Money and Childhood

Today in our in class activity we discussed the statement: “It’s bad when families are poor, but if they got off their butts they wouldn’t be in that situation. They got themselves into it, they can get themselves out.” This was just a general statement, but it is an opinion that I think a lot of people hold. I don’t think that it is a fair statement. When we discussed this in small groups, my group thought that we have to consider the situation that a family is in. I think that there are some families that this statement would apply to, especially in North America, and other well developed countries. It does occur in families that they are just too lazy to work for a better life. We also see families that gamble away all of their money, or make bad financial choices that lead them to being poor. While we do see this occurring in some families, I think that the statement is way to general and does not describe every poor family. There are some families who work very hard, but can never seem to pull themselves out of their bad situations. In my group we discussed how difficult it is to move from lower class to middle/upper class. When you are born into a lower class family it will be hard to ever move up to the middle class. Some people may work hard, but if they never had the opportunity to go to college, or get a good job, they will have a hard time making more money. We also talked about the issue on a more global level. There is people in countries like Africa that work all day doing backbreaking labour, and they don’t make any money. The video we watched in class on the chocolate trade really put things in perspective for me. Some of those people, including children, work for nothing in a slave trade. This is an example of a case where people are born into little to no money and won’t have a chance to “get themselves out.” I also think that sometimes life isn’t fair to children. When people have a child and are very poor, the chances of that child getting out of that situation are slim, not that it doesn’t happen. In the video we watched we seen children as young as six years old being taken away from their families to work as slaves in the chocolate trade. So I think that this statement doesn’t consider all the possibilities, and that when considering why people are poor we need to look at every situation separately.

The Influence of Advertsing in Childhood

In class we have been discussing the role of advertising in children’s lives throughout history. We were left with several questions regarding advertising in children’s lives to ponder at the end of class. The first question was how do we see advertising influencing the lives of children today. I think advertising is a huge part of children’s lives. Children are constantly bombarded with advertising wherever they go. They can’t turn on the tv, walk down the street, or walk in a store without seeing a series of advertisements. Children won’t buy things that they haven’t seen advertisements for, or see movies that they haven’t seen previews for. It affects almost every decision that they make. If they constantly see something being advertised the idea that they have to have it will be more and more ingrained in their minds. Advertising also creates the “cool factor” that kids search for. If something isn’t considered cool kids won’t purchase it and advertisers can decide what’s cool and what’s not. The video that we watched in class called “Merchants of Cool,” we learned that there are even people hired to go out and find the next trend. I also think that over the years advertising has kept on growing and changing. When we were discussing the article “Children and Advertising” in class we discussed that advertising helps to create childhood. I think that this statement is true. It creates a part of childhood that the media wants to promote, “the cool factor,” and makes it desirable for children.  I think that today children are extremely influenced by advertising.

We were also asked to reflect on how advertising affected our own childhood and what lingering influences from advertising remain in your life today. It’s difficult to recall just how much advertising affected my childhood because at the time I wasn’t considering this question. This also demonstrates just how hard it is to study the history of childhood when children don’t often record their voice. I do remember constantly seeing advertising everywhere I went, and it did influence my thinking. I was also, like the vast majority of kids, majorly influenced by the changing trends and the “cool factor” that advertising created. It especially affected the clothes that I would buy; and I remember that the trends would change as quickly as I could start wearing them. This impact of advertising is still present in my life as a young adult, although now I am much less concerned with what is cool. I am more likely to buy something that I like by my standards. But advertising doesn’t disappear in adulthood, I still see it everywhere, and it’s still an ever-present influence in the lives of most adults.

Pivotal Moments in Childhood

Today in class we did an activity where we were asked to document a pivotal moment that we recall from our childhood and write about it. This is what I wrote:

One pivotal moment that I remember from my childhood was meeting my best friend Dalyce. It was in grade six at a camp I went to with my school called camp Goldeye. At the time Dalyce and I weren’t friends yet. I was friends with a couple of other girls, but we got in a fight that day and they were mad at me. I remember lying in my bunk crying because I was so upset that I had no friends. This is when Dalyce came over and invited me up to sit on her bunk and talk. I sat there so long that I ended up falling asleep on her bunk. She is still my best friend today. I chose this as a pivotal moment in my childhood because meeting her changed me. I was a different person before I met her, I was scared to show people who I really was and I was very guarded around other people. She totally changed that aspect of me and I am now a very outgoing person and am not afraid to show people the real me. Dalyce is a big part of who I am today and that is why I chose this story as my pivotal moment.

In class today we talked about how the history of childhood is hard to document because there isn’t much documentation of children’s actual voices. Children don’t often write down their feeling making it hard to study the history of childhood. Things like tv shows directed at children and articles written at the time can only tell us so much about what children were actually thinking at that point in history. This activity was done to demonstrate us writing down the history of childhood. We were also asked to reflect upon how different this moment might have been recorded if I had written about it at the time. I think that it would have been a lot different if I had actually documented it in my childhood. I wouldn’t have realized what a pivotal experience it was. Children also have very different perspectives on things, and they would have very different feelings about situations.

Shyness in Children

We watched a video called “Shyness” in class and although it was outdated and slightly stereotypical I thought it also brought up some valid points and ideas. The video discussed shyness in children, possible reasons for shyness, and possible methods to help shy children. It featured three children who seemed shy. After study it was concluded that one of the children wasn’t in fact shy, he just enjoyed being alone and thrived that way. The second child was found to be very shy, and the third was discovered to have deep routed emotional issues that lead to isolation from others. I think that this was a good way to demonstrate that every child is different and will have different reasons behind their apparent shyness. No child is going to have the same reason for being shy, just like there is no exact method to cure a child of their shyness. I think the video demonstrated some good general ideas that teachers can use to bring a child out of their shyness. Finding activities that the child is interested in and excels in is a starting point. If the child excels in a certain activity they will be more comfortable and comfort can lead to less shyness. Every student will be different, and shyness doesn’t go away overnight, but I think that teachers can help them towards being less shy.  There was one idea that I pulled out of the video that I thought I could apply in my own teaching. That was the idea of having a set time period where the children were able to discuss whatever they wanted. I think that this in small doses would be good for students; it would give them a voice and make them believe that their opinions mattered. It’s a good idea in theory, but it also may not be applicable in today’s society possibly leading to conversations that don’t have any merit. I could possibly test an idea like this in my own classroom.

The amount childre are listened to in todays society.

In class we talked about the degree to which children are listened to in today’s society. I think it varies from family to family and also globally. When you look at a typical middle class parent and child relationship in Canada you see children being listened to almost too much when it comes to things that they want. If a child asks for something, the parent will often give them whatever they want so they don’t have to deal with saying no or being the “bad parent.” I think in these cases children need to be listened to less. If they get everything that they want when they are young it does not prepare them for the real world where they will have to work for everything that they get. On the other hand, when you look at this issue on a global level, you see children in other countries that have no voice at all. These children will never have a chance to express their opinions or wants and needs. I think when it comes to more serious situations, like abuse, and poverty, that this is where we need to start listening to children more. I think that in a lot of cases children can have a valuable opinion, especially as they reach older ages, and they should have the chance to be heard.