Oct 2, 2010

Significance of elevating expectations for children

As I was reading the assigned reading on "the family of the past" it made me think of how our perceptions on children affect they way they behave as well as how we treat people.

One thing I've noticed and have learned is that people adapt and change into the type of individuals others see them as.  For example, you've all encountered spoiled children whether it's family members, friends, or random people at Walmart.  I'm sure you're not the only ones that view the children as spoiled, rotten, burden-some annoyances to the general public.  There's a good chance their parents view and treat their children in that manner and the children thus adhere to the expectations (whether they be little or none) placed on them.

Take another situation.  A young child has a large learning disability where their brain cannot process and analyze information as it should, leaving them in a constant setting of appearing "less intelligent."  In a positive and uplifting environment where encouragement, support, and expectations to do ones best exist, that child will perform at levels exponentially greater than if negative or even no support existed.  True, they may not get the straight As as the brightest children in the class, but they will achieve passing grades typically averaging Bs and possibly a few Cs.  This was the case with my little brother who was diagnosed with a learning disability at a very young age and when examined in high school, doctors were surprised he hadn't dropped out of school because every individual with cases similar and less severe as his had done so.

If parents would change the way they perceive children to a more divine manner, would our world be completely different in twenty years?  Would innovations exponentially grow and would great scholars similar to Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle emerge from communities on a regular basis?  Think of how much better our world would and could be.

1 comment:

Katherine C. said...

This is a really good point. I agree that how people are treated has a huge impact on how they behave, see themselves, etc. In the BYU planner the quote for this week is "Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being." -Goethe

I have thought about this during the week, and the way that we treat people does have a significant influence on them.