Children ≠ Humans?
It’s not a stretch to say that most parents (and people in general) don’t think of children as humans.
It starts when babies are born; it’s like there’s something in people’s brains that separates the concept of “human being” and “baby.” Babies are tiny, squishy, and helpless; perfect to obsess over their every need and expose their newborn face and entire legal name online for 14 Facebook likes.
But a person? An adult? They’re capable! Smart! They don’t eat their own toes! Why, surely a baby could never become one? And I don’t remember being a baby, so clearly it never happened and we’re not the same thing!
Sigh.
The truth is this: people, maybe even including you, do not think of children as human beings. Children are thought of as things. A thing to display, an “accomplishment” earned just by having one, now deeming oneself worthy of special treatment, used as a proxy to do what their parents couldn’t in their youth and act as accessories that come with the job titles of “mommy” and “daddy.”
Parents and the ever-growing obsession with “unique” names bereft of logical phonetics and regard for when they grow past 20 inches long in tandem with the rise of disgusting and exploitative social media content farms (children simply can not grow up happily in a cramped van!!) are just a few late-stage effects of viewing offspring as objects and not as people with futures beyond the bassinet.
This flaw is quite engrained in human nature. I believe it comes from an inherent instinct to distinguish yourself from the negative traits you perceive other groups have. The elderly will otherize middle-aged adults, middle-aged adults will otherize young adults, young adults will otherize teenagers, teenagers will otherize young children, and young children will otherize babies.
Well, everyone otherizes babies.
