WHAT CHILDREN KNOW ... part 1

In our western culture, it is assumed that children are blank slates…knowing nothing…

needing to be taught everything. 

This belief is unquestionably accepted.  It has been that way forever in our minds. 
Children must be taught how to think, speak and act.  The parents take credit for everything. 
Credit and blame…
On the other hand, some parents secretly wonder about these little persons they have given
seed and birth to…
Why they are so different in temperament, style, giftedness, ambitions…
Why they are so hard to control, tame, imprint…


For instance, more and more children are labeled ‘hyperactive’
or  ‘autistic’…preferring not to communicate and connect with their parents.
Many of these children are busy in an inner world of their own. 
They create tough boundaries.
And what happens?  Parents, who only recognize their mundane reality, become worried.
‘There must be something wrong with my child.  They’re not Normal!’  
THEY expect and want to be the center of that child’s attention.
‘That’s the way it’s SUPPOSED to be!!’, they reason.
If they are not that center of attention, a struggle of wills follows.


Few adults stop to think that something more important might be going on with the child.
The over culture is quick to condemn all behavior that lies outside a narrow band
of expected responses.
Anything outside the norm is labeled as defective, an illness, something to treat, to eradicate.  
If the child cannot or will not be easily molded into the image of the dominant or dominating parent, they will be urged, spanked, manipulated, bullied and/or medicated into submission with no regard
for who and what they are or for their innate sense of what is right for them.

In our heavy-handed way we continue to duplicate the mistakes of our parents, grandparents and culture.

These remarks concern every child, not just those burdened with these awful labels.
When too much has been laid on the child it will find ways to conform. 

The child’s true nature and identity may go into hiding for survival’s sake. 

A persona or false personality may develop.  In fact, many personas or masks will be created along life’s way.  One for mommy, another for daddy, one for the mean big brother or sister.  As time goes on, various masks are fashioned...for our little friends as we learn to “fit in”, personas for our teachers, pastors, first loves, spouses and employers  


There will come a time, however, when the young person cannot stand the pressure of holding its identity in a prison.  Children are by nature truthful about themselves, their feelings, their bodies,
their likes and dislikes, their pain, panic, joy, love, distrust or trust.  In short, they are authentic. 
They are true.