A Voice. My opinion. Her opinion.
There have been many incidents over the years that have caused this blog to be written. Two have happened in the last two weeks. We need to wake up and see how our words affect people and how they sound. I thank the Bargain Hunter for giving me a voice.
Let a child give their opinion and the wolves are waiting to pounce
Does being an adult mean we deserve respect? Or does it ultimately have to be earned?
I’m pondering this notion on a hot, sticky July afternoon and I don’t like what I’m discovering. I grew up in a home that taught respect, but not the kind of home where you had to be quiet as a mouse. I’m one of five sisters and a brother and we’re known for all having big opinions.
Really. Very large and loud opinions.
We sometimes have to shout to be heard at family gatherings. We don’t often get into fights, in fact, I don’t really remember many fights at all. There was the typical teenage bickering, but even now as adults we just hash things out over coffee – and more coffee – you know how that goes. Our issues, our kid’s issues, our friend’s issues… on and on it goes. We’re pretty insular and what we hash out in private doesn’t usually make it into the public eye.
It’s just how we roll.
Our kids are often included in these conversations. We value their opinion, and try not to let our strong personalities stop them from expressing their view. They may have to fight to get a word in edgewise, but get a word in they do. How could they not have an opinion growing up with so much talking going on?
My children, of which I have three, are very strong-willed. Their Dad, he of pulsing Aztec blood, never lets the sun go down on an argument. Our kids have learned they don’t usually win an argument/debate with him. What they do know is that they can state their opinion without fear. He’s raised them with a voice and a spirit to use it. We guide them with what we want them to know, then step back and let them learn. It’s the letting go process and some people don’t know how to do it.
I’m not sure why some adults can’t take the opinion of a child or one of a young adult. Are we so set in our ways that we think we need to “set them in their place”? Do we feel the need to beat our opinion over their heads so they change their crazy ways and see the light? Or do we feed them the “I’ve been through everything in my life” talk so much that they can’t live and learn life for themselves?
Who decides who is right – and why are you arguing with them?
It’s a battle I’ve seen raging here lately – kids with opinions and adults who want to batter/berate them into the ground. I’m tired of it.
I welcome the teens who come into my home with an open heart. I welcome their views and different points of conversation they may bring. Who are we to tell them it isn’t so and that they can’t do something a certain way? That they can’t have a different opinion than the “norm”?
I for one don’t feel my authority as an adult is disrespected when kids believe something different than I do. Is it a power game? I don’t know how many times I’ve heard an adult tell a kid that they know nothing about which they speak.
I was taught a certain way, but that doesn’t mean I had to keep that belief system. I have varied from it, distanced myself from it, came back to it, and adjusted it to be who I am – not who you think it should be. Let’s not take these beautiful kids and negate their beliefs with one fell swoop – whether it’s our belief or not. Let’s not tell them they don’t know what they’re talking about just because what they say convicts us of our own actions.
Being an adult doesn’t give instant authority or wisdom. Kids can sniff out posers a mile away. Have we forgotten the freedom it is to be a kid? Before we had mortgages, bills, and political views to stuff down people’s throats? Back when our biggest issue was what cassette tape we were going to buy to cruise down the boulevard on a hot July night?
Our children have the freedom to feel, to state, to say – and I won’t be a part of tamping those lovely thoughts down so they fit my own
Let a child give their opinion and the wolves are waiting to pounce
Does being an adult mean we deserve respect? Or does it ultimately have to be earned?
I’m pondering this notion on a hot, sticky July afternoon and I don’t like what I’m discovering. I grew up in a home that taught respect, but not the kind of home where you had to be quiet as a mouse. I’m one of five sisters and a brother and we’re known for all having big opinions.
Really. Very large and loud opinions.
We sometimes have to shout to be heard at family gatherings. We don’t often get into fights, in fact, I don’t really remember many fights at all. There was the typical teenage bickering, but even now as adults we just hash things out over coffee – and more coffee – you know how that goes. Our issues, our kid’s issues, our friend’s issues… on and on it goes. We’re pretty insular and what we hash out in private doesn’t usually make it into the public eye.
It’s just how we roll.
Our kids are often included in these conversations. We value their opinion, and try not to let our strong personalities stop them from expressing their view. They may have to fight to get a word in edgewise, but get a word in they do. How could they not have an opinion growing up with so much talking going on?
My children, of which I have three, are very strong-willed. Their Dad, he of pulsing Aztec blood, never lets the sun go down on an argument. Our kids have learned they don’t usually win an argument/debate with him. What they do know is that they can state their opinion without fear. He’s raised them with a voice and a spirit to use it. We guide them with what we want them to know, then step back and let them learn. It’s the letting go process and some people don’t know how to do it.
I’m not sure why some adults can’t take the opinion of a child or one of a young adult. Are we so set in our ways that we think we need to “set them in their place”? Do we feel the need to beat our opinion over their heads so they change their crazy ways and see the light? Or do we feed them the “I’ve been through everything in my life” talk so much that they can’t live and learn life for themselves?
Who decides who is right – and why are you arguing with them?
It’s a battle I’ve seen raging here lately – kids with opinions and adults who want to batter/berate them into the ground. I’m tired of it.
I welcome the teens who come into my home with an open heart. I welcome their views and different points of conversation they may bring. Who are we to tell them it isn’t so and that they can’t do something a certain way? That they can’t have a different opinion than the “norm”?
I for one don’t feel my authority as an adult is disrespected when kids believe something different than I do. Is it a power game? I don’t know how many times I’ve heard an adult tell a kid that they know nothing about which they speak.
I was taught a certain way, but that doesn’t mean I had to keep that belief system. I have varied from it, distanced myself from it, came back to it, and adjusted it to be who I am – not who you think it should be. Let’s not take these beautiful kids and negate their beliefs with one fell swoop – whether it’s our belief or not. Let’s not tell them they don’t know what they’re talking about just because what they say convicts us of our own actions.
Being an adult doesn’t give instant authority or wisdom. Kids can sniff out posers a mile away. Have we forgotten the freedom it is to be a kid? Before we had mortgages, bills, and political views to stuff down people’s throats? Back when our biggest issue was what cassette tape we were going to buy to cruise down the boulevard on a hot July night?
Our children have the freedom to feel, to state, to say – and I won’t be a part of tamping those lovely thoughts down so they fit my own
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