Sunday, November 24, 2013

THOUGHTS FROM ITALY

For the next couple of months I'm in Italy and will be working off my phone so I hope to simply put up thoughts to do with parenting as we move around. 
We started our fantastic 10 weeks in Italy in Milan. I would love to have put up a photo of the Duomo in the rain which is how we saw it, but I can't get my images onto my blog- Ill hopefully work it out.
In the early evening in Milan there is a television program each night which 3 adults host. It seems to have a regular group of children who form a choir - excellent standard - and a guest child performer. We could not understand what was said or sung but there was voting and scores given on each performance by a group of children. The atmosphere was extremely loving and positive, not artificial in any way. Both the material the children sang and their presentation was completely appropriate for children - there was no hint of children attempting to present themselves as adults or teenagers - they happily were children.
We kept thinking such a program would never be put on television at home, in New Zealand, and certainly never in a early evening, family, major viewing time slot. 
LESSONS to think about -
1. Children need to see examples of children happily being children.
2. Children need to see public examples of adults commending and responding lovingly to children.
3. Our society needs to honour childhood by putting positive models of it in public places, such as major viewing times on television.
THISWEEKWITHKIDS- have a search for a normal public presentation of childhood and enjoy listening or watching it as a family. 
Cathy

No comments:

Post a Comment