How to Raise Happy Children
How to Raise Happy Children
Anonim

The child development and parenting section of the bookstore is now more like the breeding section of botany: you can choose which child you want to raise - smart, healthy, vegetarian, gluten-free, no bad habits, and so on and so forth. like that. And if earlier a child was happiness and it was a natural continuation of the family, now they are preparing to replenish the family as if it were a flight to Mars. It's stress, it's panic and fear. And this is wrong! Writer Jennifer Senior, the mother of a six-year-old son, offers her version of "parental anxiety" in her TED talk.

How to Stop Worrying and Raise Happy Children
How to Stop Worrying and Raise Happy Children

Now the section in the bookstore devoted to the development and education of the child is more like the breeding section in botany: you can choose which child you want to raise - smart, healthy, vegetarian, gluten-free, no bad habits, and so on and so forth. … We no longer want just children, we want young geniuses who, from the age of three, will program, speak at least three languages, read, write, and God knows what else to do. And if earlier a child was happiness and it was a natural continuation of the family, now they are preparing to replenish the family as if it were a flight to Mars. It's stress, it's panic and fear. And this is wrong!

Writer Jennifer Senior, the mom of a six-year-old son, offers her version of "parental anxiety" in her TED talk.

Story # 1. When my son was almost two years old, I stood with a stroller next to a magazine stand and looked at children's magazines. Literally a few minutes later, my contemplation was interrupted by a question from an elderly lady who was interested in what I was watching and which magazine my child liked. I replied that it was for developmental activities. And then the lady suffered. And what? But as? How old is your baby? And what does he already know? But my grandson is almost the same age and already knows the letters! And so on and so forth … Since this lady was no longer the first who pestered me with such questions and advice regarding the education of my child, I could not resist the second question about what he can do without thinking too much, replied that she calmly counts to 10, knows not only the Russian and English alphabets, but can already read short words. This was followed by a pause, bulging eyes and a hasty removal of the lady, muttering under her breath that Allochka had missed something and had to catch up. Considering that she believed what I blurted out without thinking, I do not envy this child.

Story number 2. In my son's group there was a wonderful girl Mashenka, who was in time everywhere: to dance, to music, and to preparatory classes for school. Masha was put forward at all holidays, and the director of our preschool every time made eulogies in honor of Masha and her grandmother. Masha smiled strainedly every time, clenching her teeth, and played her role, and then arranged tantrums and strikes, threw toys at her mother (she did not risk throwing at her grandmother, since both Masha and her mother were afraid of her). And if at first we didn't really love Masha, then after observing these scenes for a year and getting to know her mother and grandmother better, we began to sympathize with her. Will Mashenka grow up to be a smart girl? Undoubtedly. Will she be happy? Now that's another question.

There are quite a few such stories - walking with a child on the playground and communicating with parents from a kindergarten for four years, and you will not hear such things. I just would like us to stop going crazy and do what our parental heart feels, and does not require society.

[ted id = 1974 lang = ru]

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