Indigo children

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"Indigo children" is a New Age term used to refer to a set of children having certain special psychological and spiritual attributes. The indigo child concept was first publicised by the book The Indigo Children, written by the husband and wife team of Lee Carroll and Jan Tober1. Carroll insists that the concept was obtained via conversations with a spiritual entity known as "Kryon". The adjective "indigo" is used because it is claimed these children appear with an indigo-hued aura.

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The concept

Supporters state that the proportion of 'indigos' in recent times is very large and increasing, rising from 85% in 1992 to 95% at some point after 1994 [1]. In previous decades, the proportion was claimed to have been much lower. This and other claims are disputed by opponents who have challenged the concept on issues of methodology and statistical verifiability.

Carroll states that the indigo child concept is metaphysical in nature, although he also holds that most of the traits of indigos are also physically observable. Carroll describes himself as a channeller for Kryon, an angelic being. One of the book's six chapters focuses on the spiritual aspects of claimed indigos. Some followers take the stance that the arrival of these children is wholly a spiritual phenomenon, and that indigo children are the beginning of a new hybrid, possibly alien.

Supporters of the theory point to interviews done with the indigo children and their parents, and observations of the children, as proof of the validity of the idea. Supporters also rely on the example of Kirlian photography as evidence of auras.

Spiritual author Doreen Virtue has also written books on this topic.

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'April' kids

Greek journalist Kostas Hardavelas announced that the University of Athens showed some unusual interest in children specifically born during April of 1983. The University is said to have sought them in schools and performed interviews and surveys without further information or notification to the public. Hardavelas produced a documentary about the interviewees, promoting the view that these children had high IQ, mental abilities, peculiar dreams and spiritual experiences. In the absence of specific data about the key players and their aims within the University, the documentary posits the theory that connects the apparent anomoly to some cosmic event (planetary alignment or excessive solar activity).

Speculation about the children born during April 1983 is based on information from a book and articles written by science-fiction and conspiracy theory Greek author Ioannis Fourakis. Fourakis believes that the 'April children' have a mark on their skin, and that they will play some important role in the future.

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The indigo child supposition

According to Carroll and Tober, "the Indigo Child is a boy or girl who displays a new and unusual set of psychological attributes, revealing a pattern of behavior generally undocumented before." They assert these children are often misdiagnosed with Attention-Deficit Disorder or Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and they advise parents to avoid medicating these children for that condition despite warnings from legitimate doctors. This pattern, they claim, has unique factors that call on parents and teachers to change their treatment and upbringing of these children in order to assist them in achieving balance and harmony in their lives, and to help them avoid frustration. These classifications differ significantly from conventional child psychology and sociology.

The title Indigo Children is given to people with the ten attributes described below who were mainly born in the period from 1975 through 1995. Some sources use the term Crystal Children to describe indigos at a young age (younger than age 7); and some state that the children being born today (after the year 2000, and in rare cases as early as 1975) are Crystal Children who are more sensitive and spiritually connected than the Indigos, who are more warrior-like in nature.

Carroll and Tober identify ten attributes that describe the indigo child:

  • They come into the world with a feeling of royalty (and often act like it).
  • They have a feeling of "deserving to be here," and are surprised when others don't share that.
  • Self-worth is not a big issue; they often tell the parents "who they are."
  • They have difficulty with absolute authority (authority without explanation or choice).
  • They simply will not do certain things; for example, waiting in line is difficult for them.
  • They get frustrated with systems that are ritually oriented and don't require creative thought.
  • They often see better ways of doing things, both at home and in school, which makes them seem like "system busters" (nonconforming to any system).
  • They seem antisocial unless they are with their own kind. If there are no others of like consciousness around them, they often turn inward, feeling like no other human understands them. School is often extremely difficult for them socially.
  • They will not respond to "guilt" discipline ("Wait till your father gets home and finds out what you did").
  • They are not shy in letting it be known what they need.

Wendy H. Chapman, says that Indigo Children

  • Have strong self esteem, connection to source
  • Know they belong here until they are told otherwise
  • Have an obvious sense of self
  • Have difficulty with discipline and authority
  • Refuse to follow orders or directions
  • Find it torture to waiting in lines, lack patience
  • Get frustrated by ritual-oriented systems that require little creativity
  • Often see better ways of doing thing at home and at school
  • Are mostly nonconformists
  • Do not respond to guilt trips, want good reasons
  • Get bored rather easily with assigned tasks
  • Are rather creative
  • Are easily distractible, can do many things at once
  • Display strong intuition
  • Have strong empathy for others or NO empathy
  • Develop abstract thinking very young
  • Are gifted and/or talented, highly intelligent
  • Are often identified or suspected of having ADD or ADHD, but can focus when they want to
  • Are talented daydreamers and visionaries
  • Have very old, deep, wise looking eyes
  • Have spiritual intelligence and/or psychic skills
  • Often express anger outwardly rather than inwardly and may have trouble with rage
  • Need our support to discover themselves
  • Are here to change the world - to help us live in greater harmony and peace with one another and to raise the vibration of the planet

Some critics believe that these traits are not unique and are observable in most children, but adherents believe that this new type of child has come forward for a reason; most often suggested is that they will improve the world in some way. The changes generally discussed involve bringing peace, toppling corrupt institutions, and a shift from allopathic medicine to a greater understanding of more natural alternatives. Indigo Children are more in touch with something called the "universal truth," and do not tolerate or understand behaviors or systems that are not in harmony with it.

Indigo Children are sometimes said to possess an extreme longevity, with a lifespan of several hundred years.

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Non-mystic interpretations

Some sympathisers feel that it is possible to use the traits assigned to Indigo Children as an observation of social trends, rather than as a signifier of a new race or form of consciousness.

One such trend is the increased saturation of magical/mystical children's TV shows and media that use new-age interpretable language. Coupled with how children feed off the media in their own natural fantasy play, such mystical make-believe could be re-interpreted as signs of preternatural knowledge, maturity or "higher consciousness".

An example of this emerged in a 2006 article in the Dallas Observer which covered the Indigo Child phenomenon. The reporter observed an 8-year-old boy named Dusk quizzed by a man on his "indigo" status:

"Are you an indigo?" he asked Dusk. The boy looked at him shyly and nodded. "I'm an avatar," Dusk said. "I can recognize the four elements of earth, wind, water and fire. The next avatar won't come for 100 years." The man seemed impressed.

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Criticism and scientific investigation

Critics of the Indigo children claim that it is not a legitimate scientific way of understanding social changes. The Skeptic's Dictionary asserts: "the main thesis of The Indigo Children is that many children diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are actually space aliens." Believers in this concept have proposed classifying it as protoscience rather than pseudoscience. Skeptics point out that no proponent of Indigo children has ever provided a single piece of verifiable evidence to support their claims.

Indigo children are often the offspring of "new age" parents. Exposed to new age thinking, it might be taken as unsurprising that the children possess a greater fluency of 'spiritual language' than earlier generations. Having been told that the vast majority of children are now "indigos", new age parents in fear of suppressing this 'special' generation may be encouraging behaviors that would otherwise have been thought antisocial. It is said that the traits listed by the authors could be interpreted as simple arrogance and selfish individualism if not backed up by evidence of above-average spiritual awareness (compassion, love, desire for harmony, etc.) by the child designated as "indigo".

Just as many people tend towards astrology because it presents believers with complimentary accounts of themselves, critics of the indigo children concept claim that parents relate to the hypothesis because it provides a more flattering conclusion about their children than that of conventional science. The schema of a very gifted person being troubled during childhood is common in western society, and parents may prefer to believe a child who has trouble fitting in is especially gifted rather than suffering from a condition like ADHD.

Some claim the labeling of a child as Indigo is irresponsible as it may keep children shielded from scientific diagnosis, and for increasing the pressure on already struggling children by unrealistically raising parental expectation. Critics have also voiced concern that teaching children that they are Indigo will encourage children to adopt sociopathic behaviors, such as a false sense of human superiority, alienation, and a bizarre paranormal identity. Identifying this kind of behavior as symptoms of a special gift may in some cases keep a child's parents from seeking necessary medical help.

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Education

Educators, generally, have not embraced the Indigo Child supposition. Some alternative educators have accepted the Indigo concept, and have related their mission to the needs of Indigo Children1,4. Philosophies that resonate with Indigos' style of learning may include experiential education, multiple intelligence strategies, project-based learning, unschooling, and student-centered learning.

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Commercialization

There has been significant commercial value in book and video sales, donations, speaking engagements, and one-on-one counseling session fees to parents of "indigo" children. In an article on Skepticreport.com titled Indigo: the color of money, Lorie Anderson has pointed out the potential commercial value of the "indigo" concept for James Twyman, author of the video documentary, The Indigo Evolution. There are numerous other commercial websites on the Internet that offer indigo-child-themed goods for sale such as books and new-age healing devices as well as videos and other media.

In 2003, a movie Indigo was released. The movie has, according to the-numbers.com, grossed $1,190,000.

In the arcade-adventure computer game Fahrenheit (a.k.a. Indigo Prophecy), an Indigo Child, Jade, is thought to be a prophet destined to bring some powerful truths into the world. It is also hinted that Jesus Christ might have also been one.

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External Links

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Proponents

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Skeptic resources

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Media Coverage

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Social and Networking

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Movies and Computer Games

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Citations

1Carroll, Lee & Tober, Jan (1999). The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House.

2Lancaster, Dianne (2002). Anger and the Indigo Child. Boulder: Wellness Press.

3Redman, Deb (2001). "Investing in Adult Understanding of Special Children." Chicago: Project Legacy.

4Simpson, K. (2004). "The Beach School: Giving Children the Freedom to Learn." Children of the New Earth, 2:1, pp. 92-95.es:Niños índigo fr:Enfant indigo de:Indigo-Kinder nl:Indigo kinderen

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