Shifting Childhood

Defining childhood is like trying to describe the shape of a cloud; it is correct for the moment but it does not hold true for the past and it will not for the future. It even depends on who you are asking. A cloud that looks like a sparrow to one person may look like a ship to another. A child may say that a child is anyone younger than him or her. To an adult, a child could be anyone under the age of 18, while to a teenager it is 14 or younger, or to my grandmother it is anyone younger than 40. Just as what a child is is debated, so is what is childish or meant for children.

       How adults have perceived children also changes with time. The early versions of Little Red Riding Hood are much more dark, sexual, and have bad endings for Little Red, demonstrating adults viewed children as small, vulnerable adults in need of strict warnings with clear consequences. Later versions are lighter, with Red getting rescued after being eaten and then learning from her mistakes, showing that children were seen as soft, innocent, fragile, and needing warnings but without scaring the young too badly. Today, childhood is something cherished and they are given more slack to experiment, learn, play, and make mistakes as we read in Where the Wild Things Are.

        What is meant for children is not always what children watch or always about children. “Snow White” did not have a single child in the movie, yet was created for children to watch. “Son of Rambow” is a movie with a mainly children as the cast, yet is not a film I would show to my kids. The movie has children using profanity, smoking, hurting and using others, lying to parents, blackmailing, and stealing, and portrays it as “cool.” Young Will comes from a repressive family and religion, so it is portrayed as only natural and good for him to rebel and stretch his wings a little bit. His family even ends up following his lead and leaving their religion, just so Will can do what he now finds fun and keep his new friends. These friends led him to lie to his mother, destroy clothes, break rules, hurt a teacher, skip class, sneak out at night, and almost die on several occasions, but hey, they are friends.  “Son of Rambow” is a very cute movie, quite funny, and has a super touching ending, but despite being all about kids, I would not show it to my children until they were older. They would need to be able to distinguish “fun” from “good.”

        I believe physical growth is different from mental growth, and age does not always describe maturity. I could consider a 12 year old as less a child as a 15 year old depending on their intelligence and maturity. What a child is and what is good for them has to take both factors into account.