In this chapter, we address the question of whether a move towards more power and influence for children inevitably leads to the loss of adult power. As we have previously noted, conventional conceptions of kid power have predominantly viewed the relationship between children and adults in zero-sum terms. In this view, kid power involves either a shift in the balance of power from adults to children, or quite simply the loss of adult power and authority and a concomitant increase in the capacity of children to wield forms of power over adults. This chapter examines the alleged rise of kid power from the vantage point of adulthood – the position, roles and responsibilities that different kinds of adults occupy within generational structures. We argue that adult power is to some extent compromised by the way that various external forces converge on the capacity of adults to shape children's welfare and, in effect, their ability to mediate between children and the wider world. We explore several related themes. In the first part, we discuss the loss of adulthood in terms of the rise of technology and the expansion of the global marketplace that incorporates children as economic actors. We draw on Postman's (1982) classic thesis on the disappearance of adulthood, to analyse the rise of digital technology and its implications for generational relations. We critically examine the thesis that the advent of technology has led to the blurring of boundaries between child and adult spheres, and the concomitant disempowering of adults.

In the second part of the chapter, we focus on the political context for adults’ loss of power. We examine the role that global discourses and national policies play in replacing the mediating role of parents with a political framework that centres on the welfare and needs of children. A number of related themes are discussed here, including state intervention and the rise of the ‘responsible parent’ as a discursive mechanism for disciplining parents, the role of the state and the move from bipartite to tripartite relations, and the decline of corporal power. In the final section, we explore children's narratives on adult power and discuss whether children themselves support the idea that adults are losing power.