How can we “repair” childhood? Children are alerting us; their cries for help are taking the shape of symptoms, warning us that the world they’re a part of doesn’t make sense anymore. Above all, they remind us that childhood is momentum and movement, rebellion and excess, freedom and curiosity.

From the cradle, children are thrown into a performative and normative race to become independent, efficient, and well-behaved. Exhausted by their attempts to conform to a model they didn’t choose, children become like disjointed puppets at the mercy of adults, disillusioned by a society that drains individuality like it depletes natural resources. In this vibrant essay, the author invites us to break away from neoliberal logic: growing standardized children through ‘intensive farming’ will only deprive them of their individuality and ready them for a ruthless harvest.

How can we support our children’s growth while preserving their wellbeing? How can we help them become sturdy, interdependent trees in a forest of many? The answer may lie in human biodiversity—in celebrating our differences and combining our strengths.

The author’s message is clear: child-rearing is in crisis. She proposes remaking our world as we would plant a garden; monoculture is out, and polyculture is in.