In reminiscing about the challenges of her youth, Julia thinks, "[W]hat childhood was not fearsome?" What do you think? Do our childhoods scar us all?

In reminiscing about the challenges of her youth, Julia thinks, "[W]hat childhood was not fearsome?" What do you think? Do our childhoods scar us all?

Absolutely not! Some children clearly live with challenges others do not but in most cultures, parents try to protect their children and make their lives better. In Julia’s, case the government tried to pit children against their parents as a way of controlling the adults through fear and indoctrination of the kids. The family is where we traditionally learn values and loyalty so it was the governments target to weaken the family unit and strengthen the government. When we look at the fascist growth in Italy and Germany prior to WW2, youth leagues were used to indoctrinate kids and make adults afraid and compliant.

In Oceania childhood was not a time of innocence, but rather a nightmarish political manipulation destroying the conventional family. Throughout the world now there are many countries suffering through war or oppression or poverty and the children are greatly impacted. In the United States we do not have many of those issues, but there is a great deal of poverty here too and often less than desirable parenting techniques and there can be bullying in school, and pressure to succeed, not to mention the perils of social media. I do not know anyone who had a perfect childhood and most of us have some scars and baggage from our youth no matter how well intentioned our parents were.

I would not say all but certainly children that are abused, children that are bullied, children that are ignored. My ‘best’friend was the tallest in our class, I was the shortest, littlest. Back in the fifties we did not have the term ‘being bullied’. As an adult for a short time I went to a therapist. As I was telling her about my childhood she said you realize your friend was a bully right??

Not at all! Children can be mean. But, we’ve gotten too far away from ‘Sticks & stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me’. Punish actual bullies that are cruel, commit physical violence, and abuse others. Too often school are afraid of being sued if they actually discipline a student. Stop suing everyone if a kid is offended. Teach children to deal with adversity. Competition is good. Failure teaches resilience. Losing is okay. Learn to be a good sport. Sometimes, it makes sense to repeat a grade. Reintroduce art, music, home economics, and civics. In adulthood there will be disappointments. It is better to learn early that life isn’t fair.

Whatever we experience in childhood will influence the person we become. But not every child in our society (though far too many) will experience traumas or losses or poverty or abuse, including racism, etc., that leaves scars; and some who do will also experience healing counter-influences.

So Julia’s comment is not universally true, but I can certainly imagine that it could have been true in the brutal dystopian society of Big Brother. It makes me wonder how people living under real dictatorships would answer that question. Maybe that was the author’s point.

I do not find Julia's POV about childhood to be true. Growing up, I did not feel scared and I don't remember our big classrooms full of kids feeling scared (or emotionally scarred.) The only scars I remember were knee injuries with big scabs that made it hard to bend one's knees for a while, and some of us had bruised shins from a girl who would kick people (and I don't remember why.) But everyone I knew had enough food and clothing and a home that protected them from cold weather. It wasn't until 6th grade that I knew anyone whose parents were divorced. So it was a different world. Yet at the same time we did learn that we are not always going to win and be the #1 student in every class or every subject or every athletic game. Sometimes friendships ended, but we learned a little bit about human nature that helped us to be wiser the next year. Now, some schools are filled with nutritionally deprived students, families sleeping in cars, and I hope our society and schools can help these children.

I think very young children are particularly vulnerable to the opinions of others especially those in authority (parents, teachers, etc.) When they are told by these people that they are somehow unworthy, it is scarring. Then, as they get older, they look to peers for approval. When that is not forthcoming, more scarring occurs.

I do think we're all scarred in our childhoods. There are experiences in school, at home, with friends, with relatives that do leave their mark on all of us. For some, the scarring is light and doesn't do much to change them, but for others, it can have a profound influence.

Think the work scar can be a misnomer as in scar portending something bad. i think every experience we have in childhood ,whether good or bad, leaves us with emotions that have to be dealt with either then or later. They also influence the people we become and how we relate to others.

Childhood as we know it in the US and other developed countries is a mostly recent phenomenon but even in current times, it can be fearsome because of hunger, abuse, economic conditions, climate conditions, bullying so yes childhood can be fearsome for too many children. And recently some states are relaxing their child labor laws.

childhood experiences absolutely shape beliefs, self esteem and relationships. both positively and negatively. I think people can overcome challenges with the right support, but it's ridiculous to say we don't all have something we "believe" has "messed us up" from our childhood.

Reminiscing about the challenges and scars of childhood is a complex topic. As we age and get further away from our childhood are our memories correct or are we recounting a situation that was told to by siblings or other family members? What part of our imagination has entered into a memory? Scars from our childhood can be mild or severe; real or imagined. What caused the scarring? Parental abuse, poor parenting, bullying, poverty, physical ailments? The list of possibilities is endless. As adults have we processed the cause of the scarring and moved on or are we trapped with thoughts of what might have been? In the book, Spare Prince Harry recalls childhood memories that still haunt him today. I believe everyone has experienced some form of scarring in their childhood.

I think our childhoods shape us. That might be in positive or negative ways. It may scar us depending on our experiences.