Is there anyone who doesn’t like a small child? Is there anyone who doesn’t want to hug or play with a small child? Unlike adults, a child does not apply cosmetics, or wear false eyelashes, or add extensions to the hair. But everyone likes children.So, it is not the physical appearance of children that attracts the attention of people. Then what does?
Children are loved by all and it goes beyond their beauty. The first quality that a child acquires by birth is its innocent mind. Whether born in Britain, America, South Africa, Central Africa, India, Singapore, or China, children possess innocent minds. It is this innocent mind that gets them loved by all. Even out of enmity, rarely do people kill an innocent child. Often innocent children have been able to change the cruel behaviour of people.
Therefore, an innocent child has another quality by birth and that is to love. A child loves to be in happiness with anyone who loves him or her. The third quality is the child’s ability to explore for excitement. You can see a child going around, picking everything he or she sees, touching it, and biting things. Children perform such actions because they have the inner quality of exploring whatever they come across. That is a great quality of a child which nobody teaches him or her.
So, beyond the quality of innocence, beyond the quality of love, and beyond the quality of exploration; children are truthful. They don’t lie. They are embodiments of truth.
When people remark that children are as good as god, what happens to them when they become adult?Where do the god-like good qualities go? Where does the quality of innocence go? Where does the quality of love go? Where does the quality of truthfulness go? Where does the quality of self-exploration go? Why are enemies born?
When a child enters a school at the age of three or four years, he or she comes in with the positive qualities of innocence, love, truthfulness, and self-exploration. But what happens to the child in the school? Children undergo transformation for the betterment of the world.But care must be taken to treat children as children and not to teach them negative qualities.
Educators should never compromise on treating children as children. They should not be ranked or hated, but instead should experience love. Let children learn like children. They love to listen to everything we speak. Whatever teachers speak is like message from God. So educators must be careful about what they speak. Even parents must be watchful about what they speak. We must remember that children listen carefully to what is being said and will try to imitate the elders.
Thus, it is a huge responsibility of every school to ensure that children are exposed to good things of enriching themselves such as the good things of learning, the good things they see, the good things they hear, and the good things they feel, touch and smell.Thus, children need to see, listen, and experience good things that will shape their innocence, knowledge, and happiness and will keep them on the path of truth and encourage them to respond without fear.
Unless schools help children in developing the positive qualities, the learning progression will never happen. Every school should make an effort to help children behave like children and learn as children.
