Consumers Digest - At what age do children stop being special and become like everybody else?

At what age do children stop being special and become like everybody else?

Apparently at a specific point in time in life, the so-called 'special' children stop being special. If you'll notice, everytime the news reports on some crisis, like the ethnic genocide in Sudan, they often say 'many people are victims of systemic rape, including children'. Or when they report on a serial killer, they say 'He even killed the kids'. So apparently, adults being raped and murdered isn't as bad as children being raped and murdered. So at what age do children just become just another mundane adult?

Public Comments

You don't know why the news does that? Because murder and rape of children generally causes a stronger emotional reaction in adults, since children are usually seen as innocents. For example, children are victims of genocide in Darfur and they are thought to have little to no means to fight back or defend themselves. So there is no set age, but it's usually when they're adolescents and able to defend themselves to some degree.
Children learn as they grow.They haven't got a clue as to how cruel the world can be.In my eyes,no matter how old my son gets even into adult hood he will still be my special little child.Adults being raped and murdered is as bad as if it happened to children.We are all special.Adults and children both ask the question why this would happen or why someone could do this to another human being.Its just sick and I will never understand it.
Well, children have absolutly no means to protect themselves, which is what makes it worse to some people. Atleast as an adult I have the knowledge to protect myself by knowing how to evaluate situations, by making sure I carry an alarm and so forth. A child that is seperated from an adult doesnt even know to do those things, much less are they actually thinking about doing them.
Children are simply young innocent humans who don't know of evil or hate. Children are taught of evil and hate by adults who pass it on to them, which continues the cycle. That's why the media will often add a special mention of children being involved in some sort of horrible event. It just isn't fair for a child to have their life or innocence taken away from them when they don't even understand why it's happening to them. I don't mean to imply that it should be any more acceptable if it the same happens to an adult, but killing a child is just so wrong. So at what age do children just become another "mundane adult"? I suppose it's when they become independent. When you leave the house you were brought up in by your parents, you're on your own in the real world, and you have to fend for yourself. When we go out on our own, that's when we take advantage of the things we've learned growing up and put them to use on our own. I guess that's when we become just another "mundane adult".
i'd say age 14. cos then people stop calling them kids & start calling them teens. theres this thing where adults being raped/murdered isnt seen as bad as it happening to kids cos kids are seen as innocent & pure beings. kids can actually be equally as vicious as adults. watch playground bullying & u'll know what i mean.
I THINK WHEN A CHILD LOSES THEIR INNOCENCE (NOT SEX) BUT WHEN THEY BECOME MORALLY INDEPENDENT.... WHEN THEY START QUESTIONING THINGS IN THE WORLD AND BEGAN TO KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG WITHOUT THE HELP FROM AN ADULT....WHEN A CHILD LEARNS THERE ARE REALLY BOOGYMEN BUT NOT THE ONES IN THEIR CLOSET BUT PEOPLE ON THE STREET....
Depends on every case. A child is more special when is more little(5)
13.