New kids on the planet

Ever wonder what planet your kid is from? Carol Ritberger may have the answer. If your kid is bright and hard to manage, he or she may be one of the “indigo children,” a smarter, non-conformist breed of human that some say recently appeared in the collective gene pool. Some think the new kids are actually space aliens here to give earthlings a little help, but Ritberger, who has a doctorate in religious philosophy and has given many lectures on the subject, says they are a sudden bloom on the tree of human evolution. She is currently writing a book on the subject, due out in the fall of 2004. For more information about her work, go to www.ritberger.com.

Who are the indigo children?

These children are the new and improved version of us. Every so often in our evolution, we go through some major changes; neurologically, the way the brain is formed, our size, genetically, our bodies change. We tend to go through major evolutionary changes about every 2,000 years.

Now, we’ve seen that children are being born larger. But the main thing is the brain functioning. These children are really driven by the pre-frontal-lobe area of the brain. Their capacity to multi-task has changed. They tend to be hypersensitive to light and to sound. They are called “indigo” more metaphorically than scientifically. Indigo is the color that is associated with intuition. It is the color of the sixth chakra, which is located in the brow area. And these children are highly evolved in their intuition. Their sixth sense, their [extrasensory perception] is as much of their orientation to the outside world as you and I would use our five physical senses.

Some “hyperactive children” may actually be “indigo children"?

We have more 2- and 3-year-olds on Ritalin than we ever have. But what we have found is that what we have called [Attention Deficit Disorder] (ADD) or [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] often isn’t. In many cases, it is that their brains are different to the point where they truly can multi-task. If a teacher says to them, “You’re not listening,” the truth is they can often parrot back exactly what was said to them. Instead, ADD is being used as a blanket diagnosis for children who are not behaviorally manageable. It takes in a lot of the indigos.

What are some other signs that you might have an indigo child?

They love to read. They start reading at earlier ages. They are more musically inclined at earlier ages. They are very social, and they need a lot of parent time. But they don’t want parents who tell them how to conform. They want parents who are going to be their eyes and ears. When they say, “Why is the sky blue?” they really want to know. They don’t want to be told, “Because it is.”

Aren’t all kids like that? They don’t want to conform. They don’t want pat answers.

It is true. Every child is like that. Every child goes through the “why stage.” But these children don’t outgrow it. Every child is curious about things. These children live that curiosity their whole life. Every child is born intuitive. These children don’t allow conformity to take away their intuition.

How many indigo children are there?

It kind of depends on who you’re talking to. Some scientists think that about 60 percent of the children being born now are of this new-and-improved version. If you were to look at the Chinese and Russian populations, it could be 80 percent to 90 percent of these children are the new-and-improved version—neurologically evolved, you might say. [One] problem is that we don’t want to create a prejudice or a pecking order. We don’t want some notion that my kid is an indigo and is somehow better than yours. That creates a hostile environment [for indigo children] that makes it harder for them to fit in. Also, we don’t want to create so much awareness of them that they aren’t able to do their work.

Their work?

They are “system busters.” One of their psychological aspects is that they are going to challenge anything and everything and get rid of what isn’t working: in schools, political systems, the way we look at the environment. They are here to be the catalyst for change.

Where does the new generation begin?

Some scientists think they’ve been around for about 20 years. Some working with genetics think it’s only been about 10 years. I think some of them have been around much longer, some who are in their 80s. But you really begin to see them in the last 25 years.

Do indigo children become famous?

I think you find a lot of these system busters are in the field of technology. Bill Gates, George Lucas, [Steven] Spielberg and Steve Jobs might be indigo children. They are people who look at things and want to make them different. I believe that George W. Bush and Al Gore are probably indigos.

Really? Both of them?

Yes, though they are very different in their focus—Gore in the way he wants to deal with the environment and to save mother Earth. George W. is going to go in and change systems to create a different way of doing business in America and the world.

Indeed. Early books on the indigo children suggest that these children are actually extraterrestrials.

Yeah, someone had to start by writing these books to make [the indigo children] known, but there’s too much "woo-woo" attached to some of it. I can tell you that scientifically, we are beginning to accumulate enough information to know that there is something different about these children. But no, I do not believe that these are ETs.