I hear this sentence frequently on "Anne with an E" and I’ve recently realized it’s quite triggering for me. It’s not exactly that I’ve heard it that much growing up, I just subtly experienced it on some occasions that it happens to get to me now every time I hear it around.

The way we tend to ‘look down’ on children. The way we tend to believe that if you’ve lived longer, you must know better. And eventually, the way we like to portray “adults” as having had it all figured out, until those “children” reach “adulthood” and find out that no one had any idea what they were doing anyway. No one knew any better. And like they were ‘just’ children, those have so simply been ‘just’ adults, too.

My favorite class back at uni was called “Writing for Children” and if there’s one thing I’ve walked away from it with, it would be that there’s no real difference between writing for children and writing for adults. There can definitely be certain types of content that’s not best for them, but in terms of what they can understand, the writer’s tone, etc. there really isn’t much that‘s supposed to change. I’m reminded of that every time Anne picks up a book and so passionately allows it to teach her all what it’s got. And yet, even though she’s probably read a lot more than all the other adults on the show combined, they still can’t allow themselves to stop referring to her as a child; implying she should just shut up and listen. When, really, sometimes they’re the ones who need to do exactly that.

Because what’s extremely sad is that at some point, Anne starts referring to herself as a child, too. She starts believing there are limits to the things she can do, and that the grownups around know better. Only when someone like Malcolm Frost comes along and assures her she’s certainly not ‘just’ a child, does she end up exposing all what every other adult never even doubted.

Allowing children to realize just how very powerful they are isn’t meant to take away from anyone else’s power. And allowing children to teach us what we don’t know is only really a sign of maturity. So next time you catch yourself unawarely belittling a child, please remember to consciously choose not to.