Childhood in Limbo
March 20, 2011 by mschor
In the modern day world I believe that we are seeing childhood in limbo. Now what I mean by “in limbo” is that the line between childhood and becoming an adult is slowly blurring. While there is still evidence that childhood does indeed exist separately from adulthood, we ourselves are blurring the line by taking complex idea’s such as gender role and sexuality and applying these idea’s to infants, toddlers, and adolescents. As a child grows up and develops, they explore and are constantly absorbing new stimuli such as audio stimuli, visual stimuli, etc. . . They are constantly expanding their cognitive abilities.
I was watching an episode of ABC’s primetime series “What Would You Do?” that aired on January 21st, 2011. The episode covered a single scenario in which a father brings his son to a toy store and all the little boy wants is a Barbie doll. This scenario was repeated numerous times throughout the episode, but each varying in a slight way, such as the ethnic background of the father and son (Caucasian, African-American, Asian) and whether the son enters the store sporting “normal” clothes or a hot pink tutu. Bystanders watched as some chastised the father for letting his son wear the tutu and play with Barbies, while others stuck up for the boy and his father.
Children use playing as a means to learn and further their cognitive abilities whether it is apparent to them or not. I will post a link to the video to further reinforce the idea that because adult’s are applying these complex idea’s to that of a child, the child is then expected to comprehend and live up to certain expectations of the adult. This could then result in a complete disappearance of a childhood and further result in children being forced into social taboos as well as “maturity.” Hidden Camera: Son wants a doll or dress – What would you do? (1-21-11)
