"Think of the children" (also "What about the children?") is a cliché that evolved into a rhetorical tactic. In the literal sense, it refers to children's rights (as in discussions of child labor). In debate, it is a plea for pity that is used as an appeal to emotion, and therefore may become a logical fallacy.
History Art, Argument, and Advocacy (2002) argued that the appeal substitutes emotion for reason in debate. Ethicist Jack Marshall wrote in 2005 that the phrase's popularity stems from its capacity to stunt rationality, particularly discourse on morals. "Think of the children" has been invoked by censorship proponents to shield children from perceived danger. Community, Space and Online Censorship (2009) argued that classifying children in an infantile manner, as innocents in need of protection, is a form of obsession over the concept of purity. A 2011 article in the Journal for Cultural Research observed that the phrase grew out of a moral panic. It was an exhortation in the 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins, when the character of Mrs. Banks pleaded with her departing nanny not to quit and to "think of the children!" The phrase was popularized as a satiric reference on the animated television program The Simpsons in 1996, when character Helen Lovejoy pleaded variations of "Will someone please think of the children?" multiple times during a contentious debate by citizens of the fictional town of Springfield. In the 2012 Georgia State University Law Review, Charles J. Ten Brink called Lovejoy's use of "Think of the children" a successful parody. The appeal's subsequent use in society was often the subject of mockery. After its popularization on The Simpsons, an appeal to the welfare of children has been called "Lovejoy's Law", the "Lovejoy argument", the "Mrs. Lovejoy fallacy", the "Helen Lovejoy defence", "Helen Lovejoy syndrome", the "Lovejoy Trap", and "think-of-the-children-ism". In 2018, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb coined the term 'pedophrasty' for an argument "involving children to prop up a rationalization ... Often done with the aid of pictures".
Child advocacy
"Think of the children" has been used in its literal sense to advocate for the rights of children. Early usage during the 20th century included writings in 1914 by the National Child Labor Committee criticizing child labor standards in the United States. U.S. President Bill Clinton used the phrase in a 1999 speech to the International Labour Organization, asking his audience to imagine a significant reduction in child labor: "Think of the children ... freed of the crushing burden of dangerous and demeaning work, given back those irreplaceable hours of childhood for learning and playing and living." The phrase's literal use extends into the 21st century, with Sara Boyce of the Children's Law Centre in Northern Ireland drawing on it to advocate for the legal rights of the region's children. The 2008 book Child Labour in a Globalized World used the phrase to call attention to the role of debt bondage in child labor. Sara Dillon of Suffolk University Law School used the phrase "What about the children" in her 2009 book, International Children's Rights, to focus on child-labor program conditions. Benjamin Powell used the phrase differently in his book, Out of Poverty: Sweatshops in the Global Economy, writing that in the absence of child labor, some youth faced starvation. In a 2010 book on human rights, Children's Rights and Human Development, child psychiatrist Bruce D. Perry used the phrase "think of the children" to urge clinicians to incorporate a process sensitive to developmental stages when counseling youth.
Debate tactic
Logical fallacy In their 2002 book, Art, Argument, and Advocacy: Mastering Parliamentary Debate, John Meany and Kate Shuster called the use of the phrase "Think of the children" in debate a type of logical fallacy and an appeal to emotion. According to the authors, a debater may use the phrase to emotionally sway members of the audience and avoid logical discussion. They provide an example: "I know this national missile defense plan has its detractors, but won't someone please think of the children?" Their assessment was echoed by Margie Borschke in an article for the journal Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, with Borschke calling its use a rhetorical tactic. Ethicist Jack Marshall described "Think of the children!" as a tactic used in an attempt to end discussion by invoking an unanswerable argument. According to Marshall, the strategy succeeds in preventing rational debate. He called its use an unethical manner of obfuscating debate, misdirecting empathy towards an object which may not have been the focus of the original argument. Marshall wrote that although the phrase's use may have a positive intention, it evokes irrationality when repeatedly used by both sides of a debate. He concluded that the phrase can transform the observance of regulations into an ethical quandary, cautioning society to avoid using "Think of the children!" as a final argument. In his 2015 syndicated article "Think Of The Children", Michael Reagan criticized the phrase's use by politicians. According to Reagan, politicians needed to stop using children as tools when arguing for favored governmental programs. He called the tactic an illogical argument, an act of desperation by those who felt they had a weaker case with reason-based arguments. Noting that it has been used by Democrats and Republicans alike in the United States, Reagan called the tactic "obvious political BS".
Moral panic
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