Children and Work

I started worked during the summer when I was 15. Then I had a job during the school year when I was 17. I did not work long hours. I only worked 4 hours every Wednesdays and 5 and half hours every other Saturday. I worked at the local public library. I put away books, and checked in and out books. It was a great job I really enjoyed the people I worked with and the environment I worked in. I worked during school to have a little bit of spending money. I didn’t really need to work when I was in school, but the hours where great, the schedule was flexible, I worked with nice people, so I decided why not. I think working while still in school is not always a good thing, because sometimes children work too much and that distracts them from their school work. Some of my friends worked after school from 10-11 at night. They had no time for homework and were extremely tired during school. I think school needs to be a priority when you are in school and their parents should be supportive of that. I do understand that some children and teens need to work, because of their family situation. I thought it was interesting that the article ``Child Labor and Education`` came up with different options for helping children combine work and school more easily by having more flexible hours for students work schedule, and having course content more relevant to the lives of working children. This made me think of scheduling at a college or university level. Some college or university student’s work and work around their school schedule. I think maybe with children having to work so young it is taking away from their childhood and there education. I do think work does help teach children responsibly, but school does that also, as they have to learn to get their homework done on time and study for a test coming up. The purpose for school is to get children ready for their future life, which would hopefully be some type of job, so schooling should improve their work ethic and should help them be a well-rounded human being.

Children and Advertising

Advertising is still very much geared to children and teens today. They are not as gender stereotyped as they were in the 1950-1970’s, but they still have commercials and products that are geared to a specific gender, because we still have those gender roles. There now are both boys and girls in the commercial rather than just boys talking, but that is how it was in the 1950-1970`s. Advertising impacted my own childhood, as they were catchy and I always wanted the latest thing I saw on T.V. I remember when Christmas was coming up there was several commercials that advertised to me like dolls and other toys. I remember asking my parents for the toy I just saw. I also remember seeing McDonald commercials wanting to go there to get the latest toy that come with the “Happy Meal”. I think peer pressure still influences me on what things I want to buy. I still want to fit in and have the latest thing my friends have, but on the other hand it is not as big of a deal if I cannot get it. I do not pay a lot of attention to advertising but I do want the same things my peers have. For example all my friends have I-phones and I really want one, but I can’t afford one right now. I don’t need an I-phone but I want one because it is the latest thing and everyone else has one. I think that maybe the biggest influence on what kids want is from peer pressure and fitting in with their friends, as every child wants to fit in and if they have the same products their friends have they will feel like they fit in and belong.  

My Childhood Event

In class today we were asked to think of a key event that has shaped who we’ve become. This was a very hard question for me, because it is hard to think of one event that shaped who I am. I kept thinking of my family situation that is different from everyone else’s so that shaped who I am and I identify with that, which is my older brother, Eric is autistic. This really has shaped who I am, but I grew with is all my life, so I tried to think of a specific event that kind of showed how this shaped me as a person, so here is my story:

Since, my older brother, Eric is autistic it was hard to have friends over, because they didn’t understand why Eric acted the way he did, but I still wanted and tried to have friends over. I remember one day my mom was driving Eric, my sister, Jill, my friend and I somewhere and Eric started to talk to my friend about a T.V. show he liked, but she didn’t know how to respond to Eric, so I tried to relate it to something that my friend liked. Later that night my mom said she was proud of me because I related “Eric’s world” to “our world”. At the time my parents were having problems with Eric’s aid and she said that is what Eric’s aids should do and she was so proud of me because I could do it and I was only 10. I was so happy that my mom said this I actually wanted to be Eric’s aid, because I thought I was so good. I think my family situation shaped who I am immensely and influenced me to want to be a special needs teacher.           

Looking at this as a “historical document” and thinking if I told this story as a 10 year old I think it would be told obviously a little differently. When I was 10 I wanted to fit in, I didn’t want to be different than my friends. Now that I am older I accepted that every family is different and every family has their own challenges to overcome as a family. I think I remember this event so vitally because my mom said she was proud of me and that meant a lot to me.   

A picture of my Brother, Eric, my sister Jill and I



Shyness

I thought the film “Shyness” that we watched in class the other day was very interesting. Even though it was very out dated, it made me think of reasons why children are shy. It also made me think of myself as I was a very shy, quiet child and when I was in grade 4 my parents put me in drama class after school as my teacher thought it would help me speak out more in class and be more outgoing. I really enjoyed drama class but I did not help me be more talkative in class. I think this is because some kids are intimidated in a classroom setting. I think I was too afraid to be judge and wrong in front of my peers and my teacher. When I was in drama class I wasn’t afraid to be wrong because it was a fun, safe, judge free setting. I think some teachers do not provide a save setting were children won’t be judged, so they are afraid to speak out in class. In the film “Shyness” Anna was seen as there was something wrong with her because she was shy and insecure. They also blamed her mother for her insecurities because her mom was very strict on Anna. I think on to some level this is true, because Anna didn’t want to disappoint her mother so she shied away from things. In the instance of cousin Francize being too shy that there must be something wrong with her is ridiculous. I do think that sometimes shyness may hinder people from many opportunities but it does not hinder people from having a completely normal life. Shyness is normal everyone has probably felt shy sometime in their life. Some people are just shier than others but this does not mean that they cannot experience and do the same things than a very outgoing person.       

Overdose

We watched a little clip call “Overdose” in class. It was about a family who put their child in a lot of extracurricular activities and wanted the best for their child, but the child was exhausted and did not look like he enjoyed anything he was doing. I think many families in our society are like this today. Parents want the best for their child and want them to experience everything they can, but if the child does not enjoy the activities it is not worth the time and money. I think it is great if kids are able to experience all the activities that are out there, but then the child should decide what they like to do and the parents should support that decision. When the child in young they should be able to experience several activities so they can decide what they like or do not like, but once the child is older they should go in less activities, as they start to figure out what they really enjoy.  

How much children should be listened to

We were asked in class to answer the questions how much do you observe children being listened to today? And how much should they be listened to? I decided I would elaborate on this idea more in my blog.

I think it depends on the family and their situation on how much the parents listen to their children. If the family is well off then the child may get everything they ask for. Even though the parents are listening to the child, as to what they want this is not necessarily what is best for them, so in this case children should not be listened to all the time. I think in today`s society child may be listened to too much if they get everything they want, because the parents are too busy with other things like work. Before mothers started to work outside the family children may have been listened to in the way they feel a lot more because their mom was always there to listen and care for them, that was the mother’s job. My mom was a stay at home mom and I feel I was listened to, but probably because she was always there to listen to me and support me. She was not away working so I was able to talk to her whenever I wanted. If I wanted to talk to her during school I could just phone her at home, where other kids couldn’t phone their parents because they were at work. On the other hand I was not given every little thing I wanted, where children with two income families may have been. A parent needs to listen to the child`s thoughts and feelings. They need to let them be creative and their individual self, but not spoil them. A parent should also care and show the child respect by listening to the child. The parent needs to listen to the child and the child needs to listen to the parent.