Let kids be kids, not political props.

This

@DarkSarcasm & Silent I agree with both of these sentiments. Though I picked 'it depends' because I think that there a kid friendly events like silly in school debates where they can mock protest how short recess times are or something. One of my classes did an activity like that and I remember having fun. But I guess that that's a bit different than a real protest.

I feel like kids shouldn't be taken to real protests because 1. they probably don't even have a full grasp on what they're protesting and at that point it's indoctrination 2. kids shouldn't have to worry about political issues yet and 3. protests have a chance to go wrong there have been several instances of kids getting physically hurt at peaceful protests turned violent.

@DarkSarcasm Please don't take this the wrong way, but could I ask what makes the parental discretion in this case different to the parental discretion re the link You don't have to answer but I am struggling a bit to see the difference. Sorry if that sounds confrontational, it's honestly not meant to be.

I think kids are smarter than we give them credit for, and could understand the idea of BLM, or a pro-environment protest, or a pro-animal rights protest. I would question someone's choice to take them to a protest that might get too rowdy. But I don't think there should be an actual government-imposed ban on it.

I think we interpreted this pick in different ways. My "different reason" is that parents shouldn't allow their children to be put into dangerous situations. Parents are still the responsible party, and it is their job to protect their kids, which is also my position in the other pick. I'm not advocating for another dumb age restriction from the government.

@Princes I can agree there that kids are smarter than we give them credit for. But at the same time, they don't grasp things in the same way that an adult does. It is just very easy to push one's own views onto a kid. I mean look at those kids holding up the homophobic signs.

Thoug I do think that pro-environment and pro-animal rights are a safe bet because I think that those issues are a little less complex than BLM, Feminism, homosexual rights, and abortion rights.

@DarkSarcasm Ah right I got ya, thanks for explaining that further. (Although I do think that parents refusing to vaccinate is putting their child into a dangerous situation re complications of the measles, tetanus, diptheria etc)

@Zanhar Yeah I agree, it's very easy to push one's views onto kids and that makes it complicated. Many kids at protests won't truly, independently appreciate what they're protesting about. But others will and that's why I'm finding it difficult to make a firm decision on this lol. A video on the front page of reddit yesterday was link explaining a very complicated topic in-depth ("why Egypt needs a regime change") and you can tell he's not just parrotting, he actually understands it and has read up on media about it himself. However I do understand that he's 12, and that he's probably not the norm. Maybe link of a 7 year old girl participating in a BLM protest is a better example, and I'd argue that even if she doesn't understand the full details, she's understands the fundamentals: "We can get through this", "I want everyone to get along, I want us to be a good New York community".

However, obviously those vids don't prove anything except maybe exceptions to the rule.

tl;dr I don't know lol

I can agree with that. Some kids grasp concepts better and faster than others. I can also agree with the importance of a child understanding the fundamentals. TBH I guess this is one of those things that would almost have to be a case by case thing. However I still have the concern about peaceful protests turning violent; a kid shouldn’t ever be getting maced by a grown man in riot gear. I don’t think that it’s safe to bring a child to a protest in this climate.

@Dark Sarcasm 100% agree " let kids be kids" when there 18 they can make there own decisions.

The problem with that is that some protests start off peaceful and take an unexpected turn for the worst so it can be hard to tell which protests are dangerous and which aren’t.