What is the purpose of this…?

Do we often think of what we are really doing while attempting to “help” kids or do we often write it off as “simply for their own good”? Do we take the time to explain the politics of our nation to them, or do we simply impose our views upon the kids. I recently looked at an article titled “Sanitizing Children's Literature” (http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/12/12/14voelker.h32.html?cmp=ENL-EU-SUBCNT), and can you believe someone actually deleted two lines that referenced Santa Claus’ pipe from a poem “Visit from St. Nicholas”, because they hoped it would deter kids from smoking!

 

There is such a thing as too much political correctness (PC), especially when talking to our children. Children are smart and they can see through a lot of our BS (there goes the PC again). How can we teach the history of slavery when are afraid to talk about the history of racial bigotry? How can we teach the history of the world wars when we are afraid to show our children the full horror of war? How can we teach them anything when our own biases are so obviously in the forefront? Do not get me wrong, we do need some standards, but instead of saying, “such and such politician is bad because he does not love his country”, maybe you could clarify to the kids what exactly you mean, where your proof is, and that it is your own opinion.

Have you seen the young children at rallies holding up signs? Whether, you are for or against the issue, those children often cannot even read the sign so perhaps you should talk to them first or wait until they are old enough to understand (just saying). As a parent, I want my children to be better than me, but not a duplicate of me, so we do our best to explain our views or whatever question they ask; it is not easy.

 

Let us make sure what we are doing for kids, is truly for their own good and not just for our good.

 

 

 

Dr Flavius A B Akerele II

The ETeam