Newly elected president Trump is under completely justified scrutiny, and his family is not exempt. Although 10 year old Barron Trump, the only son Trump has had with Melania, lives his life completely independent of Donald Trump’s campaign, opposers of Trump have been attacking his son. Needless to say, I think its sad that Barron has to grow with such a hateful, bigoted liar as a father, but I still think he should be left alone.

Lately, Barron has been exploring his artistic interests, creating what could be referred to as abstract art. Twitter’s comments included “barron trump’s art is uh ….. creative”. I will admit, Barron is not the next Vincent Van Gogh, but he is a child that deserves to be free in his expression regardless of his incredibly wealthy status at a young age.

Saturday Night Live’s Katie Rich went even further and tweeted “Barron will be this country’s first homeschool shooter”, playing on the stereotype of white boys with undiscovered mental health issues. Although people joke about these things, you have to be seriously ill to be willing to commit mass murder. Rich is just plain wrong in labeling Barron as the future facilitator of such a heinous crime. She later deleted her tweet and apologized, but come on Katie–he’s 10.

I must admit, however, that the outrage over Barron Trump’s spotlight in the media is much more intense than (sadly, former) President Obama’s daughters Sasha and Malia. The girls were scrutinized for dressing “provocatively” and behaving like teenagers by going out and having fun. But who came to their rescue? Some even agreed that their above the knee skirts were too much for the White House residents. Perhaps its the patriarchy speaking; the young women being criticized is yet another example of societies ambiguous views on how much interest women should take in their appearance.

Years ago, when the Bush twins were the First Daughters of America in the latter portion of their teenage years, their wild behavior, which I might add was much more extensive than a short skirt, was criticized, but rather than being seen as classless they were seen as “naughty”. Perhaps it is the underlying fact that people tend to expect young black girls to mature faster than others at an early age that causes the American people to view these children differently.

Admittedly, first children, regardless of their race or gender, do grow up in a bubble of sorts by being constantly surrounded by people of similar socioeconomic statuses. However, this doesn’t nullify the way these young people are forced into the chaos that we call politics. When a presidential candidate is running, it is just that–his (or one day her) children should be left out of the spotlight regardless of how their parents are perceived.