Children’s Academy Story: The Importance of Parent-Child Relationships

The following account was written by Kerline Janvier, Children’s Academy Co-Coordinator, and translated by Erik Badger in January 2013:

Children’s Academy Parent

Early on in the “Education is Conversation” parent discussion activity there were several parents who suggested that the group talk about positive and negative experiences from childhood. One particular parent attracted my attention because of what she was saying:

“I remember something that made me feel good when I was younger. I used to sell meat for my mother and she was always thanking me for this. But on the other hand I felt bad about this when I was growing up because I never had a parent-child relationship with my mother. I simply grew up and have transmitted the same relationship onto my own kids without even realizing it.”

She continued to say that she has an eight year-old daughter who she’s been just passively watching grow up. “But the Children’s Academy has made me realize that I was passing something really negative onto my kids.”  We asked her to explain.

“My daughter is enrolled in the Children’s Academy. Even though it hasn’t been very long, here I’ve come to learn the importance of maintaining good relationships with your kids, especially when they’re very young. There are many reasons for this: it helps the child to live joyfully; they will cherish living; they will love others; it will make them interested in the work they have to do.

“The Children’s Academy always takes care to speak with parents about everything related to parent-child relationships: such as how to appreciate the work our children do and the things they say; how we should attend to them and understand them as children; how we should view our children in society today and in the future, etc.

“To make these things become a reality, it requires me to change. And so I started to change the way I had been living with my first daughter, not to mention the one I have at the school.

“For this reason my oldest daughter is always saying to me: ‘Why didn’t you put me in a school like the Children’s Academy?’ And I always respond that we didn’t yet have such a school in our community.

“I’m glad my daughter is growing up in a familial atmosphere that doesn’t resemble my upbringing and which could have negatively affected her in the future if it wasn’t for the Children’s Academy. My whole family is happy about this even though it requires much effort for an adult to change her habits.”