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Over the weekend， I found myself colouring in. While waiting for food in a restaurant， I started to fill in my two-year-old daughter’s colouring book. I became engrossed in making Peppa Pig green， George blue and Daddy Pig yellow.
Before I knew it， the food had arrived， my crotchety mood had lifted and my daughter’s attention had moved on to other things. Little did I know， but I had become an unwitting part of a booming new sector of the economy： the infantilisation industry.
There is a flourishing market for products and services offering adults an opportunity to become a child again. In the publishing world， half of Amazon’s current top 10 bestsellers are colouring books targeting at grown-ups. Other bestselling books， like the Harry Potter series， appear to be for children but are widely read by adults. The average age of people playing highly successful computer games such as Battlefield is 27. And one of the most popular themes for adult parties in the UK is“back to school”.
Why do adults hanker after things designed for kids？ One reason is nostalgia. We hope that by consuming products made for children， we can transport ourselves back into our own childhood and reconnect with long-lost pleasures. I know many grown men who own Star Wars figures and vast collections of Lego sets precisely for this reason. By becoming a kid again， we also hope to momentarily avoid the burdens of adult life.
But recently， a new theme has appeared in the infantalisation industry： by acting like a child， companies claim， adults can maximise their personal “wellness”; by getting back in touch with the simple pleasures we enjoyed during our childhood， we can rediscover a state of blissful health and happiness. Adult colouring books were of interest to only a tiny group of people until publishers started to highlight their mindfulness-enhancing properties. By simply adding “antistress” to the title， The Secret Garden became a bestseller.
At the very same time as adults have taken to colouringin books in the hope of feeling better， children have started to adopt the accoutrements of adulthood. Of course， children have always wanted to play at being grown-ups. But what is striking is how grown-up practices are actively pushed onto our kids.
One spectacular example is a chain of adventure parks called KidZania， which in the words of the UK chairman is “opening children’s eyes to the realities of life”. Each park is made up of streets filled with well-known brands including H
Before I knew it， the food had arrived， my crotchety mood had lifted and my daughter’s attention had moved on to other things. Little did I know， but I had become an unwitting part of a booming new sector of the economy： the infantilisation industry.
There is a flourishing market for products and services offering adults an opportunity to become a child again. In the publishing world， half of Amazon’s current top 10 bestsellers are colouring books targeting at grown-ups. Other bestselling books， like the Harry Potter series， appear to be for children but are widely read by adults. The average age of people playing highly successful computer games such as Battlefield is 27. And one of the most popular themes for adult parties in the UK is“back to school”.
Why do adults hanker after things designed for kids？ One reason is nostalgia. We hope that by consuming products made for children， we can transport ourselves back into our own childhood and reconnect with long-lost pleasures. I know many grown men who own Star Wars figures and vast collections of Lego sets precisely for this reason. By becoming a kid again， we also hope to momentarily avoid the burdens of adult life.
But recently， a new theme has appeared in the infantalisation industry： by acting like a child， companies claim， adults can maximise their personal “wellness”; by getting back in touch with the simple pleasures we enjoyed during our childhood， we can rediscover a state of blissful health and happiness. Adult colouring books were of interest to only a tiny group of people until publishers started to highlight their mindfulness-enhancing properties. By simply adding “antistress” to the title， The Secret Garden became a bestseller.
At the very same time as adults have taken to colouringin books in the hope of feeling better， children have started to adopt the accoutrements of adulthood. Of course， children have always wanted to play at being grown-ups. But what is striking is how grown-up practices are actively pushed onto our kids.
One spectacular example is a chain of adventure parks called KidZania， which in the words of the UK chairman is “opening children’s eyes to the realities of life”. Each park is made up of streets filled with well-known brands including H