Newspaper Article

Mobilize the Children to Bridle the Adults

Postrel, Virginia I

1994

Overview

If you disapprove of cigarette smoking, for instance, you won't want your children to be tempted by cigarette ads and may ask the government to ban the ads. And if you disapprove of cigarette smoking and couldn't care less about kids, you can attack ads aimed at adults by claiming to act on behalf of children. Regardless of motive, the policy prescription is the same: censorship for kids' sake. We should, therefore, be wary when people claim to speak for the good of children -- especially when they speak to restrict the freedom of adults. Consider Susan F. Reynolds, M.D., the author of an article in California Physician titled \"TV Violence: An American Public Health Epidemic,\" Dr. Reynolds spends most of her article recounting the usual scary statistics, survey results and social-science research. In that regard, her article is quite ordinary. The stark separation of my childhood was unusual by historical standards and probably less than desirable. (I, for one, think it's good if children occasionally see their parents at work). But when you start bringing children into the adult world, you run into problems. You can either go back to a premodern model, in which you see children as little adults and don't attempt to shield them from the complexities of adult life. Or you can treat adults as big children, and restrict their rights and responsibilities accordingly. That is, unfortunately, the more popular model in the Year of the Child.

• Publisher: Tribune Publishing Company, LLC
• Subject: Susan F Reynolds, MD