Recently had a situation in which my 4 year old kid and another kid his age were running around playing in a social setting... NOT being destructive, not getting in anyone's way, just running and laughing, when we got the dreaded statement by an old lady "Back in my day, kids knew how to behave blah blah blah"

What I find amusing is that in this particular group, people pride themselves on being progressive, anti-oppressive, human rights oriented enlightened people working toward the greater good of humanity - yet some (for instance this lady) still find it perfectly acceptable to believe that their rights are more important than those of a child simply based upon the fact that they are bigger/smarter/stronger/have been here longer etc etc etc. Remind you of any other kind of oppressor-group reasoning?

Two articles about this very thing:

http://www.canow.org/canoworg/2009/11/feminist-parenting-the-larger-picture.html


http://www.raisingmyboychick.com/2009/10/dancing-between-the-tables-on-the-personhood-of-children/