"“I think that the best thing we can do for our children is to allow them to do things for themselves, allow them to be strong, allow them to experience life on their own terms." That's a quote by C. Jo Bell. I think she is a self-published author, since I could not find out too much about her. In fact, when I looked her up, it said she was "best known for her love of cake, especially that of the red velvet nature." I guess if you are going to be known for something, that's as good as anything else.
At any rate, I liked her quote. It was a bit longer than what I show, but I drew the line at letting my kids ride the subway on their own. Maddie could likely do it... she is old enough, although I think she would be very uncomfortable doing it being she grew up in a rural setting. Ashleigh is just too small and young, though, and I would likely have a heart attack from worry if she was off on the subway on her own. I think the best thing we can do for our children is to teach them to think for themselves. While they are young, that entails teaching them how to think. Too many people nowadays don't seem to know how to think logically. Instead, they let their emotional response guide everything they say and do. To me, that isn't thinking. That is reacting. Reacting is good if you are in a life or death situation. You are crossing the street and a car comes speeding around the corner. You quickly run out of the way! That is a reaction. It is okay to react in a situation like that without thinking. In fact, you'd be crazy not to. But there are other situations where it is better to think first. And it is in these situations where we, as a nation, are failing our youth. Instead of teaching logic and critical thinking in our schools, we teach touchy-feely reactions. In fact, much of what passes for history nowadays is just a collection of dates and names, with a one-sided story of why it happened. The schools go out of their way to make sure everyone feels good about what happened. Heroes and villains are described in black and white. Never in the shades of grey that were actually closer to the truth. I am not just trying to pick on history classes here. I am just trying to point out that if we don't make an effort to teach our children to think critically, we should never expect them to be able to do it when they are an adult. If we really want to make the world a better place, then we need to start teaching our children to think critically and logically. Once they have a background in that type of thinking, then by all means allow them to do things for themselves and make their own choices. I try to give my girls freedom commensurate with their maturity level. Notice I did not say age. I know adults that I give less trust to than my 14-year-old daughter! Age does not make maturity. Logical thinking does. Teach your children to think logically, and then allow them some semblance of freedom and watch their lives blossom.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
September 2021
Categories
All
|