Something has been on my mind lately. Are parents relying to much on others to raise their children for them?
I feel that throughout my readings for my Masters in Montessori education, the government is continually trying to decide what is best and that people are looking to schools (and the government) to raise their children for them. We seem to be so far away from parents wanting and being able to raise their own children. Too often it seems to me like people have children as a commodity (for status, social norms, because they have reached a certain age) and then look to others to raise them! While yes, it does take a village to raise a child, shouldn't the parents be the first and primary educators instead of the school, the nanny, or the government?
As the Cathecism of the Catholic Church beautifully says:
I just heard of a family where the parents are in their fifties and just adopted a child from China. This is awesome but just a few month after adopting him he is in school from 8-4 while his parents work from home. He was in an orphanage for the first 3 years of his life and is most likely experiencing a huge culture shock with little support. I find this to be so sad! Shouldn't he be spending most of his time with his new family getting to know this new and foreign culture?
What do you think? Do parents rely to much on school to raise their children for them? How can we help remedy this?
I feel that throughout my readings for my Masters in Montessori education, the government is continually trying to decide what is best and that people are looking to schools (and the government) to raise their children for them. We seem to be so far away from parents wanting and being able to raise their own children. Too often it seems to me like people have children as a commodity (for status, social norms, because they have reached a certain age) and then look to others to raise them! While yes, it does take a village to raise a child, shouldn't the parents be the first and primary educators instead of the school, the nanny, or the government?
As the Cathecism of the Catholic Church beautifully says:
2223 Parents have the first
responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this
responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness,
respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited
for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in
self–denial, sound judgment, and self–mastery—the preconditions of all true
freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the “material and
instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones.”31 Parents
have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing
how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better
able to guide and correct them: (1804)
http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/
I just heard of a family where the parents are in their fifties and just adopted a child from China. This is awesome but just a few month after adopting him he is in school from 8-4 while his parents work from home. He was in an orphanage for the first 3 years of his life and is most likely experiencing a huge culture shock with little support. I find this to be so sad! Shouldn't he be spending most of his time with his new family getting to know this new and foreign culture?
What do you think? Do parents rely to much on school to raise their children for them? How can we help remedy this?
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