A month ago, a dear friend asked me a favor if I could spare some time helping her out with her school project. Given so little time to do it, I was afraid I might not be able to finish on time so I refused to accept it. But, good Lord, the deadline was extended to few more days! Haha. I don't know if I made a crystal clear piece. I just thought it's worth seeing and....... sharing? Haha. So here...You might want to read! ;)
An American writer
named James Arthur Baldwin once quoted, “Children
have never been good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed
to imitate them.” It is quite a contradicting
statement that triggers your brain cells and you start to contemplate what does
that mean. You begin to figure out sort of things and try to put yourself in
the picture and there, it rings a bell! It’s definitely quite a fact and I am
certain that most children could attest to it with their own stories. And as a
part of the growing population of children in the whole world, based on my
experience and observations, I listed few potential factors or reasons to
consider why do this happen.
First possible factor is the big difference of children’s auditory capability
and their visual capacity towards something. Whether it is good or bad, what
they hear sometimes doesn’t directly affect their way of thinking and behavior
not unless they have an actual visual sense in it and out of curiosity they
decide to try it. For example, a parent tries to preach his or her child not to
smoke because it is a bad deed. But there is an instance that the child saw the
parent puffing a cigarette stick. The child then began to have a subconscious
mind. This is where the process of thinking of not doing it but afterwards
automatically deciding to do the act occurs.
Another one good reason to consider is that children of yesteryears and of
today are far different from each other. I believe so that children way back
are more attentive on what their elders say. They are more disciplined. They
obey easily. They are more respectful. They always listen to what their elders
say. It is like one word is enough for the children to know that something
might harm or benefit them. Compared to most of the children today, they
intentionally neglect their elders’ order. They break the rules. They don’t
mind what consequences will occur with their decisions and actions. They argue
with their elders to prove their point even if it is wrong. To top it all, they
do what they want to do and there’s nothing that can stop them from doing it.
Peer pressure could also be one of the factors especially when in school. You
get surrounded by different individuals with different personalities. These
individuals are categorized with two groups. First group consist of the good
schoolmates that will encourage you to be part of their nerdy way of school living.
You got to be influenced on being a time table person. You go to school on
time, you study hard, you kind of become the teacher’s pet, you have the
potential to be a good leader and you go home on time. Meaning, you’re
definitely a good epitome to other students. But sometimes, you can’t get away
with the more influential group that will definitely change your views towards
a particular matter, change your attitude, behavior and values. You were
convinced to join their group because you think you become cooler, you think
you can establish a stronger reputation and you can earn more respect from the
lowerclassmen. From being a non-conformist you become a conformist.
Lastly, I think the power of mass media has it all. Every day, children are
exposed to different types of medium of communication. We have the television,
radio, films, newspapers, magazines, billboards, print advertisements,
commercials, gadgets and especially now that we have the internet. As much as
parents would want to teach and guide their children on what is factual or
fictional and harmful or beneficial, these forms of media has really a big
percentage on influencing their children. Elders telling children the right
time to do something won’t stop them from doing it because of these. There are
a lot of innovations of technologies right now and the birth of social media is
already rampant and addictive. Therefore, children also increase their
knowledge from social atmosphere. That is why it is really hard now to tell children
what they ought to do and what not to do. They are wiser now and depriving them
is not at all a good idea especially when they see their elders utilizing any
of these forms of communication.
Children are born with their own free will. The free will to choose and decide
things for them even though they have to go beyond their limit and out of their
control. The free will to listen and obey. The free will not to listen and
disobey. The free will whether to imitate or not to imitate good or bad things.
And the free will to fail and later on learn their lessons.
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