Indigo children

The term "indigo children" originated with parapsychologist and psychic Nancy Ann Tappe, who developed the concept in the 1970s. Tappe published the book Understanding Your Life Through Color in 1982 describing the concept, stating that during the mid 1960s she began noticing that many children were being born with "indigo" auras (in other publications Tappe has said the color indigo came from the "life colors" of the children which she acquired through her synesthesia^. The idea was later popularized by the 1998 book The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived, written by husband and wife self-help lecturers Lee Carroll and Jan Tober.

Indigo children, according to a pseudoscientific New Age theory, are children who are believed to possess special, unusual and sometimes supernatural traits or abilities. The title "indigo children" was originally 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) are "crystal children" who are more sensitive and spiritually connected than the indigos, who they claim are more warrior-like in nature.

Carroll and Tober identify ten attributes that they claim 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.

According to Tober and Carroll, indigo children may function poorly in conventional schools due to their rejection of rigid authority, being smarter (or more spiritually mature) than their teachers, and a lack of response to guilt-, fear- or manipulation-based discipline.

Many children labeled indigo by their parents are diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). David Cohen points out that labeling a child an indigo is an alternative to a diagnosis that implies imperfection, damage or mental illness, which may appeal to many parents. Cohen has stated, "The view in medicine is that ADHD is a defect. It's a disorder. If you're a parent, the idea of 'gifted' is much more appealing than the idea of a disorder."