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If the older Indigos are any indication, the future of these children is very much in doubt. Spence's daughter, who was an Indigo, had Jan at the age of 15. Because of her daughter's problems with drugs and alcohol, Spence took over rearing Jan when she was only six weeks old. Brahm's son, who is one of the first Indigos, was at the head of his class until the ninth grade, when he began to feel like he couldn't continue functioning in normal society. He stopped participating in school and started to fail his classes, eventually turning to drugs and alcohol.

"He took 100 hits of acid and opened up the whole universe," Brahm explains. Now he's an auto mechanic with a wife and two Indigo kids. Though working on cars doesn't appear to be the career that will bring the human race to the next state of consciousness, Brahm now believes her son's main purpose was simply to bring her grandchildren, who are the real teachers. She admits that her son and daughter-in-law, a fundamentalist Christian, don't agree that he's an Indigo.

Jay Batten is the mother of a 19-year-old restaurant manager who also will not admit being an Indigo. "He's a football player," she says, suggesting he might fear it's too sissy to admit his true nature. Indigos are also highly susceptible to peer pressure. "Mostly he just thinks I'm strange," she says. She believes her 12-year-old daughter will be the real teacher.

Brahm says that when Indigos become teenagers, they often lose many of their abilities as they attempt to conform. Unless they're raised correctly, a lot of their spiritual knowledge is lost.

The main sanctuary for Indigos and their families is an eclectic store in Galveston called Janet's Planet, which sells everything from books and furniture to cats and crystals. Batten works in the store, and she and Brahm offer New Age classes there. Owner Janet Dee has been known to have a soft spot for homeless kids, whom she often lets hang out in the store. Almost all of them, she says, are Indigos. One homeless Indigo youth, William Wolf, has a lot of "bad energy," Dee says, and sometimes he has to be asked to leave the Planet. (She confirms she's referring to the store.) Wolf once told Dee that all "cats and Jews" should die. "I own cats, and my good friend is Jewish," Dee says. She has been doing her best to show Wolf a "more joyous path."

"One fucking negative thing appears in the Houston Press, and I will personally track you down and beat the living shit out of you," Wolf says before wandering off toward the back of the store.

"William's a little intense," says Justin English, a 19-year-old who frequents the shop.

"Justin's one of our Indigos," Dee explains.

"What's an Indigo?" English asks, though he seems to like the idea.

Many homeless Indigos do drugs and steal, Dee explains, because they just don't know how to adapt to society's strange, alien ways. Brahm recounts the time she counseled a little Indigo boy who wanted to shoot people because he didn't think anyone could stop him. Brahm explained to him that yes, he could shoot people, but he'd be put in jail. "They don't put little kids in jail," the boy said, but Brahm told him that oh, yes, they do. As long as they understand there's a consequence for everything they do, Brahm explains, they behave. Just be careful to phrase it as an explanation, not an order.

Not all Indigos have such a rough time. Rachel Stegall is 26 years old with a bachelor's degree in marine biology and works in a lab at University of Texas Medical Branch. With Brahm's help, she discovered that she was one of the early Indigos. "I always felt I was different," she says. "I always felt more comfortable in nature than with people." She always had a fascination with things from the past, particularly medieval weapons, and yearned to return to the Middle Ages because she wanted to "remember someplace that was happy." She also loved to collect crystals, stones and fossils, and without anyone having to tell her, she instinctually knew that if she put the stones on her cat while it was purring, the vibrations would heal bones. "I always knew I had knowledge I didn't have," she says. "I'm starting to let it fill in."

Discovering she was an Indigo made everything seem to fall into place. "It makes me believe in myself more," she says. Last summer during a boat trip to the Amazon, she decided her purpose was to teach people about protecting whales and the tropical rain forest.

If there's a message she could pass on to other Indigos, it would be that it's "okay to be who you are and to do what you are here to do. That you have a purpose."

As to whether an alien intelligence is behind these unusual children, everyone involved is much more coy. "Nobody really knows," Batten says. "This is a really interesting question."

"I'm guessing maybe alien," Jake's mother says. Brahm might have mentioned something about her son coming from the planet Pleiades. "I don't know. I don't understand all of that."

"I don't know where souls come from. I don't remember," Brahm says, but she will say there are "six places on my genes that are not technically human." Any chance of getting a look at some of that blood work? "I'm not letting them take blood again. I will not become the object of investigation. I worked at a hospital. I know what they do."

The introduction to Carroll and Tober's book An Indigo Celebration, published last year, proclaims somewhat incredulously that readers of their first book "actually concluded that we were promoting the fact that these new children on Earth were space aliens!" A brief browse through their Indigo Children Web site certainly shows how people might have come to that conclusion.

Write Your Comment show comments (9)

  1. It's called ADHD and bad parenting, people. Get a grip. Your kids aren't "special" because they draw rainbows and don't like to do their homework. And I love the kids saying "I know I'm an Indigo because my mommy told me so." These parents can't stand the fact that their kids are perfectly normal, so they make up these crap stories to make themselves feel better!

    Comment by Jesse — November 20, 2007 @ 10:15PM

  2. There is no need for hostility. You could have made your point in a manner that was more polite and then others might be more receptive to your opinion.

    I've been reading in to all of what is being discussed because i am facing the fact that my daughter's teacher suggests that i consider medicating her. She's only 5 and I feel entitled to educate myself before making such a decision.

    The "indigo" book was a wonderful book with so much helpful information AS IS the book Driven to Distraction. I believe my daughter is definitely hyperactive and difficult compared to many other children. I also understand what some of these parents are saying about their children not wanting to conform and learn in the traditional way. My daughter knows the alphabet and how to sound out many words and i think her frustrations are in the way the class is structured. She KNOWS that in due time she's going to learn to write and read, but she wants more stimulating education. Her little soul craves to learn things like "why is water different colors?" "Why does the pumpkin make a different noise when you knock on it compared to something solid?"

    Anyways, i can go on for hours about this issue. One last thing i'd like to point out is that nobody is saying their kid is more special than others; it's more that ALL kids are special AND DIFFERENT in their learning abilities and they need to be given more credit than to just stuff them in a traditional style classroom and go about our adult lives without much respect for these little being that will soon be in our shoes - running this place called earth. Simple. Think about it. They really ARE the future..treat them well, and let them lead the way.

    Comment by April Tabor — November 25, 2007 @ 08:49AM

  3. There is no need for hostility. You could have made your point in a manner that was more polite and then others might be more receptive to your opinion.

    I've been reading in to all of what is being discussed because i am facing the fact that my daughter's teacher suggests that i consider medicating her. She's only 5 and I feel entitled to educate myself before making such a decision.

    The "indigo" book was a wonderful book with so much helpful information AS IS the book Driven to Distraction. I believe my daughter is definitely hyperactive and difficult compared to many other children. I also understand what some of these parents are saying about their children not wanting to conform and learn in the traditional way. My daughter knows the alphabet and how to sound out many words and i think her frustrations are in the way the class is structured. She KNOWS that in due time she's going to learn to write and read, but she wants more stimulating education. Her little soul craves to learn things like "why is water different colors?" "Why does the pumpkin make a different noise when you knock on it compared to something solid?"

    Anyways, i can go on for hours about this issue. One last thing i'd like to point out is that nobody is saying their kid is more special than others; it's more that ALL kids are special AND DIFFERENT in their learning abilities and they need to be given more credit than to just stuff them in a traditional style classroom and go about our adult lives without much respect for these little being that will soon be in our shoes - running this place called earth. Simple. Think about it. They really ARE the future..treat them well, and let them lead the way.

    Comment by April Tabor — November 25, 2007 @ 08:50AM

  4. There is no need for hostility. You could have made your point in a manner that was more polite and then others might be more receptive to your opinion.

    I've been reading in to all of what is being discussed because i am facing the fact that my daughter's teacher suggests that i consider medicating her. She's only 5 and I feel entitled to educate myself before making such a decision.

    The "indigo" book was a wonderful book with so much helpful information AS IS the book Driven to Distraction. I believe my daughter is definitely hyperactive and difficult compared to many other children. I also understand what some of these parents are saying about their children not wanting to conform and learn in the traditional way. My daughter knows the alphabet and how to sound out many words and i think her frustrations are in the way the class is structured. She KNOWS that in due time she's going to learn to write and read, but she wants more stimulating education. Her little soul craves to learn things like "why is water different colors?" "Why does the pumpkin make a different noise when you knock on it compared to something solid?"

    Anyways, i can go on for hours about this issue. One last thing i'd like to point out is that nobody is saying their kid is more special than others; it's more that ALL kids are special AND DIFFERENT in their learning abilities and they need to be given more credit than to just stuff them in a traditional style classroom and go about our adult lives without much respect for these little being that will soon be in our shoes - running this place called earth. Simple. Think about it. They really ARE the future..treat them well, and let them lead the way.

    Comment by April Tabor — November 25, 2007 @ 08:51AM

  5. There is no need for hostility. You could have made your point in a manner that was more polite and then others might be more receptive to your opinion.

    I've been reading in to all of what is being discussed because i am facing the fact that my daughter's teacher suggests that i consider medicating her. She's only 5 and I feel entitled to educate myself before making such a decision.

    The "indigo" book was a wonderful book with so much helpful information AS IS the book Driven to Distraction. I believe my daughter is definitely hyperactive and difficult compared to many other children. I also understand what some of these parents are saying about their children not wanting to conform and learn in the traditional way. My daughter knows the alphabet and how to sound out many words and i think her frustrations are in the way the class is structured. She KNOWS that in due time she's going to learn to write and read, but she wants more stimulating education. Her little soul craves to learn things like "why is water different colors?" "Why does the pumpkin make a different noise when you knock on it compared to something solid?"

    Anyways, i can go on for hours about this issue. One last thing i'd like to point out is that nobody is saying their kid is more special than others; it's more that ALL kids are special AND DIFFERENT in their learning abilities and they need to be given more credit than to just stuff them in a traditional style classroom and go about our adult lives without much respect for these little being that will soon be in our shoes - running this place called earth. Simple. Think about it. They really ARE the future..treat them well, and let them lead the way.

    Comment by April Tabor — November 25, 2007 @ 08:52AM

  6. There is no need for hostility. You could have made your point in a manner that was more polite and then others might be more receptive to your opinion.

    I've been reading in to all of what is being discussed because i am facing the fact that my daughter's teacher suggests that i consider medicating her. She's only 5 and I feel entitled to educate myself before making such a decision.

    The "indigo" book was a wonderful book with so much helpful information AS IS the book Driven to Distraction. I believe my daughter is definitely hyperactive and difficult compared to many other children. I also understand what some of these parents are saying about their children not wanting to conform and learn in the traditional way. My daughter knows the alphabet and how to sound out many words and i think her frustrations are in the way the class is structured. She KNOWS that in due time she's going to learn to write and read, but she wants more stimulating education. Her little soul craves to learn things like "why is water different colors?" "Why does the pumpkin make a different noise when you knock on it compared to something solid?"

    Anyways, i can go on for hours about this issue. One last thing i'd like to point out is that nobody is saying their kid is more special than others; it's more that ALL kids are special AND DIFFERENT in their learning abilities and they need to be given more credit than to just stuff them in a traditional style classroom and go about our adult lives without much respect for these little being that will soon be in our shoes - running this place called earth. Simple. Think about it. They really ARE the future..treat them well, and let them lead the way.

    Comment by April Tabor — November 25, 2007 @ 08:57AM

  7. I feel sorry for these children because their parents are enabling them to be disfunctional members of society. Your children aren't special, they're brats and you need to beat them more. All children like drawing rainbows, hate doing their homework, and think the world revolves around them. The only difference between your child and the next one is that the other child's parent makes them be responsible members of society who respect other people.

    I especially feel sorry for the kid, Jake, mentioned in the story. He's doomed. He's probably going to suffer from depression because his mother utterly ruined his life: Brahm quoted and this applies, 'They do not agree with the way society runs things. They think we're kind of stupid, that we've screwed things up.'"

    To Jake's mother: You are stupid, you're screwing things up by telling your children that they're aliens, and telling your friends that your child is an alien, and telling your child's friends that he's an alien, and telling your child's friends parents that he's an alien.

    Indigo Children, psychic powers, furries, ass-burgers... people need to stop creating excuses for themselves and start facing reality. Your kid will never fit in and never be happy if they aren't raised properly and given the tools to cope with society - and those tools do not include enabling them to think they're something they aren't and that they're above the fundamental expectations of our culture (do well in school, don't abuse drugs, don't screw off in your job, listen and obey people who know more about stuff than you do) - so that they don't end up working at a bottom end job all their life thinking they're a Vulcan who is too good to get a college degree or persue a real carrer.

    Comment by s_e_h — December 3, 2007 @ 05:46PM

  8. Ok, then I`m an alien-ated adult:-) since I can remember I feel & think like those kids. What is wrong with kids who think that we screwed up this world? Look around you!
    Now, age 36, I still refuse to agree to the logic of our social, economic and political systems, although for outside world it seems that I`m adapted and perfectly functioning member of this society..Reading 6 writing since I was 4, straight "A" student, masters in business, living my life in (what I call) outside world...But there is my/our microcosmos with other rules.. And they collide, more often then I would like to, especially when it comes to fairness, dicrimination etc... I just canīt help myself, because it is stronger then me. With my intelligence & capabilities I could have gone far and beyond my professional achievments , but I would have to negate system of values that I was born with.. You could call me asocial, psychotic or even crazy, but I KNOW WHAT IS RIGHT.
    I donīt believe in any of those esoteric explantions, no alien, aura etc crap. The fact is that our system of values is not working for everybody and maybe we should all listen to hypersensitive people and learn from them.

    Comment by Mirna — December 6, 2007 @ 05:34AM

  9. While I could have been more polite, my statement could not have been any more clear.
    This article outlines some very misguided parents who are emotionally abusing their chldren, and it is repugnant.

    By all listed characteristics, *I* would be considered to have been an "idigo child" - except my parents (though I hated it at the time) didn't cater to me, pet me, and tell me how "special" I was and how I was so "different". Consequently, I fully recognize that thinking differently than most people and being "gifted" doesn't make me any better than any other human being on the planet. (Despite what I would like to believe.)

    These parents should undergo psychological testing to determine their fitness to raise children.

    I don't care how "hostile" I sound, I am speaking the truth. Sometimes the facts hurt.

    Comment by Jesse — April 11, 2008 @ 07:02AM

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