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While reading a collection of short stories by the American humorist Robert Benchley with the excellent title “Children for what?”, I came across this phrase: “A lot of parents are not able to raise children after the stage when they stop drooling; most of today’s social problems are the fault of parents who buy clothes for 10 years to boys who are already 14. In any case, I do not see or almost do not see that any attempt to raise their children leads anywhere but chaos.
Did you read the same as me? Parents in any circumstances doom their children to a state of chaos! Well, let’s say the author here falls into a little caricature, but he offends me, because education is the topic that fascinates me. I am constantly trying to figure out what to do and what not to do in order to raise my child well. Education has never been and never will be an exact science, otherwise we would all be Einsteins in it! All of humanity has gone through childhood, which is significant in terms of experience, and yet the maturation of each human being is subject to autonomous and unique variations.
Pass the tests
- Are you too close with your children?
- What role do you play in the family?
- What kind of mother are you?
What if I led my true son astray by taking him to a Francis Bacon exhibition? What if I should let him watch TV? What if boredom awakens his creativity? Should I teach him English from kindergarten? Should I let him read the whole of Schopenhauer at 8 so he has a clear idea of bitterness? Should I confess to him that I write a column in Psychologies and watch him without him knowing it for inspiration? Children are often treated like explosives these days. They are taken care of, they are occupied, they are always given increased attention. As soon as a free hour appears, we try to think of what we could do with them. We forget how beautiful and virtuous laziness is. We tell ourselves that a rich and varied education will make them harmonious adults … but what do we know about this? Perhaps if we do too much with the child, he will become apathetic and dependent? Where is the point of perfect balance between freedom and interference?
Read more:
- How to develop creativity? 14 curious ways
And it also happens that the issues of education become a battlefield between partners. “You have to go to bed at eight in the evening,” says the mother. And the father, meanwhile, makes concessions: “You can watch a movie with us a little.” Where is the truth here? Nowhere! In families with children from different marriages, it is even more difficult. Probably, there are children who live several lives, if we talk about education. Surely they have several sets of rules that sometimes contradict each other. Does this mean they are heading straight for schizophrenia? Maybe not. A messy childhood can create a bully or a genius. And there is a wonderful uncertainty about it. After all, how wonderful it is that we cannot completely control childhood. Because of this, we all become unique adults.