Do Our Children have a Rich Environment for Development?
Is it enough to…
- Provide your child with good nutrition?
- Hire a baby sitter to take care of your child?
- Send your child to the best schools?
- Hire a private teacher to work with your child after school?
- Make sure that your child has good friends to play with?
- Give your child enough toys, computer etc… to play with?
Or is there any thing else you can do for your child’s development?
I came to write this article when I was thinking about my own childhood…
When I was a child, I had freedom
When I was a child, I did not have all those toys which today’s children have ! I even had much less than what my peers had at that time. But I had freedom!
I had the freedom to play with sand, trees, animals and with other children who were younger or older than me. The day for us was unlimited from morning to night, just go around and play on our own. From a very early stage up to the age of 14, I had almost complete freedom to do what I liked.
I used to go to school by myself, while most of my friends had their parents or a coach waiting to fetch them after school. Every day in spring, winter, summer and autumn, I used to spent 30 minutes walking from home to school while singing with the birds. After coming back from school and having some home-made food, I used to go to the garden to explore nature, sitting on trees and eating very big peaches fresh off the trees.
We used to play hide and seek with other children, run around till the evening and then we watched T.V programs for children in the evening. These programs were for only an hour and I still remember the characters of those cartoons.
Creativity
I used to create a lot of stuff with wood, pins, stones, shells and paint. Sometimes, there was nobody to admire my work! But I enjoyed what I made with my own hands.
Once I made a T.V with an empty box of matches, some drawings and glue. I could show different stories by painting them and rolling them around on pieces of wood. When I turned the wood from one side to the other, pictures appeared one after another; my T.V had no sound!
I was a free child on the earth and I think that’s why I have a free spirit. Maybe that is why I have creative ideas all the time. I always learn something new about life by being open.
Our Children
Now, if I compare my childhood with that of our children, many children nowadays would be cared for by a babysitter. They will have the best possible education and teachers.They have all kinds of toys and distractions; computer games, extra curricular activities and extra tution takes up majority of their time.
But they have little interaction with their busy parents. They also have limited freedom to spend time on their own exploring by themselves. They also have less natural environments to play and explore. Their natural curiosity and creativity may be suppressed by too much control and the structured curriculum in schools. In the end, they will become adults with very little connection to nature and people.
The children of the future may become individuals indifferent about the beauty of life.
What is your opinion about children of our modern society? How important is the role of a rich environment and natural stimulation for development of our children.
Do share with me your thoughts.