My Expressions

Introduction

As a growing up kid myself, now into my early teens, I have been reflecting a lot on what really makes or breaks the peace and harmony of a child. And I believe this reflection to be of utmost importance,not just for myself but even for the larger world. Simply because, as I have learned, that just like a strong and vibrant family is the building block.of a great society, a peaceful and harmonious child is the building block for a peaceful and harmonious future of our planet.

Disturbers of Peace in ‘Normal’ Childhood

So, my reflections led me to first identify a few factors which can potentially disturb the peace and harmony of a ‘normal’ child, a child who has a normal family, goes to a normal school, has a normal circle of friends & family and so on. And, these factors came out to be :

1) Feeling misunderstood or not understood at all by the near and dear ones. This feeling can pertain to situational misunderstanding or even extend to a feeling of not being understood and appreciated as an overall personality, with one’s unique emotions, aspirations, sensitivities, eccentricities and constraints as well as talents.

2) Feeling confused about oneself and one’s future. The stress of dealing with a fast changing internal as well as external world and, through all this, experiencing uncertainty about what lies ahead that would make one relevant, successful and happy.

3) Academic stress leading to the undue pressures of success and failure. This happens when spontaneous learning and experiencing is suddenly turned into a world of measurements and comparisons.

4) Dispute and conflicts within family leading to a paradigm of non-happy families. A basic loss in the faith that happy and vibrant families can actually exist.

5) Undue pressure of expectations to achieve competitive success in the eyes of the family. Feeling approved or disapproved based on fleeting outcomes of relative success, and then living under constant stress to keep replicating that success for others’ approval.

Peace and Harmony in Extreme Circumstances

Interestingly, my reflections led me to even delve into the world of those unfortunate children, who do not even have a normal childhood. Children whose world of normalcy has been snatched away by the cruel forces of disaster and war, genocide and ethnic conflicts, or even by extreme poverty or abandonment.

To my amazement, the factors that seemed to disturb the peace and harmony of a ‘normal’ child, I found to be present in the lives of even these unfortunate children, only with much greater intensity and severity. Just to put their situation in perspective, I found that these extremity affected children felt their peace and harmon snatched away because they would feel ;

1) Unattended, not understood, neglected and unloved,by a world of adults fighting its own demons of insecurity, fear, hatered, despondency and disease

2) Confused about the entire situation and experiencing zero safety net for one’s survival and basic needs.

3) No academic future or very poor academic facility in their vicinity. On top of it, actual and extreme fear of survival leading to a hugely distracted state of mind.

4) Hopelessness of destruction on the outside and within the family leading to trauma and an overall negative image of the world and one’s future in it.

5) No basis for expectations from near and dear ones, leaving the child feeling useless and purpose less.

Comparative Analysis of Childhood Disruptions

You see?! The basic principles being violated are the same for a child, just that their severity is very high for those affected by diastaer, conflict, poverty and abandonment. Which actually led me to compile a twin template of building a life of peace and harmony for children, may be implemented differently for normal children as compared to the extremity affected ones, but the core principles remain the same. And these are, as I call them:

“Enablers to a peaceful and harmonious childhood, and therefor, to a vibrantly purposeful future of our planet”:

1) Making every child feel understood, loved and attended to. Create space for every child to be their unique self.. Within this loving space of understanding, children happily accept guidance and instructions too.

2) Providing them with a safety and security net to play, learn, explore and live their unique potential.

3) Creating a peaceful and harmonious environment within the family as well as outside to create a sense of positivity.

4) Providing children with a feeling of usefulness, relevance and purposefulness. Children love positive expectations of their loved ones. Just don’t turn them into undue pressure.

Conclusion

So, as I said right in the beginning, my reflections lead me to believe that the pathway to a peaceful and harmonious future of our planet goes through the spaces of peaceful and harmonious families nurturing vibrantly purposeful future adults in the hearts of loved, understood, secured and inspired children.

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