A Great Enemy of Children

A great enemy of children is emotional abuse and time exploitation in the workplace. That abuse may trickle down from work to the family and become domestic abuse. Kids don't work for money, but they may be a convenient outlet for domination by dominated adults with heightened stress levels and lowered patience with the energy and irreverence of children. I believe this is a fundamental problem in culture and a major reason for mental illness, addiction and behavioral dysfunction in kids and adults.

Adult responses to this issue fall into three categories: one minimizes, in the way an abused spouse minimizes the bruises and mental scars. Cliches of parenting are offered which feel (and are) shallow and dismissive; work language merges with "dad-speak", and emotions are dismissed as non-relevant. Another expresses grief, regret, guilt and shame at self for accepting workplace abuse and sacrificing irreplaceable time with family. Another channels anger toward corporate culture and demands answers and changes, so that the family is protected from external drivers of internal dysfunction. The first response habit is rooted in toxic denial, the second is sadly healing, and the third empowering.

It is clear which response habit is in charge of things at this point in our cultural evolution, and it might be time to ask if the world of money and work is a sort of religion demanding child sacrifice to adult fear and greed. The dangers of fundamentalist religion are fairly obvious, but fundamentalist workaholism is subtly corrosive and the effects take longer to manifest in behavior. If you believe I'm exaggerating, simply imagine if nobody in a corporate chain were being paid but were promised "salvation". How would their behavior seem, in contrast to a cult? This mental exercise can be both disturbing and enlightening, and may provide ideas for transforming what we've collectively created to sustain our lifestyles.