How much do you value innocence in children?

We’ve been discussing issues related to sex and children in a few questions recently, and a lot of people talk about innocence as if it is a valuable thing. It seems like some people have this idea that children should be protected from exposure to some things as long as possible. I believe this is because they think that an ideal childhood is supposed to be happy and blissful and carefree, and that if you are exposed to certain things, you can not have that childhood.

I would like to know what kinds of things you think children should not be exposed to. I’d like to know why you value innocence, and how limiting exposure to certain things helps the child. I would like to know what people think happens when children (or others) lose their innocence?

It seems like we look down on innocence or naivety in adults. We think they will get in trouble because of what they don’t know. Yet we admire innocence in children, because… what? It is a sign of the ability of the parents to protect the children?

The only way out of innocence is education. The more we know, the better we can cope with the world, as adults (do you disagree?) If we delay teaching children various things, does this delay their learning when they need to know? Do they need to know before parents think they need to know? How do you know when to teach children about a thing you want to protect them from when you want them to be innocent?