Sharon Vang is the author of our very last chapter entry, and this is a picture of her and her sister in their backyard when she was little. She said, "That’s me on the right. She’s older and taller than me in the picture, but I am now taller than her."
I think you'll agree with me that Sharon has written a great entry to finish things up for us. Enjoy.
She wrote:
In Chapter 10, Elkind examines how children perceive hurrying and how the results can create stress. Depending on their level of mental development, Elkind believes that children deal with hurrying in different ways and that hurrying can affect children in negative ways. It is up to adults and parents to decipher how to make it less stressful for children. The way to do this is to view the world through the eyes of our hurried children. Only then can we can begin to help children understand that hurrying is not our way of rejecting or applying stress on them.
I can definitely relate to Elkind’s thoughts on the different ways that children can perceive hurrying. As a child, my parents always pushed me to do well in school. They expected the best out of me and it was quite frustrating at times. I felt as though they didn’t understand the stress that I was going through. I had to earn good grades, do my chores and help my brothers with their homework too. It was a tall task. Even though I did well in school, it never seemed to be good enough for them. All the while, they would never complain or make such comments about my brothers’ grades. I felt as though they didn’t appreciate or love me for who I was. For the things I did to please them, it never seemed to be enough. I felt a sense of rejection. It was as though I had given everything and got nothing back in return. It wasn’t until I asked my parents why they treated me like they did that they told me they did so because they had faith that I could succeed in anything I put my mind to. It was then that I began to realize why they did the things they did. I still wasn’t too happy about the stress they put me through, but I was more understanding of the reasons why they acted as they did. After apologizing to me about the whole situation, my mother commented that she wished she had put herself in my shoes so she could have prevented herself from putting me through such stress. My parents became more understanding about my education and since then, they have supported me in everything I’ve chosen to do in my life.
Elkind also expresses his feelings about the importance of having a childhood experience filled with pleasures, and that we learn from children’s experiences caused by hurrying. I agree with Elkind in that children have a right to enjoy the pleasures of being a child. They should be able to experience the unconditional love of their parents and the adoration of others. Childhood is an experience that only comes around once during a lifetime, so it is important that both children and adults take the time to experience its value. There are ups and downs and there are lessons to be learned from hurrying children. But it’s most important that children and adults learn from their failures so they can appreciate the value of the experiences that come with childhood.
