#kids deserve better

[audreyrose7]

I wouldn't be so pissed at Christianity if it wasn't for indoctrination. Religion should be something that you choose and when you're literally a two-year-old sitting in church you can't possibly choose it, you can't possibly understand the gravity of the cult that you have entered. You'll listen to the sermons you'll read your Bible you'll sing the songs you might never question what you're doing or you might only question it 30 years later, either way it's a big deal and you should be able to make it informed choice instead of having your choice taken away when you're a child.

[nothing0fnothing]

Has anyone else noticed a shift in "Elf on the Shelf" culture this year?

I remember last year we were discussing how it's police state propaganda normalising constant surveillance to your children, very Orwellian. Giving 1984. But I'm talking about the actual social media content I'm seeing of these things this year.

Last year it was lots of "Oh no. The elf has frozen your toys into a block of ice. How silly?" Kid would laugh. Everyone's having fun.

This year I'm seeing stuff that for sure crosses the line. The sort of things that upset the child in the moment and I can only imagine will be heartbreaking when they grow up a bit and realise it was their parents inflicting this shit all along. The only people having fun in this scenario, are the adults. Who seem to be getting some weird sense of achievement from getting one over on a six year old. They think it's hilarious as they post video after video of their child crying next to the Christmas tree.

I've seen parents tearing up their children's clothes and leaving the tattered bits for them to find. I've seen parents destroying kids advent calendars and messing with their kids while they're sleeping. I've seen parents tell children that they're at fault for whatever it is "the elf" has done, because he only punishes naughty children. Then they stick the phone camera in their kids face and record the child's reaction. Usually its crying and emotional disregulation. Which makes sense, considering they've essentially tricked their child into believing they're being bullied by a malevolent, omnipotent, interdimensional spirit from the panopticon realm, who lives in their home and can face no consequences. I'd cry too.

I don't know if my algorithm has changed, or if this year the horrible parents collectively just decided to post their cruel Christmas antics to social media this year, but it's horrible and I'd like it to stop.

[thegloryofgeekdom]

The I-can’t-decide-who-needs-to-die-first squad! With a side of, reasons to be unfilial 1,2,3.

[theshadowrealmitself]

Once again thinking about my oc who makes how to do videos that Vulcan kids like to watch, except this time I’m also thinking about “guest stars,” because you just know there’s going to be some things where you need an expert on it for

And originally I was just thinking about pleasant guest stars, and how the Human oc is unknowingly also teaching Vulcan kids how to handle their emotions because the Human is trying a lot of new things that actually scare them, or make them anxious, things like that, but they just calm themselves down on camera and continue doing them

But now I’m thinking about Jim Kirk, specifically aos Jim Kirk, guest starring before he ever became a captain, and it’s “how to ride a motorcycle,” and the whole time, this Human who is usually good at keeping a calm and pleasant disposition, just keeps turning to anxiously tell the camera “don’t do that” because Jim went straight to tricks and stuff that he shouldn’t be showing beginners

Jim Kirk is rewatching this episode as a captain, trying to avoid looking at Bones and Spock as they watch him put himself in danger without proper protective gear on

[fireflysongbirdperson]

Once the children are speaking out for help in a press conference there’s definitely no excuse. Ceasefire now and life the occupation of Palestine.

[feral-lore-creature]

For Christ's sake, let kids be kids.

I don't mean that in the "let them express themselves, but only in a way that society finds begin or inherently pleasing" way.

Let them dress in weird clothing, or with strange accessories. It's not hurting people. If you cringe when you see a kid wearing something, just move on with your damn day. Don't record them without permission, or do something else ridiculous.

Let them have bad takes on things, for the love of god, they're not supposed to have deep, philosophical, nuanced opinions. This is the age of the internet, and it's changing people's lives in a way we haven't seen before. I don't give a fuck if their opinion is stupid, if it's not harming anyone, and if it really bothers you, block them like a normal person.

Stop assigning underdeveloped humans the same useless standards as full grown adults. It's weird.

They deserve to take up space just as much as you.

[shantismurf]

I'm kind of done tolerating mental health professionals who describe ADHD in value-loaded terms like "paying attention" and "having excessive energy" instead of acknowledging that a deficit of executive function is due to neurobiological disorder. These old, guilt-laden terms need to be exchanged for phrases that acknowledge physical impairment in the mental processes that manage attentional control, impulse control, working memory, multitasking, etc.

[ironpicklepizzacloud]

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE AT THE BACK

because as someone who (trigger warning for SA!) went through SA as a child, this is exactly how my abuser gained my trust!! and it messed me up really badly as a kid when the first person to treat me with unconditional kindness, to make me feel like I was special and loved and seen, was only manipulating me so they could hurt me

kids deserve respect!! kids deserve to be heard and seen!! kids deserve safe spaces to process their very valid emotions!! no one deserves to feel insignificant!!

children's rights shouldn't be ignored simply because they're too young to take care of themselves; they should be AMPLIFIED because they're too young to take care of themselves

I think a big reason why "children are an oppressed group" gets (wrongly!) read as a "pedophile talking point" is that everyone treats children so terribly that actual child molesters can speedrun winning a kid's trust by like, actually respecting their needs and perspective, at least at first. Which means that the only way out of this mess is for all of us adults to treat children with respect, so that abusers can't use the rareness of that respect as a weapon.

[imsosocold]

do I even need to say anything about this?!!

[audreyrose7]

If I ever got an ounce of attention, or validation from them at any point growing up MAN it would have changed my lore! (Spoiler alert, kids need that) It's INSANE that parents have kids, but never actually want to get to know us (or they're scared of who we actually are, and they love the idea of us, far more then the reality) we are just fake little people, like surrogates for the idea of the "perfect family" that they are in love with.

HOW CAN THEY HAVE KIDS ARE NOT CARE ABOUT THEM!

It makes no fucking sense

[christinafurby]

If naughty children get snacks how would they learn not to misbehave?

Who tf deprives children of food when they're, "naughty"? Yeah that makes sense.. Make them hangry when they were probably hungry to being with and that's why they were lashing out. This is why full grown adults act like children when they're hungry. Change the toxic pattern. Don't deny a child food, love, attention, or education. No. Matter. What. We're supposed to build the future youth, not take them down with us. Do better than those before you, and make that positive change.

[uncle-fruity]

I think it's also worth noting that in the US there has been a major push in schools to devalue & defund subjects that would help these kids develop critical thinking skills. If you don't know how to process information in an analytical way, you rely on your emotions and instincts -- which are not always correct in assessing the content. When school overworks these kids & tells them that art and English are a waste of their time and won't get them very far in life, it's easy to see how these kids will reject those subjects and embrace reactionism. They're genuinely exhausted from all the expectations put on them, which is not conducive to the "sit down and really mull it over" kind of work that critical thinking requires.

And I also 100% agree that kids are abused, exploited, and generally undervalued in our society. They are also taught that sex & expressing sexuality is one of the worst things they can do (whether directly from a parent or indirectly from the wider cultural attitude towards sex) and sexual abuse is often (as the person above said) the only abuse that gets validated by adults. So you get a whole group of kids who will police their own sexuality and don't know how to effectively question whether they have the full picture about those subjects. They are not taught to think for themselves. When someone else is found thinking for themselves and says something that seems alarming to these kids, the ones who have not learned to exercise critical thinking will react instead of consider, and are more likely to attempt ostracizing and shaming their peers. They reject media that seems problematic because they never learned how to analyze what's being said or how to engage with problematic themes in a critical way, or that doing so is a valuable practice to begin with.

It is, in part, adult society failing to teach our children the very basics of independence & free thought. By doing so, we create children who will grow up to be those same reactionary adults who don't foster critical thinking or free thought because they never learned how to do it either, and they don't see the problem in forcing everyone to prioritize their own comfort & worldview.

weird anti ideology finally leaking out into the mainstream

[kogetaikid]

Childhood Ruined. (“Mini-Story”)

(TW? AI art/capitalism I guess)

Finally hung out with a friend yesterday after a long time. We went to a Halloween event at our Natural History Museum. That place was just one big compilation of childhood memories. They’re slightly faded from trauma, but the fragments that remain still bring joy to my soul. (e.x. This building block like place, fossils of mammoths and dinosaurs, the bug candy and fake gift shops, an outdoor space with a small river, a place with a hut made of REAL STICKS, and the time I poked a kid in the eye with one.)

I was so happy to come back after so years, and also see a close friend when my mental health isn’t doing so great.

The Halloween event was mainly a skeleton themed event. I was expecting to see skeletons of dinosaurs, mammoths, maybe even exo-skeletons of bugs! There was a scavenger hunt too! The Halloween event was for kids, so I wanted to go flaunt my inner child, but when we got there, I noticed something…

1. ALL THE ART WAS AI.

As soon as a walked to the entrance, I noticed the art was AI. I thought it would be a one off thing, but it continued THROUGHOUT THE AREAS OF THE EVENT!

Here’s some proof from one of the signs:

I wanted to ask a staff member SO bad about why all the art was AI, but I was scared, and they seemed busy anyway…

2. The theme was bland, generic and had NOTHING to do with natural history.

The whole thing was just skeleton animatronics and AI art. I KID YOU NOT. It wasn’t even clever, just cheap. Some animatronics has voices, but it was SO EASY to tell they were speaking through a microphone. It didn’t seem exclusive in any way to the natural history museum. It just felt like a a quick buck, and that you can find something similar anywhere, but hey, there’s also the scavenger hunt, right?!

3? Scavenger hunt was broken

Me and my friend didn’t do the scavenger hunt, but there were around 40 scavenger locations and I overheard a family saying they were MISSING NUMBER EIGHT.

Maybe I’m being a bit biased for this part, but considering how cheap the whole event was, I wouldn’t be surprised if the people who made the event (or lack thereof) JUST FORGOT NUMBER EIGHT ENTIRELY.

(Keep reading for closing thoughts. Feel free to reblog to spread awareness :)

The only redeemable thing about the event was that I some person dressed as SPAMTON G. SPAMTON from Deltarune and I screamed:

“HOLY CRAP! IS THAT SPAMTON FROM DELTARUNE?!”

They recited his lines at me. We also emailed at each other when exiting. Other than that the event was disappointing. I still had a good time hangin out with my friend though. I brought my Omori plushies and we were messing around with them. Here’s something we did with Hero!

I wasn’t disappointed about the event because no childhood nostalgia, I was upset because KIDS DESERVED MORE THAN THIS!!! THEY DESERVED SOMETHING MANMADE AND EDUCATIONAL!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE SUCH A KEY PLACE IN MY LIFE PRODUCED SUCH SLOP!!! NO AMOUNT OF BRIGHT COLORS AND FLASHING LIGHTS CAN HIDE THE LACK OF EFFORT THAT WAS PUT INTO A KID’S EVENT!!! AND BEFORE ANYONE SAYS SHIT LIKE “Well, kids don’t know better, they’d be entertained by anything as long as it’s fast-paced and fun colored”, FUCK YOU BECAUSE KIDS CAN BE MORE INTELLIGENT THAN YOU THINK, AND BY BOMBARDING THEM WITH SLOP, YOU’RE STIFLING THAT INTELLIGENCE!!!

Maybe I might look more into this. I could start a petition, but no promises. I’m busy enough as it is.

I guess on a more lighthearted note to end this rant off with, my friend said that Spamton nose would kill anyone in a five mile radius. Perhaps I may draw that! Albeit on MSPaint cuz I need to slowly regain my motivation to do digital art.

[chloesimaginationthings]

The FNAF Vanessas meet their younger selves..

[nothing0fnothing]

Amanda Bynes is truly an example of what gets robbed from the world when children are victimised.

Another thing that haunts me about this entire thing is that Amanda wasn’t just funny like her coworkers, or funny like other Disney and Nickelodeon actresses. Amanda Bynes was funny like Carol Burnett. Funny like Lucille Ball. She was effervescent and classic. Her comedic sensibilities were deeply intelligent. She had *it*. And she should have grown into one of the best actresses of our generation. But *something* happened and derailed it all. Even if she’s not the same, I truly hope she’s well and happy. I want nothing for the best for her, even if it’s a quiet and private life. I adored her back then and always will.

[mothpendragon]

I was struck by a moment of inspiration and made this, enjoy!! Part 2 is here!

@kyri45

Oh yeah, swearing warning (it’s Snapcube what’d you expect)