Child-centered society, if not child-obsessed…
September 11th 2007 03:23
Child-centered society, if not child-obsessed…
What is it to be a child in our society today?
Have we not become too obsessed with them? Or are we just getting better at parenting?
For example, if we remember the seventies, parents were jumping from one party to another, kids following them and sleeping in the back of cars, or on someone’s sofa or bed.
Have we been traumatized by our parents life’s style or just learn to live in their world, the adult world…
Were we badly treated? Abandoned? Unloved?
If anyone could remember being a child 30 years ago and what was the behavior of the parents at this time, what are the differences from today?
Food was good, junk food not so popular… clothing was practical, school teachers were very strict but we learned to respect them. We were not allowed to speak at the table and must finish our plate. We did not have special children TV channels, only a couple of hours a day on national programs.
In the last 2 decades the children psychology theorists have granted us with amazing new information on how to be better parents, how to make our kids happier, in other words how to do better than our own parents…
The media is bombarding us with thousands of advices on how to take care of our kids.
Is it possible that love isn’t enough anymore?
We all agree that good manners are important and must be from time to time reminded but are we trying to raise soldiers or happy children?
It seems like from morning to night we are pushed to argue with our children to make them perfect, but does it make them happy?
Well, it could be assumed that parent’s first priorities are to take care of the development, the security and well-being of their children.
In other words, make sure of their emotional, physical and intellectual development.
Parenting means providing a child with safety, clothing, home and nutrition.
It means to protect them from danger and to care for their health.
When it comes to the emotional and intellectual development, each family has it own values and beliefs, at the end of it is all about giving him or her the best possible way of self-understanding, sense of dignity, integrity and empathy…
The parent’s probably first real task is bringing wisdom of life into their children’s life.
Parenting is one of the most important and difficult profession but also the most rewarding… and there is no university for it!
You learn from scratch, listen to people, read books and take in what sounds right for you and your family.
The best u can do is trust your instincts and remember that love is all it takes to do a good job!
Maybe to be a parent is more than all the technical rules that submerge us, maybe it is about finding the wisdom of life and while helping a child to grow to its full potential it is also about our own self-growth…
What is it to be a child in our society today?
Have we not become too obsessed with them? Or are we just getting better at parenting?
For example, if we remember the seventies, parents were jumping from one party to another, kids following them and sleeping in the back of cars, or on someone’s sofa or bed.
Have we been traumatized by our parents life’s style or just learn to live in their world, the adult world…
Were we badly treated? Abandoned? Unloved?
If anyone could remember being a child 30 years ago and what was the behavior of the parents at this time, what are the differences from today?
In the last 2 decades the children psychology theorists have granted us with amazing new information on how to be better parents, how to make our kids happier, in other words how to do better than our own parents…
The media is bombarding us with thousands of advices on how to take care of our kids.
Is it possible that love isn’t enough anymore?
We all agree that good manners are important and must be from time to time reminded but are we trying to raise soldiers or happy children?
It seems like from morning to night we are pushed to argue with our children to make them perfect, but does it make them happy?
Well, it could be assumed that parent’s first priorities are to take care of the development, the security and well-being of their children.
In other words, make sure of their emotional, physical and intellectual development.
It means to protect them from danger and to care for their health.
When it comes to the emotional and intellectual development, each family has it own values and beliefs, at the end of it is all about giving him or her the best possible way of self-understanding, sense of dignity, integrity and empathy…
The parent’s probably first real task is bringing wisdom of life into their children’s life.
Parenting is one of the most important and difficult profession but also the most rewarding… and there is no university for it!
You learn from scratch, listen to people, read books and take in what sounds right for you and your family.
The best u can do is trust your instincts and remember that love is all it takes to do a good job!
Maybe to be a parent is more than all the technical rules that submerge us, maybe it is about finding the wisdom of life and while helping a child to grow to its full potential it is also about our own self-growth…
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Comment by Chic Critique
Cool post FredS!
Cheers
CC
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
Don't think there wasn't heaps of information around 30 years ago and you present a very dismal picture of a society you seem to know nothing much about.
We didn't have the ADHD problems and two year olds helping themselves to food out of the frig and the obesity problems and although none of us were perfect we didn't think we'd recreated the universe.
Today's children are not well looked after and they even need to be fed from the supermarket shelves while parents trundle around with the trolley.
And no putrid nappies placed in the garbage, a filthy habit, and I could go on but I've already made myself unpopular so I won't say anymore and there was not sex from such a young age with no responsibility and demanding things from parents and not the alcolol and drug abuse of such massive proportions.
And young men learned to accept responsibility not avoid it year after year.
You really started with a grossly inaccurate assumption.
I just wonder how your kids will turn out.
katyzzz
Comment by JoH
Love should be enough, but it aint.
On the other hand, I totally agree with your last point, being a good parent comes with helping your child grow to it's full potential but more importantly, learning about yourself in that process. Well said!
Comment by Mrs M
Mum's Word
Things are certainly done differently than before.
The biggest thing I noticed for me when I was a kid was like you said, you didn't speak at the dinner table until your plate was empty.
I never got a say on what was on tv and basically I was raised in a household where "you did not speak until spoken to".
Then one day my parents said, "you're all grown up now...speak". And in a way I didn't know how. Even though I was bursting for so many years....
What I took away from my upbringing is that my children do deserve to be heard, have a say....within reason of course.
I'm happy to say that I haven't fallen into the trap of always wanting to please my children. It was something that concerned me before I had kids. As parents we gotta make tough choices, not very popular choices but they are the right ones.
As for going to university...a few years ago I think a university in Queensland was talking about introducing a degree for parenting. Less about how to change a nappy and more about how to raise the child and understanding child development. Not quite sure if it ever got off the ground.
Love & stuff
Mrs M