Essays 1-20

Children, like adults, have certain inalienable rights. Some are legal rights, and some are just plain right. We call rights “inalienable,” but I don’t think the word fools anybody; history and the present are full of examples of ways rights have been and are ignored or denied. But we keep trying hard to get our…

I’ve always known that some people get grumpy when they get old. When we get old, there’s often more to complain about. Little inconveniences we used to put up with or not even notice begin to really bug us. Children, who are reliably young, have things to complain about, too, but it’s not the same….

Sometimes a child says something cute, profound, or otherwise noteworthy, and I really want to tell an adult about it. Recently, a child asked me for help with a math problem, and as I was helping her, I realized that she didn’t need help at all. I said to her, “I get the feeling that…

Most parents work hard to help their children grow up right. There are all kinds of ideas about what “right” means, and parents, therefore, have all kinds of goals as they teach their children how to live. They often see their children as reflections of themselves, and they can be proud of their children or…

Around the United States and around the world, it is being decided that children with “special needs” ought to be included in regular classrooms as much as possible – that removing a child from a classroom for instruction is harmful to everyone involved. Before I explore the nooks and crannies of this issue, let me…

Modern society does things to make children feel that it’s not okay to be children. Children are quick to pick up whatever messages society seems to be giving them. Some want to be “cool,” and it doesn’t take long to learn that it isn’t “cool” to be a child – that being an adolescent is…