I think you're right in that we have lost some of the innocence of childhood, but I think that starts in adolescence when we pressure ourselves into "growing up." Sure, our parents want us to have more responsibilities, and the schools expect more from us, but it is often ourselves as teenagers who really try to age us before our time.
When I was 16 I wanted to be 21. When I was 25 I wanted to be 21. Interesting.
As to your corollary discussion:
The idea of children as mini-adults really started to change and be destroyed when there was an influx of developmental psychologists and other scholars who proved (through tasks, experimentation, etc.) that children of varying ages had different levels of ability and struggled with different concepts. I think society then realized that children could not be treated like adults, and there became more of an idea of childhood.
As for the "inner child" phenomenon, I think that people who have been hurt as children, in their strive for healing in adulthood, find it symbolically useful to in some ways go back to that time period with the knowledge they know now and "explain" that things can get better to the part of that person that is still a child struggling for comfort.
At the same time, though, I think there is a change in the society of today that is still recovering from the effects of the 1980s. The 80s was, in the adult world, about power, status, money, workaholism. I think that our generation, watching the destructive burn-out of our parents and other relatives, is re-realizing the need for leisure, and unlike the distant past (the 20s and 30s), we're realizing that leisure is necessary for /all/ people, rather than a wealthy leisure class who alone is worthy of such pursuits.
Damn, I'm babbling now and probably not making any sense. You know I have a Master's Degree in Leisure Studies/Recreation Education? Ha! :)
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Date: 2002-08-31 08:00 am (UTC)When I was 16 I wanted to be 21. When I was 25 I wanted to be 21. Interesting.
As to your corollary discussion:
The idea of children as mini-adults really started to change and be destroyed when there was an influx of developmental psychologists and other scholars who proved (through tasks, experimentation, etc.) that children of varying ages had different levels of ability and struggled with different concepts. I think society then realized that children could not be treated like adults, and there became more of an idea of childhood.
As for the "inner child" phenomenon, I think that people who have been hurt as children, in their strive for healing in adulthood, find it symbolically useful to in some ways go back to that time period with the knowledge they know now and "explain" that things can get better to the part of that person that is still a child struggling for comfort.
At the same time, though, I think there is a change in the society of today that is still recovering from the effects of the 1980s. The 80s was, in the adult world, about power, status, money, workaholism. I think that our generation, watching the destructive burn-out of our parents and other relatives, is re-realizing the need for leisure, and unlike the distant past (the 20s and 30s), we're realizing that leisure is necessary for /all/ people, rather than a wealthy leisure class who alone is worthy of such pursuits.
Damn, I'm babbling now and probably not making any sense. You know I have a Master's Degree in Leisure Studies/Recreation Education? Ha! :)