"Spoiling the child is the worst thing they can do to him. Parents must not overprotect the child. He must be allowed to face hardships and make mistakes, even if that leads to his death." (Pojman 116).
The above excerpt from Who Are We?: Theories of Human Nature by Louis P. Pojman, is in his Chapter about Hobbes and Rousseau. Rousseau wrote a work called Emile that incorporated what the above quote says. I think that Rousseau is making a great point here, but, it might be a little extreme. His thoughts are correct. Children should not be spoiled. I have seen too many children spoiled to such a point that the parent is almost a slave to the child. That child will grow up in life not particularly caring and always expecting to get what they want. This is not a good attitude to assume in life. On the opposite end, parents cannot overprotect their children, sheltering them from ever learning anything on their own. There must be a balance between these two things, spoiling and overprotecting. In this medium, the child will be able to make mistakes and learn for themselves. However, if there is a life and death situation, I believe the parents should stop the child from making a mistake that could cost a life. This might have just been an extreme interpretation on Pojman's behalf. I don't believe that Rousseau would have wanted a child to pursue information if it meant that child would die.
Why, do you think, parents will sometimes go to the extremes of either overprotecting their child and giving into every demand of their child?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment