A Child's Right to be A Child

A few weeks ago, I was leaving my brother's church, and a child I did not know and who did not know me personally ran by and held onto my hand, as he played with his friend. No parents were in views; they were just children playing as children do in a supposedly safe environment. I didn't think anything about it; it reminded me of my childhood and the confidence I had in the understanding and friendliness of adults toward me.

But today, the once common occurrence of children having enough confidence in adults as role-model, teachers, and always friends has almost vanished because of the predatory nature of too many adults who view children as sexual objects or objects that they can assert their power (will) upon.

The case of the Sanchez child in Vallejo and Xianna Fairchild, also of Vallejo, have shown us that the assumptions children have made about adults may be a thing of the past. 

Children are naive and approachable; they have historically trusted adults as protectors and guides. When I was a child, an adult was always a safe ankle during times of distress and uncertainty. But when and how did it become a part of our way of life that children are the objects of our sexual desires? What type of confused and frustrated fantasies breed such abnormality in adults, in spite of laws against this?

I was the administrator of two treatment centers for youths several years ago, and I saw that many parents too often have no idea what they are doing to their children. Their children-raising is an act of benign abuse, sometimes malignant abuse. Consequently, many children came to us unloved and abused in so many ways, and we were tasked with reversing behavior that society says is unacceptable, but behavior that was the direct and indirect result of parental/adult abuse.