Life, culture, technological advances and family structures are changing rapidly today. The effect that these changing conditions have on a child’s development are significant. Its non uncommon to hear people voicing the notion that children are worse off today than they were a couple of generations ago. That reaction may be in response to the fact that children look and act differently in many ways today from the way adults remember their own upbringing.
It is easy to see children in ways that make them look more demanding, less social, self- centered, rigid and inflexible and more aggressive. Some will even argue that children are less interested in life around them, less inquisitive and are not as high performing in school as the generations of children before them.
Now one cannot make these generalization about all children. What we are probably seeing are trends happening to children that make them and their development look different and perhaps not as healthy as it was in the “good ole days”.
Wherever you may fall in agreeing or disagreeing with the above description of how childen are growing up today, most of us will probably agree that children are having to grow up faster in today’s quick pace world and perhaps do not have the time they need to be- children.
The question is, “what can parents do to help combat the shifting forces at play on our children’s development” in order to help combat the negatives influences on how children grow and mature.
It is really not rocket science…creating a better future for children today is about what it has always been about…the adult-child relationship and how we equip our children to grow, develop, learn and lead as the next generation.
I don’t remember where I first saw this quote or who it’s attributed to but it sums up my belief about our need as parents, teachers and adults to help normalize child development today in the face of all the pressures of rapid change:
If you want to see more kindness in the world…
Raise your children to be kind
If you want to see more honesty in the world…
Raise your children to be honest
If you want to see more positive values in the world…
Raise your children and teach them positive values
If you want to see more honor in the world…
Raise your children to be honorable
If you want to see more love in the world…
Raise your children to love unconditionally
Raise your children to be the change you want to see in the world
In looking at parenting this way it really isn’t a complicated solution. It is about equipping children with a foundation of morality, critical thinking and internal locus of control so that we can give equal footing to their emotional quotient (EQ) as we do to their intelligence quotient (IQ).
Be well, joe
