Our Youth Should Be Allowed Civil Rights

When children are born to their parents, they are expected to spend the first several years of their lives (1-18) sealed within an invisible prison of bondage and social, personal, and sexual repression that society has refused to acknowledge for so long. Our youth are thought of as clay, just waiting to be molded by the parents they didn't choose. Their birth is only a means for unfulfilled parents to force their unachieved desires and world-perspectives onto them. Children born into this world bare a heart-aching burden, the burden of fulfilling or satisfying others; their desires and individuality often go unheard. Our kids immediately must carry the weight of being a perfect individual for mommy and daddy, with perfect grades and demanding recreational pursuits. They are indoctrinated with religions that they don't understand as of yet. They are expected to be the housecleaners, they are expected to only think of their parents happiness, instead of their own. Kids are allowed to be treated like second-class citizens; they are allowed to be scorned, told to be quiet, their intellect is not welcomed, they are not able to choose what they want, often are told they DO NOT KNOW what they want, are allowed to be PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED when stepping out of line; work, career, innovation, and financial pursuits often aren't thought of for youth to pursue, they are financially dependent on their parents who use this as another means to control them, their sexual maturity is shunned, they are sexually repressed individuals, freedom of sexual orientation does not fly in most households, they are unable to say what they feel or pursue what they believe, and are trapped everyday in a realm where they must adhere to the laws and restrictions of the family they didn't ask to be born in. These are the things SLAVES adheres to. And we don't even TRY to understand our youth. We don't try to remember what it was like; probably because we don't want to. The more we ignore the clear problem our youths must endure, which are issues a lot of us most likely faced as youths ourselves, the more misery we'll breed. Our inaction IS action, and this is an issue I feel no one has had the nerve to address: Our youths DESERVE civil rights. You see, children are not clay. Like me and you, they are their own individuals with a right to form their own ideas, opinions, and thoughts about the world around them, a world they are indeed present in, everyday. Age does not and should not determine whether another human being should be treated with respect or not, or whether they can achieve their own happiness or not. Or whether they get to decide how to go about their life, or not. We need to get rid of that Industrial Age, 1800s idea that children are born to be, not their own people, but our servants, our tools, our means of gaining we wanted out of our lives. Youths ARE NOT your personal toys, meant to satisfy you. They are their own people, more intelligent, competent, and in-tune with self then we give them credit for. They should allowed freedom of speech and freedom of expression, just as any person is allowed to contain; they should not have to wait until their eighteen for those rights, that is insane and horribly repressive. They should be allowed to pursue healthy relationships and friendships and make healthy sexual decisions according to THEIR bodies; no human should be sexually repressed and parents (and society) DO NOT get to make that call. But they do, and our youth are rightfully rebellious because of it. They are catching wind of the unfairness of their everyday lives and how the people around them are controlling it. Abuse, dysfunctional families, mental and emotional issues, repression, sexism, racism, restriction; our youth is subjected to it all, in their own households, in their own schools, in their own societies. They aren't somehow not exposed to the real world, they ARE in the real world, and they deserve real rights like any American citizen has; they ARE American citizens. Already I can hear parents claiming that their kids don't know any better, they need assistance to survive, they NEED to be our slaves, otherwise, how on earth will they survive or learn? People do not understand the dynamic of child rearing; you bring a child into the world and it is your right to give him/her basic understanding of how to function in the world like a normal human being and NOTHING else. Safety, health, protection, and a good role model willing to be, not a parent, not a restrictor, not a master, but a mentor and guide, someone who has compassion and understanding, is what our children deserve. Someone to help them navigate the world based on how the child sees fit for THEIR own life, not that of their parent. That would create creative thinkers, innovate individuals, and more stress-free, happier, and healthier youth. The 1800s way of how we treat our youth should disappear immediately, including that 1800s styled, educational system that we FORCE these people to go to that does nothing for them but make their suffering, as youth, worse. Mentors (yes I'm calling you that now), once you invite your child into life it should be your HONOR to ensure that child gets everything they need to ensure they become their own future individuals. They do not owe you; not chores, not an A, not nothing. YOU owe them the world, you owe it to encourage them to grow, to be who they are, to understand their plight, to teach them to act with love and respect, to MODEL respect, responsibility, and empathy, to give them what they need and desire to be fulfilled or to help them gain it, so stop robbing from them what you owe them. Stop forcing them to see the world the way you see it. Stop treating your kids like you wouldn't treat your own friends. Let's change the way we see our youth; they are not cattle to be herded, or clay to be molded, or slaves to be oppressed. They are competent people with minds of their own, who deserve their own pursuit of happiness. Remember what it was like. Let's give youth civil rights. One final note... A lot of people would not be willing to treat their kids like the humans they are and offer them the rights they deserve; they want their children, solely to control them. If our youth had rights, don't you think it would cause a shift in reproduction rates? People would be less willing to have children they couldn't reprimand. There goes your over-population problem! Just food for thought.