>I see a major barrier in our movement being that society perceives children
>to be "innocent" and therefore must be shielded from "impure" acts such as
>sex.

Before attempting to respond to a situation, it would be helpful to understand how the situation came to be.

There are two competing Xian beliefs that have had strong impact on this nature. One, the belief that children are angelic and not "with sin" until they are in this world. Two, the Calvinistic belief that children are necessarily sinful, until they get a chance to purify themselves in this world.

In both cases, the best option is to keep the children away from what Xians define as sinful. For the former, to keep them pure, for the latter, the help them become pure.

There is another point as well. Children are ignorant. Everybody knows that. But, (as "ignorance is bliss" and) many people who consider themselves failures try to live through their children. To say this was to act ignorant would be to insult them, so a new look was invented (probably subconsciously) to synonymize ignorance with some lofty goal, such as angelic. Whereas both children and "angels" know no sin, children are ignorant, and angels are inherently unable to sin. Thus, the better term is unable to sin, or that they will always leave judgment marked innocent.

>So how should children be made to be not as innocent as society deems them >as?

In countries where Xians have a strong holding, it is these beliefs that would need to be combated, assuming you believe otherwise.

In countries where adults live through their children, the parents must be matured.

Just some thoughts.