Monday 7 April 2014

Childhood and Parenting

Lately I've been reading some great articles about parenting and childhood. Of course, as a new parent, I want to be perfect in my parenting style, but I know that this is practically impossible :). I am interested, however, in reading up on the different styles and figuring out what might work for me. I'm going to put up a few links about some articles that I've really loved and want to share with all of you.





Although I'm convinced there isn't one perfect way to parent kids (because all kids are different), I do think that I am trending towards a more "old fashioned" style of parenting. As the first article states:  
One common concern of parents these days is that children grow up too fast. But sometimes it seems as if children don’t get the space to grow up at all; they just become adept at mimicking the habits of adulthood. As Hart’s research shows, children used to gradually take on responsibilities, year by year. They crossed the road, went to the store; eventually some of them got small neighborhood jobs. Their pride was wrapped up in competence and independence, which grew as they tried and mastered activities they hadn’t known how to do the previous year. But these days, middle-class children, at least, skip these milestones. They spend a lot of time in the company of adults, so they can talk and think like them, but they never build up the confidence to be truly independent and self-reliant.
This really resonates with my sense of how a child should be raised. The problem is how to connect and mesh the freedom of the "old days" with the social boundaries of today's society. I love the idea of my daughter experiencing the freedom that being outside and free can give her. I want her to find joy in just being a child rather than us having to make her childhood wonderful with extravagant parties and activities every second of the day. I want her to explore and wonder and just be a kid.

It's definitely something to ponder as Brynn grows and develops. I'm always interested in hearing others' opinions and reading more articles on the subject.

What do you think?

1 comment:

  1. I like these articles; so much so that I want to put a bathtub in my backyard! Brynn can come play with her cousins!

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