Stop brainwashing your children about Brexit In comparison with the mass demonstrations of opposition we have seen recently, the weekend’s march against Brexit didn’t really cut […]

In comparison with the mass demonstrations of opposition we have seen recently, the weekend’s march against Brexit didn’t really cut the mustard. The BBC, cowed by accusations of an anti-Brexit agenda, gave it relatively little coverage, and the Brexit-supporting national newspapers did their best to discredit it.

Nevertheless, more than 25,000 people took to the streets of London on Saturday to voice their support of the European Union: by any standards, it was an impressive display of political engagement on the day the EU celebrated its 60th anniversary.

March against Brexit in Westminster

“Life is tough enough for the next generation without giving them a palpable sense of injustice, of grievance, of fearfulness” i's opinion newsletter: talking points from today Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

This show of disaffection will not achieve anything, however. We are set on a course that will lead to an unspecified destination, but one which will certainly mean our isolation from the greatest political initiative of my lifetime. So be it, I say. There are many things I’d like to march for, or against, but an attempt to overturn the democratic will of my fellow citizens is not one of them.

I am more worried about the present vogue for protest marches, a view hardened by a photograph in this very newspaper yesterday. It showed a woman from the demonstration accompanied by two young children. All had their faces painted with the EU flag, and against the background of a cloudless sky, it made for a joyful, uplifting image. Other photos from the event showed that many parents had taken their children along.

On one level, it makes sense that young people – a majority of whom supported the campaign to Remain – would make their presence felt on the march. But I can’t help feeling unsettled by the sight of so many children among the protesters. It may have been a nice day out in the spring sunshine, all face-painting and oh-so-clever slogans, but there is a underlying message that’s less wholesome.

Life is tough enough for the next generation of Britons without giving them a palpable sense of injustice, of grievance, of fearfulness. The adults making a public display of their disenchantment sometimes don’t pay enough attention to the private concerns of their children.

The daughter of a friend of mine has recently been suffering, for the first time in her life, from panic attacks. She said to her father that one of the major factors in her anxiety is a feeling that coalesced around Brexit, and then Trump, that terrible choices had been made.

Her influences are her parents, her friends, celebrities, and she is made to feel desperate about the prospects for her world. Of course, we can’t, and shouldn’t, protect our impressionable children from what’s going on in global politics, but we should be mindful that our voluble upset can have a damaging effect those we seek to nurture.

We are bringing our children up in a more excitable world. That much was clear from the reaction to last week’s attack on Westminster Bridge. The hyperbolic language – of evil, terror, hatred – that was used to describe the actions of a lone, demented assailant would only heighten a climate of fear that was, in this case, disproportionate.

Several days later, the very streets that were on lockdown were filled with peaceable protestors engaged in a noble, but hopeless, cause. For sure, we will leave the EU, and our children do face a worryingly uncertain future. I blame the parents.