What They Did to the Children

Children, as any parent knows, are not small adults. Their brains are growing and being acutely shaped by their environment and experiences. Social skills and values are learnt from those around them, with teamwork, risk-management, personal boundaries, and tolerance being learned through play with other children. Their immune system is imprinting environmental contact into a set of responses that will shape health in later life. Their bodies grow physically and become adept at physical skills. They learn both trust and mistrust through interaction with adults.

This rapid physical and psychological growth makes children highly vulnerable to harm. Withdrawal of close contact with trusted adults and enforced distancing has large emotional and physical effects, in common with other primates. Lack of experience also leaves them vulnerable to manipulation by adults who are pushing certain attitudes or beliefs—often called “grooming.” For these reasons, our forebears put specific protections and norms of behaviour in place that elevated the needs of children above adults. -- More...

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