Adults Should Protect Not Exploit Innocence
Entertainment at the expense of children is harmful and cruel, and it will leave lasting scars.
If anyone ever asks you if you want to see a match burn twice, tell them no thanks. That was what my stepdad asked me in front of a group of people when I was five or six years old. Being the young, naive, and very trusting child I was, I eagerly said yes. He lit a match, blew it out, and then pressed it into my arm. The match burned twice, and I became a little less trusting of the only father figure I knew at the time.
This is just one of many incidents where my stepdad drew attention and laughs for himself at the expense of his stepchildren. He didn’t consider his actions' adverse effects on us. His concern was entertaining himself, other people’s perception of him, and garnering attention from them. While most of us would agree this is a harmful and toxic approach to parenting, it has become all too common in our society today. Some parents (biological or otherwise) have decided that their children aren’t blessings from God to be cherished, nurtured, and protected as much as playthings meant to bring them attention and entertainment. We are beginning to see some of the adverse effects this is having on the victims of this type of parenting, but we won’t see the full impact for years and maybe decades.
No, we aren’t seeing a rash of parents telling dumb jokes that conclude with burn marks on children’s arms (though I am confident too many children carry scars resembling this type of behavior). The abuse some parents are inflicting on their children today is more insidious and has become widely accepted among many in society. For the sheer entertainment, enjoyment, or attention it brings them, some adults sacrifice their children's innocence and well-being on the altar of Drag Queen Story Hour, “Family Friendly” Drag Shows, “inclusive” books containing sexually explicit or pornographic material, and ideology on gender that wreaks havoc on young impressionable hearts and minds. Make no mistake; this is a form of child abuse, and these children will carry the impact of the damage inflicted well into adulthood.
The attention-seeking, narcissistic, and immature adult in my life only got to hold the title of stepdad for three years, thanks to the other, more responsible adults surrounding me. They recognized his behavior for what it was and held him accountable for it. Unfortunately, those individuals are few and far between in the lives of too many children today. Laughing, cheering crowds, a growing following on social media, and thousands of “likes” by friends and strangers only encourage abusive behavior.
If you value the innocence of childhood, believe in protecting the heart, mind, and body of all children, and understand the damage inflicted when childhood is interrupted by adult topics and issues, now is the time to speak up. Adults should never use children as tools for their amusement. Not as the butt of a joke or as props in a drag show. Frederick Douglass once said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” I predict we will have a lot of “repair work” to do in the decades to come, but we can minimize it if we speak up for children now.