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Child's Way

It is possible that someone has already said that a child completes an adult's education therefore the parenthood experience would be so vital for what we cherish as a sort of human essence within society. But even for those who think they have passed that option in their own lives it can be clear that what we all show our children as a way to access the so called adult world throughout their development shows in fact what we understand important to preserve on that very path. Thus it is curious to observe a little deeper some of the entertainment we provide to them. Despite the many distortions occurred on the cultural industry's account especially with the coming of videogames there are still some issues present in what we acknowledge as harmless classics that directly or indirectly feed the reinvention of childhood. Take for instance cartoons such as Tom & Jerry or Woodpecker and watch carefully what the recurrent plot is over and over again: we have some 'smart' characters fooling around with everyone else regardless everything we say we want a child to learn, by means of all sorts of cheating and even crude violence that may be funny for us adults for some reason we now question so one has to ask where that stuff comes from, what it serves and why a child should find that funny after all. The investment in competitiveness appears as a post-modern need and as long as the characters don't resemble human figures our treasured speeches on compassion and other values should be safe enough or so we hope. Even though the human behavior is all in there and if repeated by children in real life can easily end up in tragedy. On the other hand the so called educational programs can hardly escape from redirecting children towards some questionable ideology. That is actually something that also touches the didactic theater of Brecht aiming to contribute to a so called socialist awareness. So what are the options to view our children as an historical opportunity to review ourselves, teaching them to finally re-teach us? Beyond the generation conflict, is that possible at all? The contemporary fairytales have changed in what they present as heroic and maybe the best advice parents could give their child hit by a friend at school is to hit back, just in case... Traditional folk songs we sing to them often present these images of dispute and sorrow. What is the adult need to present those issues in such a way to their own children from the very beginning

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