Let me tell you about someone I know. I'll call her Jane to protect her identity.
The man in Jane’s life (let's call him Joe) has some definite ideas about how Jane should behave. In fact, one might call him controlling. During the week he forces her into a confined space for many hours of the day. She is not allowed to move much at all (even if her legs are cramping and her back is aching). He keeps her doing menial tasks that have no meaning or significance in her life and allows her out of this confined space for only a few short intervals just to have something to eat and briefly stretch her legs. She has no voice in his world. She has no autonomy. In fact, most of the time she even has to ask his permission to use the bathroom.
The man in Jane’s life (let's call him Joe) has some definite ideas about how Jane should behave. In fact, one might call him controlling. During the week he forces her into a confined space for many hours of the day. She is not allowed to move much at all (even if her legs are cramping and her back is aching). He keeps her doing menial tasks that have no meaning or significance in her life and allows her out of this confined space for only a few short intervals just to have something to eat and briefly stretch her legs. She has no voice in his world. She has no autonomy. In fact, most of the time she even has to ask his permission to use the bathroom.
Over the weekends Joe also controls her time and abilities. He tells her what to eat and when. He picks out her wardrobe for her and, regardless of how she is feeling, insists on her appearance being of a certain standard that pleases him. She is expected to read and watch films that suit his values and preferences. She is expected to socialise with people that he has hand-picked for her or to sit and listen quietly as he converses with his friends. She is not to speak out of turn or say things that might offend or embarrass him.
When in public, if she is asked a question he will answer on her behalf. She is not to have her own unique voice.
If Jane does something to displease Joe, she is further constrained. If he has had a bad day she may be shamed for her behaviour or he may even raise a hand to her. He doesn't beat her but he may slap her bottom or arm in anger.
Now we would think that the law protects Jane from such treatment but it doesn't. There is no recourse for this kind of restriction of natural rights. Jane’s only recourse is to leave Joe.
But Jane is not Joe’s wife; she is his child.
Children, like abused women, don't know that they deserve to be treated any better. They also don't have the resources to go elsewhere. They look around and they see other children being similarly abused and they don't know that this is not right - other children being contained and restricted and told what to do and when to eat and having to ask permission to perform their bodily functions - and they think that this is normal. Just like we did. And so they grow up to inflict the same restriction of rights on their own young.
It is time for the children's revolution. Not for the right to vote for some political party but for the right to vote for their own freedom. For the right to be treated with respect as full human beings. For the right to pursue what is important and meaningful to them. For the right to have a voice and to make a difference in the world. For the right to be treated as human beings and not as possessions.
I don't know about you, but I would never accept anything less from someone who I lived with. I believe our children deserve at least what we have, if not more.
Start the revolution in your own home. Forget about what society or your mother-in-law or the schooling system tells you is right and start to decide for yourself. Put yourself in your children’s shoes and try to understand how barbaric our treatment of children really is. Step out of complacency and rigidity and demand for things to be different. Rethink schooling and homework and punishment and adult supremacy. Trust that if you are a good human being your children will learn from who you are more than what you say or the lessons you try to teach them. Make small daily choices that reflect your love and respect for the beautiful human beings that you helped to create.
The end of abuse is in your hands. Start the revolution now.
When in public, if she is asked a question he will answer on her behalf. She is not to have her own unique voice.
If Jane does something to displease Joe, she is further constrained. If he has had a bad day she may be shamed for her behaviour or he may even raise a hand to her. He doesn't beat her but he may slap her bottom or arm in anger.
Now we would think that the law protects Jane from such treatment but it doesn't. There is no recourse for this kind of restriction of natural rights. Jane’s only recourse is to leave Joe.
But Jane is not Joe’s wife; she is his child.
Children, like abused women, don't know that they deserve to be treated any better. They also don't have the resources to go elsewhere. They look around and they see other children being similarly abused and they don't know that this is not right - other children being contained and restricted and told what to do and when to eat and having to ask permission to perform their bodily functions - and they think that this is normal. Just like we did. And so they grow up to inflict the same restriction of rights on their own young.
It is time for the children's revolution. Not for the right to vote for some political party but for the right to vote for their own freedom. For the right to be treated with respect as full human beings. For the right to pursue what is important and meaningful to them. For the right to have a voice and to make a difference in the world. For the right to be treated as human beings and not as possessions.
I don't know about you, but I would never accept anything less from someone who I lived with. I believe our children deserve at least what we have, if not more.
Start the revolution in your own home. Forget about what society or your mother-in-law or the schooling system tells you is right and start to decide for yourself. Put yourself in your children’s shoes and try to understand how barbaric our treatment of children really is. Step out of complacency and rigidity and demand for things to be different. Rethink schooling and homework and punishment and adult supremacy. Trust that if you are a good human being your children will learn from who you are more than what you say or the lessons you try to teach them. Make small daily choices that reflect your love and respect for the beautiful human beings that you helped to create.
The end of abuse is in your hands. Start the revolution now.
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