We Shape The Future... Kids!
Do you ever realize how often we pass down wrong values to younger generation?
Picture this scenario: Two children about two years of age, along with their parents are at an event playing. Suddenly, one child spanks the other. He screams out and reach out to its mother. The woman asked, "Who beat you?". He points at the other kid, still in tears. "Beat him back", the mother urges. The child hesitates, out of fear or whatever reason. "Beat him", the mother insists. The child walks back to the other toddler and smacks him lightly. "Beat him well", the mother roars. The child spanks the confused toddler again. He lets out a scream. The mother and child, with an air of triumph, walk off. Justice has been served!.
This scenario occurs more than once everyday. Children are taught that for every wrong done to them, there should be a retaliation. To get even. To pay back.
Some children are rarely taught to say sorry. To forgive even when sorry isn't offered. To move on. Or to make up. No, we teach them to pay evil for evil.
I once watched my cousin's kids hit each other while still crying. I said nothing. They had annoyed me so much that I just allowed them sweat it out. But I was wrong. I could have done something. I should have taught them that there are better ways to reach an agreement without having to throw punches. I missed out on an important occasion to teach them how to handle conflicts.
Yes, no parent intentionally wants to pass down wrong values to their children, and yet, they do. Parents and other adults should be on alert, making sure they don't indirectly teach children to become dispassionate, violent and unforgiving.
From the above scenario, the child who smacked his friend first would have been encouraged to say sorry, hug his friend and wipe his tear and promise never to hurt him again. The second child would have been encouraged to accept the apology and hug and move on. That would have spared both party the bad blood that comes with retaliation.
It's every parents right to raise their children in the way they deem fit, but it's everyone's responsibility to train a child in the right way, because some of the things we do as adults, we learned them from Infancy.