in school, yet strangely I found childhood not defined by incidents, but by wonder, nature, friends, music, teachers I loved and family who looked after me.
Yes; there are children abused Id be silly to say that it wasn’t true. But not 75% of children are traumatized, not 50%, not 25%. Being frightened, getting in a fight, a natural disaster, serious illness - these are events which don’t define childhood for the vast majority of children. Going through a single event is not a traumatic childhood. It’s a normal childhood. It’s forgotten as an exception.
Except for annoying helicopter parents and overexposure to Internetworking, children today - worldwide - have the most amazing chance of an idyllic childhood in the history of mankind. Illness, poverty, war, famine - simply don’t exist anywhere near the scale of when even wartime childnood in London, bombs dropping during the Blitz, children still found life magic.
It really depends on the specific adults controlling the child’s environment.
There are always, but childhood is generally a state of innocense, wouldn't you say? I can hardly call childhood a state of existential anxiety
I think my opinion is probably skewed because of 12 years as a social worker in Oakland and then 2+ decades teaching public school. There are quite young children who are sexually exploited, forced to witness domestic violence, neglected by drug- and alcohol-addled adults…
We don’t have Dickens-like workhouses for six-year olds in this country, and minors are no longer subject to capital punishment, but the conditions of childhood can still be pretty nightmarish. And it feels sometimes like our institutions are half-hearted in their safeguarding efforts.
It's peculiar but the existence of such children is sad in part precisely because we expect childhood to be a trouble-free eden; the contract between expectation and what happens to some is jarring and troublesome.
Well I feel peculiar reading this because I see "except for exceptions". There are children who have more traumatic than average. Any general statement is true "except for exceptions". I stand by my statement.
We're fine. I find that framing puberty as 'dysphoric youth' is the essence of the problem. dysphoric is 'unhappy', there need be no medical phrase for 'unhappy' or 'anxious'. A common condition of children entering puberty is anxiety, dread and unhappiness. It's not a medical condition although we have been told it is, by a psychiatric group which believes the treatment involves sterilization and excising tissue, akin to trepanning. They've totally lost credibility, and labeling ordinary young people's 'transition' and doldrums, however severe, as a medical condition is as laughable as believing 'The Exorcist' was a documentary.