Humanity is Born in Every Child
The help that humanity needs can only come from children. They are and will be the ones who write the future. Humanity is born in every child, which is why we can’t treat children like second-class citizens. The way that we treat them shapes their personality.
We must treat childhood and children with great regard. Keep in mind that a piece of humanity is forming in each and every one of them. Kindness, joy, compassion, and empathy can flourish inside each child. But, so can hate, anger, and vengeance. That’s why we have to know what to encourage so that they become healthy and happy adults.
Childhood must be a sacred age. We have to talk about the need to change the way we raise children because the first years of life have a significant influence on their character.
“Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.”
-Khalil Gibran-
Childhood, the sacred age
Adults tend to educate children without understanding them. We write off everything they do that we don’t understand as “kid stuff.” What we should be doing instead is identifying and respecting the child’s emotions and feelings so that we can understand what is happening.
Sometimes we don’t know how to get and keep a child’s attention. One reason for that is because the child’s cortex isn’t sufficiently developed to be able to register and follow a large number of commands.
We might yell at the child or punish him for disobeying, but we are the ones making the mistake. You can’t put too many limits on a young child, or give them too many orders to follow.
Emotional self-regulation in adults is key to raising children. We have to keep in mind that children learn how to react to certain situations by observing our behavior. So, not only do we need to educate our children, but also ourselves.
Self-regulation ensures a balance between restraint and permissiveness. In the past, society tended to put too many limits on children. On the other hand, it seems that we don’t give them enough limits and we see the negative results.
Limits, for the most part, shouldn’t be intended as punishments, nor should we set them when we are feeling very strong emotions. It is important to be consistent when speaking to children, no matter what our emotions are telling us. Emotions like anger or rage are not a good influence when it comes time to set limits or decide on a punishment.
“Among all the joys, the absurd is the most joyful. This is the joy of children, the farmers, the untamed, all of the beings that are closer than us to nature.”
-Azorin-
The first years of life have an important impact on the child’s personality
Early childhood, up to three years, is like the foundation for human life. During these years, we lay the groundwork for disorders like depression, bipolarity, or psychoticism.
On the other hand, skills and abilities that protect us from these disorders are established during that same time period. We might say that childhood, then, is sacred. The younger the child, the more sacred it is.
Many parents don’t start to pay attention to their child’s development until early adolescence. We talked before about parents who set too many limits for their child.
Well, we also see the opposite – parents who don’t set any limits or give their child any responsibility until they are teens. At that point, it will be very difficult to set limits if we haven’t started already. Normally, adolescence is when children usually start to rebel.
We can’t just educate children on a cognitive and intellectual level. Their emotional development is very important. We have to take great care in raising and educating children today. Our hope, the hope for the future, resides in them.