“Where does childhood go, to which cities?” We all know these lines of a famous song very well. And, listening to them, we involuntarily let our hearts long for something beautiful and irretrievably lost.
What is childhood for each of us? A fun, carefree time, new discoveries, victories, first disappointments. Paradoxical as it may seem, for some reason, as children, we terribly want to grow up and become independent, and after years we look back with longing with the desire to come back at least for an hour. The reason for this is simple - in childhood, we were full of strength and energy, the desire to live, create, communicate, learn. Fear was unknown to us. We were young, life seemed endless. Over time, growing up, we gain not only the desired freedom, but also a lot of worries, problems, questions. Life no longer seems so careless and rosy, more and more often we think about its meaning and end. Such thoughts are inevitable. That is why sometimes one wants so much to hide from them in a calm and joyful place and again to find his childhood island. Often, parents find him already with their children, frolicking with them. Some are so kind to him that they literally protect the child from everything, forgetting that childhood is, above all, a period of knowledge, learning and development.
It is known that the higher the living creature is located on the evolutionary ladder, the more helpless his cub is born. A human child does not have any ready-made behaviors, such as for artiodactyls, which, just a few minutes after birth, get on their feet and are ready to follow their mother. In addition, scientists have proved that there are practically no differences between a modern child and a newborn who lived several tens of thousands of years ago, despite such different adults from the same different eras. This suggests that growing up and becoming a child completely depends on the environment in which he is and the knowledge that he receives. Everyone knows the facts of feral children living apart from civilization. If such children did not learn human skills until they were 6 years old, subsequently they were practically unable to master speech, conduct conversations and even walk directly.
At birth, the baby really looks like a blank sheet on which you can apply almost anything. And parents skillfully use this, literally stealing childhood from kids, turning them into child prodigies. Yes, we, of course, know examples of stars, athletes, scientists who have achieved tremendous successes thanks to hard work in childhood. However, it is unlikely that any of them would say that such a childhood that he had would have wished for his children.
Today, with the development of psychology, a lot of discussion has arisen on this topic. But until recently, mankind practically did not think about what childhood is. So, in the 19th century, children worked on a par with adults for 14-16 hours, and only at the beginning of the 20th century, with the adoption of the law on the prohibition of child labor, childhood began to regain its present shape. In the modern world, parents are diligently engaged in their children, more and more giving preference to the child’s mental development and letting his physical development drift or even infringing on him. For example, the fact is known that current first-graders get tired much faster at lessons than children of previous generations, due to insufficient physical preparation. Cases of falling children from the crossbars of children's towns have become more frequent due to the lack of the child's necessary grip and undeveloped fine motor skills. The conclusion suggests itself - everything should be in moderation and on time.
We all come from childhood. We know his joys and sorrows, we are ready to give our children all the best, to protect and warn them. But it is important to remember that you cannot return time back, you cannot rewrite history. What is next to you is not just your
child, it is a person with his needs, thoughts and character. Let him fully know what childhood is and enjoy it.