hello,
thanks for checking out my blog and contributing your thoughts.
So I wanted to start this off with some your thoughts about your rights when you were a child. I understand it might be difficult to remember.
What do you feel like your rights were or what are some rights that you feel weren't respected. At home? in school? in society?
Did you feel like you were part of a community? Were you able to voice your opinion on decisions?
What is the importance of the participation of a child in the community?
I grew up in a different era than most of you. Having "rights" as a child never occurred to me. I lived in a strong community which revolved around the church. It was a big family and I always felt safe and surrounded by many people who loved me. Extended family was nearby and everyone knew and could count on their neighbors. In my home and community their were strong expectations for academic achievement. Everyone did their homework and read books. These habits were learned and stayed with me my whole life.
ReplyDeleteHmm, this is hard to remember, especially since at various ages it probably differed greatly. Overall I would say I felt comfortable and respected in being able to do what was important to me- which was essentially, be a child. Of course we were taught responsibility and respect for others, and this applied to everyone, even other children.
ReplyDeleteOur community was a small one where everyone knew everyone else, and like Clare, we looked out for and could count on one other.
It is my belief that being able to participate in your community as a child is an important character builder. Children have such an innocence it can really lend a different perspective to situations and allows the child to feel involved, respected and ultimately part of something larger, even if they don't understand it at that very moment. Looking back, it was that openness and freedom to be who I was that has made me fiercely independent today.
As a young child I was "taught" to respect my elders & not question authority..."children should be seen and not heard." Religion was also something we were taught to respect. We didn't have a choice or a voice when it came to attending Sunday school or saying prayers @ bedtime or before meals. I never thought about "my rights" early on in my life. Creative & impacting aspects of my life were revealed later in life via athletic/sports involvment. Coaches empowered us to be individuals, with unique strenghts & abilities.
ReplyDeleteSo I wanted to start this off with some your thoughts about your rights when you were a child. I understand it might be difficult to remember.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you feel like your rights were or what are some rights that you feel weren't respected. At home? in school? in society?
As a child I had a right to ask questions, I had the right to run free (as long as I could here the bell when it was rung), I had the right to play games in my neighborhood in the dark, I had the right to play outside at recess. I had the right to make mistakes. I do not feel I lacked any rights as a child, as the youngest of a family of 6 if my parents were not able to provide something my brothers and sisters were able to.
Did you feel like you were part of a community? Were you able to voice your opinion on decisions?
Yes, I grew up in a great neighborhood. I remember it was very important to be the first one in line at the school bus stop. It became so important that we (all the neighborhood kids) would go to sleep in our school clothes, set alarms for hours before the bus came just to put our bag down first in line. Some Neighbors considered this "cheating" and we called a neighborhood meeting. Our parents helped us run the meeting but we ended up creating a schedule of who got to be in line first on certain days, no matter what time they got out there. We all got a lot more sleep and ate better breakfasts, and concentrated on playing games before the bus pulled up insead of arguing. Our parents put us in charge of solving this problem and we did, it was powerful.
What is the importance of the participation of a child in the community?
It is similar to the importance of participation of children in nature, if they are not exposed to the community they will not have respect for it and without respect for it they will not value it or care to improve it. Without a community life would be truely ugly, there would be no police, there would be no rules, there would be no parks or amplitheters, no museums and no schools. As a race we have become dependent on communities to live, being a good citizen is a value I want to instill in my children so I will have to help them respect their community by exposing them to it.
I love Claire's childhood community. I choose that one! It sounds truly amazing and what great values to grow up with. I moved around a lot... 21 different schools by the time I graduated. However, I wouldn't say that community was a foreign concept to me. I was very close with my 2 brothers and sister, and I guess we sort of created our own community wherever we landed.
ReplyDeleteMY rights as a child are a little unclear. I was introduced to the concept of "rights" at an early age though. Civil rights, gender rights, etc...
I believe whatever community you belong to, that community needs to value the individuality of it's children. The idealized child is one that falls into a very limited set of criteria. It is unfair and amazing characteristics are overlooked and shunned.