Abstract
The arrival of troops on the streets of Northern Ireland had the effect of placing local children firmly in the world’s spotlight. Twenty-five years later the words ‘Children in Northern Ireland’ can still conjure up the image of a very small child, stone in hand taking on the might of the British army on some dreary Belfast or Derry street. This image influenced what people thought in the early days of the ‘troubles’ would happen to children in Northern Ireland. And what they expected was that children in Northern Ireland, as a result of the strain of growing up against a background of continuous political violence, would become shell-shocked zombies flooding the psychiatric hospitals, or amoral juvenile delinquents totally out of adult control.
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Cairns, E., Cairns, T. (1995). Children and Conflict: A Psychological Perspective. In: Dunn, S. (eds) Facets of the Conflict in Northern Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23829-3_7
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