Participatory Decision Making
As a youth, were you given opportunities to learn how to make good decisions? By this, I mean knowing how to evaluate the pros and cons of each available option, and the effects of these options on others, before making your decision. I also mean knowing how to select a good alternative, should your chosen plan fail.
Such skills are important for youth to practice. Yet many parents and educators fail to regularly give today's youth these opportunities.
Parents and classroom teachers should engage youth in making decisions about their learning, classroom procedures, and their behavior and its consequences. In schools, student-elected policy councils could meet periodically with the principal to participate in decision making regarding the school's overall administration. At home, weekly meetings between family members could engage children in deciding how the family will operate, especially with respect to actions that directly affect those children.
Research has shown that when youth in home and at school are allowed to participate in making decisions about their life, they are more responsible for themselves and their learning than are youth who have decisions about their life made for them by others. Guess what else happens? They become better decision makers.
Advocates for Children in Family Court
Decisions made in family court that affect the life of the
young child, but that are not based on well-researched theories
of psycho-social development, such as attachment theory, hurt
the very validity of the court. These decisions also can result
in short- or even long-term psychological damage to the individual.
In
many states, young children do not have legal representation
of their own. Every child should have the right to have his
or her developmental needs fully described in court. That child’s
unique life history must be understood if informed decisions
are to be made on his or her behalf, and appropriate parenting
plans created. This requires an understanding of the research as well as of the
individual child. It cannot be accomplished by lawyers alone. Children also need
advocates who understand developmental theory and research, and their particular
needs.
When evaluating a parenting plan, toddlers and preschoolers
have the ability to indicate how well it is working. Even nonverbal
infants can express their needs in a subtle manner. Advocates
are essential at this stage, as well, to let the court know
if the plan is working. When will this vital process become
standard in the family court system? It seems we have a long
road to travel.
Teaching Children to Become Democratic Citizens
As US citizens, we pride ourselves on being part of a democracy. However, what is the best way, as adults, to help our children and adolescents gain the skills to become competent in the practice of being democratic citizens?
In both home and school, we teach children how fine a political system democracy is. We talk about how much better it is to have personal freedoms than to live under dictatorship or authoritarianism. We examine the lives of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln, and others. Yet we often fail to give our youth the attitudes, skills, and practice they need to become thoughtful and competent decision makers. For the most part, neither our homes nor schools have as a prominent goal the creation of skilled choice makers and skilled democratic citizens.
How can we expect our democracy to survive when, for the most part, parents and teachers not only fall short in educating youth to be skilled choice makers, but continue to model for youth largely authoritarian interpersonal and political styles? The message too many parents and teachers give the next generation is that true power is earned and maintained through authoritarian control, rather than democratic means. As a result, our democracy will be at risk until our homes and schools realize it is time for a change.
Encouraging Children to be Curious
Children, by nature, are full of verbal and nonverbal questions.
Often, adults provide answers to these questions instead of
encouraging young children and youth to find out on their own.
Research has shown this practice can have a deleterious effect
on a child’s motivation to learn. It causes children to cease wondering and asking questions. It inhibits their exploration and discovery, and stops them from developing the skills of critical thinking. However, adults continue to do it. Adults—parents and teachers—continue to be didactic when they could encourage children and adolescents to be more curious and thoughtful.
What strong need(s) do we have as adults that drive us to squelch
curiosity in a child, even if that’s not our true intention? If you think you might do this, I suggest you look inside yourself and examine why. Whatever the reason, make the effort to stop yourself from automatically giving answers to children and instead create ways to show them how to find their own answers. When you do this, not only will your children benefit, but—and this may come as a surprise— you
will enhance your own curiosity and ability to take risks and
learn something new.
Most Parents Aren't Given Accurate Child-rearing Information
Do parents get all the information they need to raise their
children? Think about it. Most research about child development
and child rearing in the US is reported in English. Few parents
read the academic journals that publish it. Some parents read
parenting magazines. However, most of these magazines don't
adequately report the research. Parents who do have the time
to read tend to be middle class and speak English. Does the
empirical research about the growth and development of children
and adolescents reach the vast majority of parents? The answer
is a resounding NO.
Perhaps the biggest mistake made by those competent in the
fields of human development and parenting is relying on the
written word. Why not create short videos or songs about child
rearing that are sensitive to parents' ethnic, social, cultural,
and language preferences? Consider the value of songs developed
with parents, sung by kids and parents, for kids and parents.
If we think outside the box, music is a powerful way to reach
all segments of our population about the most important task
of adulthood—sensitive, loving, responsive parenting. These efforts
could light a beacon that would shine throughout the world. Peace
between nations, after all, to a great extent is determined by
how each nation raises its children.
