What is "think of the children"

vb. 1 (context humorous English) To engage in moral panic. 2 (&lit think of the children English)

"Think of the children" (also "What about the children?") is a phrase which evolved into a rhetorical tactic. Literally it refers to children's rights (as in discussions of child labor). In debate, however, as a plea for pity, used as an appeal to emotion, it is a logical fallacy.

Art, Argument, and Advocacy (2002) argued that the appeal substitutes emotion for reason in debate. Ethicist Jack Marshall wrote in 2005 that the phrase's popularity stems from its capacity to stunt rationality, particularly discourse on morals. "Think of the children" has been invoked by censorship proponents to shield children from perceived danger. Community, Space and Online Censorship (2009) noted that classifying children in an infantile manner, as innocents in need of protection, is a form of obsession over the concept of purity. A 2011 article in the Journal for Cultural Research observed that the phrase grew out of a moral panic.

It was an exhortation in the 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins, when the character of Mrs. Banks pleaded with her departing nanny not to quit and to "think of the children!" The phrase was popularized as a satiric reference on the animated television program The Simpsons in 1996, when character Helen Lovejoy pleaded "Won't somebody please think of the children!" during a contentious debate by citizens of the fictional town of Springfield.

In the 2012 Georgia State University Law Review, Charles J. Ten Brink called Lovejoy's use of "Think of the children" a successful parody. The appeal's subsequent use in society was often the subject of mockery. After its popularization on The Simpsons, the phrase has been called "Lovejoy's Law", the "Helen Lovejoy defence", the "Helen Lovejoy Syndrome", and "think-of-the-children-ism".