Sure, Why Not?

A friend of mine keeps a Live Journal, which is nice so I can find out how she’s doing without having to bother her on IM or the phone. But not too long ago, she made a post in which she just said “I hate Christmas”. This alarmed me a bit, as those three words do tend to get to me, so I read on to see the comments after it. One of her friends said something like “what’s wrong? is the family stressing you out? need a babysitter?” and stuff like that. She replied saying she didn’t see the point, that she always thought that “Christmas is for children”. Implying that unless there were kids involved (which in her case, there is now, she’s the one who had the baby back in July), there was no reason for Christmas.

Sure enough, I commented, telling her rather sharply that Christmas is for everyone and to just stop stressing and enjoy it, and not to let me catch her saying something like that again.

Now what in the world got to me so much? As a die-hard youth rights supporter, shouldn’t I be glad of the idea of something being for children? If it were that simple, sure.

But in general, something that gets pegged as “for children” is considered inferior to other things. A movie or TV show that is “for children” is not a movie a respectable adult would watch (hence the stigma around an adult watching daytime cartoons). A book that is “for children” is not a book a respectable adult would read (hence the stigma around an adult reading Harry Potter and others). And I touched on this sort of thing last year in the How to Be an Adult entry, that no respectable adult is to enjoy anything that is deemed “for children”.

And loving Christmas as much as I do, and wishing so hard that everyone else could enjoy it too, it saddens me to see it pegged in such a way that usually is a way of trivializing it, making it something you’re supposed to be greater than.

Don’t forget, though, that when something is designated as being for children, it makes the children not want it, makes them believe it is something to grow out of. Into adults who believe anything for children is beneath them. No respectable person wants to be child. Not really. It’s yet another generational divide, yet another blow at Christmas in general. Yuck.