For the past few decades, thousands of parents around the world believe that they raise indigo children, who, thanks to their innate characteristics, represent a new version of people. We checked whether scientific arguments exist in confirmation of this idea.

For the first time, the concept of special children, the birth of which marks a new era in the history of mankind, began to quickly gain popularity by the beginning of the 21st century. In 2003 on screens I went out The American film "Indigo" dedicated to this topic, and five years later appeared The Russian picture of the same name. The popular concept is successful fit And in modern esoteric, religious and pseudo-religious beliefs, which are combined under the general name “New Age” (“New Era”).

The term "Indigo Children" appeared thanks to the American Nancy Ann Tapp. This woman, who called herself a parapsychologist, a synestet and psychic, in 1982 published a brochure “Understanding Life through Colors”, which four years later reprinted in the form of a book. In this text, the TAPP introduced the concept of vital color, that is, "the only color of the aura that remains constant for most people from the cradle to the grave." According to TAPP, she noticed that in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many children began to be born with an indigo color-hence the term. Later, the idea was developed by the followers of TAPP, including Barbara Bauers with the book “What color is your aura? Personality spectra for understanding and development ”(1989), Pamala Pamala with the work“ Life colors: What are the colors of your aura ”(1991) and a team of authors with the monograph“ Children of Indigo: New Children Profit ”(1999). The latter by 2006 was released circulation of 250,000 copies.

How They say Supporters of the concept, an indigo child, unlike ordinary children, owns a new unusual set of psychological characteristics and therefore demonstrates previously documented behavioral patterns. Although “there are several types of indigo children”, they can distinguish common features:

They come to the world with a sense of superiority (and act accordingly)
They have the feeling that they “deserve to be here”, and they do not understand how others do not share this opinion
Assessment of their own significance is not a problem for them
They have problems with any power or control that are not based on explanations and the possibility of choosing
They will not just do certain things (for example, stand in line)
They are suppressed in situations where rituals are important and creative thinking is not needed
They often see the best ways to solve different problems, so they are considered unsuitable for any system
They do not look social, at least in the absence of the same people nearby
They will not respond to educational measures based on guilt
They are not shy about reporting that they need

Nancy Ann Tapp is the creator of the term "Children of Indigo"
© Nancy Ann Tappe

The authors of the theory of Indigo children believe that, thanks to their innate features, such a child has a much greater level of empathy and curiosity. Although they are often considered strange, in fact, Indigo children are distinguished by high intelligence, developed intuition and a clear understanding of their goal. Moreover, such children can hardly endure control and obey discipline. In the 1999 collective publication, parents of such children Addressed Education tips: you need to know that children give too many drugs, that schools do not provide enough opportunities for creativity and that children need to pay as much time and attention as possible.

If, by definition, an indigo child is a child with an aura of a certain color, it can be identified by analyzing the aura. At the moment, there is no methodology that allows you to do it. For example, in his documentary, journalist Boris Sobolev showedthat the devices sold in Russia allegedly designed to measure the aura actually give out random results. The absence of either an energy field, or a special radiation around a person is a consolidated conclusion of skeptics and scientists who could not confirm its existence in the conditions of a correct scientific experiment. At least twice people who spoke about the ability to see the aura was checked by the famous skeptic James Randy. Both tests did not show the results confirming the presence of aura in people.

Why, then, many parents say that they raise indigo children, although it is impossible to reliably determine this? According to some psychologists, this Related With the effect of barnum, also known as the effect of Forer. This phenomenon lies in the fact that if you provide a person with a prone list of character traits and behaviors that can be applied to so many people, he still considers that the list accurately describes his personality and thereby makes him exceptional. Similarly, the effect will work in relation to the child of this person.

Many experts also associate the use of the term “Indigo Children” with the syndrome of attention deficit and hyperactivity (ADHD). This nervous disorder is manifested in a combination of inattention and inability to regulate their emotions according to age. By calculations American scientists, about 6% of children suffer from ADHD, and diagnosis of disorder steel Actively engaged in the mid-1980s-just when TAPP and its like-minded people developed the theory of Indigo children. David Cohen from the International University of Florida Reportedthat this concept offers parents a seductive opportunity: to consider their child special, not patients. This Confirmed The 2011 study, which was conducted at the University of Aiovas. With American colleagues agree and Russian experts.

Despite all the criticism of scientists, many supporters of the theory of Indigo children are not going to review their views. As in the case of people who believe in psychics and otherworldly phenomena, they usually say: just science is not yet able to understand what they believe in. In a sense, a series of books about Harry Potter, the mother of “Indigo’s child”, Mardgeri Jackson, became popular. She said In an interview with The New York Times, that “90% of people in the world are like maglles” (and her son, probably, to a student of Hogwarts). In any case, now there is no evidence that can scientifically substantiate the existence of Indigo children for Muggles.