Read on Twitter
Ppl who invalidate frustrated children by telling them, "your childhood is your best/easiest yrs" have conveniently forgetten that child abuse victims exist.
As a CSA survivor I do not value my childhood, they were my worst yrs & the further I go into adulthood the freer I am.
As a CSA survivor I do not value my childhood, they were my worst yrs & the further I go into adulthood the freer I am.
Adults who conflate being a child w/ a lack of stress, depression & w/ being carefree are merely projecting their own privilege onto children who may not have that same easy life.
Not everyone gets introduced to hardships at 18 or their 20s, for many ppl it's present from their earliest life memories.
I'll take a fulltime job or a difficult uni workload anyday over being raped until 12 or exp'ing high suicidality until 17 or exp'ing poverty.
I'll take a fulltime job or a difficult uni workload anyday over being raped until 12 or exp'ing high suicidality until 17 or exp'ing poverty.
Trauma aside it's worth mentioning imo that a lot of the things adults consider a rite of passage into adulthood (eg: hired labour, caregiving, having to support a family) when invaliding children, do not necessarily begin at adulthood for all ppl.
A lot of kids are coerced to work & endure child exploitation to help their family survive or begin assuming the role of a caretaker from young. This is esp. true for kids in poverty, young girls, Black/Brown kids, kids in dvlping countries & undocumented immigrant kids.
Point is that if you don't know that kids situation, what it's like in their home, how they're treated etc then don't make them feel ungrateful if they don't like being a kid, or make their frustrations seem unimportant.
...actually, don't do it to any kids bc the worst thing as a kid is to not feel listened to, particularly when you're that helpless/vulnerable. But mostly don't do it to kids you don't know.
CA, CSA & CE survivors: it's time to rise up & start bullying adults who perpetuate narratives that gloss over child abuse & make child abuse harder to detect.
