Over the past few decades it has been said that “kids and teenagers are ruder and wilder and more irresponsible than ever before”. One explanation for this change in children has been attributed to the more frequent interactions between children and adults. As Parales’ article she quotes Turner, “’in previous generations…there was far less contact between adults and children who were not their own. Today, however, more children are working and interacting with others away from their families’” (Parales 1999). Parales also displays Turner’s argument that part of the change in the outlook towards children is due to their representation on television changing as well. In general times have changed, children have to face problems that past generations of children never had to face. In light of this, can we say the rude, wild, and irresponsible behavior of children is the result of conflicts of reality versus expectation. In order to resolve these conflicts, we need to better equip children. As such children should be able to interact with adults in a more cooperative capacity, in order to be ready to take charge of the ever changing world. In doing so we will allow children to innovate and push the world towards a greater direction. 

The representations of adults and children on television has also evolved with the time. This can be seen in Turner’s statements where he says, “TV shows in the '50s to the '80s tended to present kids in a more favorable light, and conflicts could be resolved in half an hour by all-wise parents and a little ingenuity” (Parales 1999). As we can see in more modern television this trend has not continued. Depictions of the modern kids show them as more mischievous and rebellious. These depictions are evident in shows such as The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and the cartoon Codename Kids Next Door (KND). One shows the shenanigans of two brothers disrupting the daily work of adults occurring throughout a hotel, while the other shows direct conflict between kids and adults as we see in the everyday struggles of the KND to fight “adult tyranny”. This show while it was targeted at children leaves adults with the idea that children are bratty, unnecessarily rebellious, and automatically disrespectful towards adults. Depictions like this can negatively affect the way people look at the children, despite initial comedic intentions. This affect can be especially seen through television shows because changes in the values represented in television are more drastic than they seem compared to our everyday surroundings. This change in values can be seen in the early 2000s’ cartoon X-Men: Evolution, a series where are young heroes work through to difficulties in order to find their place in an unnecessarily resolute world, whereas in modern hero cartoons like Teen Titans Go! emphasis is solely put onto the comedic aspects of the characters making any problems the characters suffer go overlooked. By pushing the real problems aside and focusing only on the comedic we represent modern kids as obnoxious, irresponsible, and untrustworthy.

Some may see these as “just a cartoon,” and think that they don’t have any deeper aspects. This way of looking at animation is the same as how we have been looking at children. We see them as unaware and outside of the issues we face. This is evident in schools when teachers tell their students that they are being prepared for the “real world,” as though the world they currently reside in is some sort of alternate or “fake world” where “real world” issues are not in play. An example of this can be seen in the nickelodeon cartoon Danny Phantom. In the Phantom Planet episodes of the Danny Phantom series, an asteroid is on a collision course toward earth. In order to save earth Danny tries to get the aid of the ghost in the ghost zone, the “alternate world” to help him make the earth intangible so that the asteroid would pass through. The ghost first refuse believing this is an issue separate from their world. As the show continues the ghosts realize that whether they are in the ghost zone or not their world is in danger and that they are not two separate worlds, but instead one world with distinct features. This example similar to adult’s relationship with children shows that no matter what we may try we cannot separate those involved with an issue. 

 In entertainment live action films and animation both work to engage the viewer and catch their interest. In order to do this, they both “must invoke a belief in its existence, in its reality” as Piotr Dumala says. (Dumala 2011) Animation and live action film both construct their own narratives by doing so they also create worlds that we would see as unrealistic, dreamlike yet interesting, engaging, growing, even ever-expanding. This is what we need children to be capable of, just as we have they too must, create, change, and improve the world in ways in which previous generations would not have fathomed.

 One such example is how readily available information can be found on the internet. 

Changes such as this have allowed the spread of different cultures to take place. An example of this cultural exchange is seen in the Italian anime boom. Generations “of children who, growing up in the 1990s and 2000s, became buyers of manga” helped to push an “expansion, which has lasted from 1996 to the late 2000s.” With this push not only were “European publishers and television networks” asking “for manga and anime like in… previous” years, but also “Japanese companies began to promote the exportation of their franchises, in an international ‘push and pull’ process” (Pellitteri 2014). In this example the new generation having grown up in a slightly different society is able to push change in a positive direction in this case in the form of aiding an international cultural exchange by showing interest in a new or different product. I believe by engaging with children more will allow for society to grow on an even larger scale than the Italian anime boom. 

Some adults tend to see children as unfit for many things. In some cases children are even locked out of even joining adults’ conversation, seen in the old saying that “children should be seen and not heard.” In Margot Slades Relationships; when tots join adults uninvited Slade discusses how for the benefit of adult friendships kids should not be carried in tow. I would like to instead give reason for why this sentiment is neglectful of the child’s development into their own adulthood. While adults do deserve their time to intermingle between themselves. They also have to fulfill their duty as the previous generation and lead the next generation, an act I would deem impossible if those of the next generation are constantly separated from those that they could be learning from. You may say it's the parents job to lead their children in the right direction, but as a society we must be able to see things from more than one angle if we are going to be able to keep moving forward. We must show children that there are different ways to see things and different ways to accomplish goals. 

Not only are we excluding children from a learning environment different from that which they usually experience we are also missing out on being enriched by others who have different experiences and perspectives than we have. As Adora Svitak says kids “have a lot to share,” and “adults should start learning from” them. (Svitak 2010) For instance kids are always inquisitive and trying to pick something up, whether it be a piece of information, a skill, or some other type of habit. Unlike adults, kids believe they have to continue to growing, they have a must learn mentality. Similar to a fight or flight mentality just without flight being a viable option. They have yet to hit their limits, so they continue to push themselves even further. 

As we grow we begin to overlook or dismiss the chances of something occurring outside of what we belief to be possible. We as humans do so because our experiences come to form a chain that binds our future prospects, leaving us without the optimism to forge forward to create something new. Similar to how Pedro Serrazina discusses Walter Benjamin and Sergei Eisenstein in some cases we need to make sure we are looking at things with the right frame of mind in order to find its true worth or its “inner meaning” (Serrazina 2013). Meaning we must look at children in the right frame of mind, one which I believe to be possible if we try to see children as more than who they are now, but also as those with the potential to surpass us.

To do this we need to step back and look at children with fresh eyes because sometimes there are goals we can only achieve when we pass the baton on to someone else. I believe this is also the case for children and adults. An example of this is in the 1920s when science fiction(sf) was “finding a scant place in live-action cinema, with much of its appearance limited…, the sf imagination established a vigorous presence in the work of the period's key animation studios” (Telotte 2015). This shows how finding new ways to look at or solve a problem is often beneficial. Looking at the world with fresh eyes often can help us better see some of the toughest problems giving people a greater chance to solve them. Children are the fresh eyes of adults. They are able to see the world in a perspective that adults may never have thought to look. Who is to say that they are not going to be able to answer some of our biggest problems when it is their turn to grab hold of the baton.

As kids and adults, we often think that one side has to have the upper hand or be able to control the other. I believe this to be counterproductive, as a team of free thinkers to develop our society. In order for us to be effective in our pursuits, adults, those in power, must come to terms with the fact that they are not the only ones who should have a say in how the world is run. As stated, children, given the chance, will surprise us in ways we cannot imagine. Like in animation there are things that can only be done when looked at in different ways. It can be beneficial to look to our elders for answers to the future, but also to those who come after us, for they are the ones who will walk through life both with and past us. Also in order for them to step up to the challenges we, together, must face the facts that expectations have changed and so we should, as kid president says, start acting like a team (Kid President). Children must be shown the all aspects of the world that they will be inheriting to prepare them. 

We must stop wasting the potential of children. At young ages children must be given everything: food, water, shelter, and know-how. All this so that they can, in a sense, learn to learn. With that knowledge they will push the world forward by leaps and bounds. Leaving us needing them to teach us the new world. Similar to how my Grandmother often asks me how to do things on her “new” phone. In order for children to make full use of their potential, we must allow them to learn from adults in more than just a teacher-student dynamic. Children need to be given the chance to work on the same level as adults in order to show and prepare them for when they are adults and the ones making the big decisions.
