Let the Child Speak
We live in a world shaped by the smallest of actions and which future is decided only upon those who choose to make a difference. This is the world where the bold strive, the innovative succeed, and the open-minded lead. If this is the world where risks are worth taking, then have we not taken the leap? What can you even accomplish with those silly dreams of yours? I brought you to this world, I will tell you what to do.
Listen to me; you’re going to take this degree because I don’t want you to end up having a life you will regret! These are the words that continue to shake the hearts and minds of the youth who wanted their future to be different from those planned out and made by their parents. Practicality has led us to believe that there are only certain ways on achieving success. We shun the capabilities of the motivation and passion that our children have when it came to real-life situations. We fail to see their potential when we compare the hobbies they enjoy to jobs that give a high pay. Why do we not take the time looking through these situations with their eyes? This is a message to the parents, some of the hardest people to please. You were once like us, full of hope and aspiration. We are the kids who find joy in making art, doing things differently, and playing games. Childish to you it may sound, but were you not like that? It is hard for us to cope with the demands of the world when it came to only what we can do. Our limits are being forcibly stretched and our desires become shaped to fit yours. We had to turn our heads away to what we are good at to face the attributes you deem useful. We have dreams we strive for and passions we dedicate our lives for. Were you never like that? There are people who have the most creative minds talking through phones in call centers or following arrogant bosses around to ensure a decent income. There are kids who have the goal to start their own business but not have the moral support and assistance of their parents. There are so many teenagers who have been considered useless when most of their time is put into playing videogames when there are so many people who get paid for doing the same thing and so many industries related to this activity. Do you not see the limitations you have put on the youth? We are not saying that adults shouldn’t advise or take charge of their children, because, in all honesty, parents are mostly right, but if we focus on that then we will not get the connection. It will be a
scene where the one with experience dominates that with an opinion. Some adults would have told their side and make their children shut up without taking their perspective into consideration. The youth needs to know that their parents have also been through situations where they too have to decide so that the former can truly understand and take what the latter says with utmost seriousness. To say in the very least, society now is different from how it was when you started out. Time has changed the traits and the wants of this generation. We are no longer bound by colonists and dictator rules, but look at the country, its people held back by their fear of change and casting aside of new age inventions as too ridiculous to imitate. Should a kid really be considered mentally challenged when he missed the mark on a test or couldn’t follow certain formulas to answer problems? Not every person was born with the same IQ or grew up with the interest in math. There is more than one way to be an educated person. If we focus on standards that not everyone can cope with, we make a bar line specifying only the traits and intelligences we deem useful and succeed in doing nothing more than destroy the purpose of having people with each of their unique traits and characteristics. This article is not just concerned about the choices that one makes in his life or those of his children, but also the choices that affect the lives of others and possibly the world as well. Much of our attention came to this article talking mostly about problems, and we know we do not have the right to impose the manner in which one lets their children grow up, but let this be a wakeup call. This might not work for everyone but it will most probably make a change. Talk to your children no matter how old or how different your dreams are. Put your faith unto them or they will lose hope, because who would feel secure when all they know all the blame for failures will be put on them, and who would not feel safe when you have someone behind you ready to accept all your mistakes? Remember, trust is one of the best gifts a parent can give to his child. A child has the potential to do great things. As a student, he can speak for the right of education and his fellow students. As a social being, he has the capacity to reach out to others like him. As a person
living in this generation, he can form groups that prove to be strong forces on this modern landscape. As one of youth, he too has a long life ahead of him, a life that amounts to countless possibilities. And as a human being, he has the right to decide for himself and receive both blessing and punishment from whatever act he makes with the guidance of those who came before him. Of what use is the hope of the future when we do not let the child speak?