Lifestyle & Health

6 ways to raise the type of children who will save the world

Given that our culture is dominated by death, devastation, and violence, how can you actively teach your kids acceptance, peace, and a global perspective?

From birth, children are loveable, inquisitive, joyful, and innocent. It is important to instill in a youngster the hatred, guilt, and condemnation of those who do not resemble or think like them. With their children right behind them as reinforcements hoping to protect their future, parents are the ones saving the world.

The battles we witness in the news are becoming real-life battlegrounds in our public areas, with skirmishes spilling over into schools. Having worked for many years as a therapist, I think there is hope for the future.

The first step in creating a new vision for the world is acknowledging that we have failed to provide a safe environment for children. However, we have to turn this idea become a reality. Our kids should be able to grow up in a world free of fatal drone strikes, active shooter drills, and invasion threats.

6 ways to raise the type of children who will save the world

A few ways parents can help their children grow into peaceful, humanitarian adults

1. Empower children to create a better future.

We persistently tell our children the future of the planet and our country is theirs. We have admitted failure here, passing it on to them. Our failure cannot be the end of the story.

While we feel powerless to affect their future, we can empower them to make a difference for themselves and their yet-to-be-conceived children to create a new future.

I doubt many parents intend to sit down with their children and teach hate and violence. Children learn to hate the atmosphere in which they live. That atmosphere starts in the family home with direct expressions to the children, in parents’ off-the-cuff reactions and pontifications, and how they respond to their children’s questions, peer problems, and the media they consume. Social media affects children, but parents are not powerless in limiting what and how much is allowed.

2. Know how the choices we make shape our kids.

The state, city, and neighborhood parents choose (or are stuck in) also have an effect. Your children’s peers also influence their values and attitudes, but it’s also true your children can influence their peers. That skill has to be actively taught because children who grow up in a hateful family are harmed, angry, and reactive with their peers, which begins at an early age. So, we have to provide alternative views.

Children, especially before the ages of 7-10, are sponges. They hear and know everything that goes on in their homes. We must create a healthy, loving, tolerant atmosphere. We can’t be perfect, but we can catch ourselves reacting poorly to kids and others. When we do, we can make amends and use our errors as a teaching opportunity.

3. Utilize active listening to lead by example.

The first two jobs of all parents are to provide a safe and nurturing atmosphere and to know that we must actively teach values, attitudes, and a willingness to listen to others. Listening is not the same as hearing. Pausing our speaking when a child says something conveys interest and clarity that we are interacting as two humans.

Parents often chastise a child for not listening when we mean they are not obeying. Likewise, children get upset when we don’t give them what they want, like a gift, a privilege, or a choice. That’s their version of a parent not obeying.

Children are not fluent in their language for many years after birth and don’t have the language skills to convey their thoughts coherently. We must help them by modeling active listening. When my son was about 8 or 9, he was upset with me for not agreeing to something. As his emotions rose, his speech became more confusing to me. Instead of raising my voice or continuing to talk over him, I stopped, stayed face-to-face with him, and focused on listening.

That focus without any nonverbal contradictions to listening resulted in him calming down. As he became calmer and with me not interrupting, he pulled his speech together to make his expression of need more coherent. When I understood what he was saying, I said, “Oh. I get it.” Now, more than twenty years later, neither of us remembers the subject, but we both remember the “Oh” moment. And neither of us remembers if he got what he wanted.

4. Become active and intentional about guiding children.

We can be active and intentional in teaching and encouraging our children’s natural loving, curious, and playful ways of being.

First, pay attention to what’s happening with the kids when they are not directly in front of you. Catch them being themselves. You’ll learn a lot.

Second, ask questions with interest and curiosity. Children don’t know the word “rhetorical,” but they know when a question is not a question and is a criticism or reaction. Kids are sensitive to “Why” questions. When a parent asks, “Why did you track mud all over the floor?” They know the parent is not asking for information or even an explanation; they know the sentence means “Don’t…” or “That was bad” or “I’m mad”.

The Greek philosopher and teacher Socrates taught not by lecture or direction but by questions designed to open a student’s mind to possibilities, wonder, and curiosity. Socratic questions have no obvious correct answer and are not aimed at leading or shaping. Therefore, they are not close-ended nor insincere. They often start with “how,” “what,” or “when” but can even start with “why” when the intent is seeking information or knowledge.

5. Teach acceptance and love in this culture of pervasive violence.

“What do you think when you see those videos of bombing or starvation?” “How did you feel when that girl said that? What do you think she was feeling or thinking?” Even “Why do you think people get angry and hurt other people?” “What could we do differently?” These questions help teach children you care about what they think and feel.

6. Help children develop non-violent and empowering habits

If you are not in the habit of talking to your kids like this, be aware they may feel uncertain or suspicious. It may seem strange for a parent not to have an agenda, and you may need to persist with the question to demonstrate interest.

Akosua Boatemaa

I'm Yours Truly, Blogger Akosua Boatemaa. I'm here to feed Your eyes and Ears with Authentic News Updates.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button

Adblock Detected

Please turn off your Ads Blocker to better serve you and provide you with the best.