A Child's Independent Mind
Posted: Saturday, July 21, 2007
by David Tanguay
Note: from the author
I am not a credited doctor of child psychology that is I do not hold a degree in this particular field. My only credentials for giving advice on child bearing is my own personal views based on the principals of common sense and most importantly inborn love
"Comments on opposing views to my philosophy welcomed"
A child is human, not some sort of computer which one carefully and delicately stores information in, and expects the information to remain stored until deleted or modified.
A child’s mind is an independent creation of God, which does not receive information directly without first going through the proper channels. If a tragic event should occur which spreads like wildfire, through the media from where there seems to be no escape. It seems a parent feels he or she must either hide or alter the facts relating to the incident from their child. For they believe such information would psychologically have a negative effect on their child.
Get real! Turn off Dr. Phil and get in touch with the real world and with yourselves. We are born with love we do not need to learn how to love. We are also born knowing right from wrong. These traits are as natural as a heartbeat. No action, thought, or motive can be functional without these vital forces, which control our lives.
If a child should reveal a concern for world related issues this can only be a positive sign, the child feels compassion for his or her fellow human beings. The world needs all the help it can get and your child may be just the one who can give it.
I do not believe we should hide any form of cruelty or injustice that is occurring in the world, which comes to us through the media in the privacy of our homes from a child. For an injustice, or cruel behavior towards others, which brings a feeling of grief and sadness to a child, will only encourage a desire and a will to act to change a wrong, and make it right. Some of our greatest leaders were lead to their fate from a desire to make the world a better place to live in, including the founding fathers of our own nation.
Do not always try to be the teacher, for we can learn from children. The younger they are the more their thoughts and imaginations can be, and are usually, unique, and original. . How many times have we heard the expression “Out of the mouths of babes!"
For sometimes, even a very young child can be a very wise professor from a comment that leaves his or her students [the parents] at awe and to marvel at an entirely new outlook on life.
Indeed before any information enters the mind, it must first go through the proper channels. What is more, the main channel it must go through is the heart.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)hi david, this was a good, thought provoking article. i know kids have to learn about the world, and the ways of the people in it, but then, i also want to protect them from it until they're old enough to understand better, and decipher the information in a more positive manner. as an example, my middle son is very kind hearted and caring. when he was 8 or so, his father handed him a shotgun and told him to shoot a rabbit. my son didn't really want to, but didn't want to be made fun of by his siblings or father, so he shot. it was a bad shot, he got the back legs, the rabbit did many flips and contortions, while squealing until his father shot him and put him and my son out of their misery. my son never forgot the sounds that rabbit made, and still suffers from it today at 20. i don't see any good that came out of that experience. i think i've been pretty liberal, though, in trying to teach my kids about life, and death, and how the two follow each other-they all went to their grandparents and great aunts' wakes, as barbaric as that was. i thought it important for them to experience it. so, i guess what i say to myself is, depending on the degree of the damage that will ensue, and if there will be a good, positive lesson involved, that's how i make my choices whether i'll let them be exposed or not. i know my kids love their father, but, they have to learn that he is not acting correctly, and this is who he is, and they can love him, but they don't have to like him. i've always thought the truth is the best policy, and i go by that, but when kids are young, movies like saving private ryan, silence of the lambs, the rocky horror picture show, may be depictions of real life, but they aren't in that real life at 8,10, 12, and should be tring to figure out how to make 22,000 dominoes stay up. they've had pets die, my daughter insisted on being there when she was 8 when our golden died, she was, and all my kids have been there in the yard when we buried our furry friends. these are the things i think they need to experience, so they'll know how to handle them when they are grown. but, even though young boys faces are being blown up in Iraq, i'm not sure they need to put that into their heads, and yet, intellectually, they can understand what war is, and why it is morbid. thanks for making me think, best regards, sue thomPlease log in to respond to this comment.Thank you for commenting Susan, you bring up some very interesting issues.Please log in to respond to this comment.
"A child is human, not some sort of computer which one carefully and delicately stores information in, and expects the information to remain stored until deleted or modified." Beautifuly expressed, David. Each child is unique. We must be careful in our zeal not to brainwash the child. That would be putting their creativity in a box, and who knows what their real potential is? It may far exceed our limited vision. The Buddha and Christ are good examples of men going their own way, and look how they influenced the world. Can you imagine, if they would have had controlling parents that would have subverted their minds so that they couldn't expres their real potential, and simply became a devout Jew and a pious Hindu!? Good job my friend! Be well............ePlease log in to respond to this comment.
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