Adultism - Criticism

Criticism

In its most extreme form, the target of the advocates of addressing adultism is 'the more or less conscious, uncontrolled, and covert exercise of power over the child by the adult...this wielding of power by adults' per se. Such an attack on any adult power may be fuelled by what has been called 'the homunculus idea about children...to many grown-ups a child is a Small Adult. They do not understand that a child carries different kinds of problems than an adult does'.

In its milder form, 'adultism is about the misuse of power and does not refer to the normal responsibilities of adults in relation to children'. Therefore 'addressing adultism is not about reversing the power structure... completely eradicating it': rather, 'shedding adultism involves a negotiation of decisions'.