Children are Watching and Listening
Published by Bob Foster
One of my favorite bloggers, Judith Ellis, made a post on her blog, The Being Brand, this morning, entitled Being a Child. It has to do with a 4th grader’s question to President Obama at a town hall event in New Orleans. This young boy wanted to know “Why do people hate you?” Judith’s post includes a CBS News video of the question and the President’s response. I encourage you to check out Judith’s post.
But, to me, the most important part of Judith’s post was her words following the video. Here they are:
When adults behave badly we snuff out the goodness and innocence of children. Children are sponges. We really must be more careful; children are watching and listening.
How true this is, and I don’t think any child has expressed this better than DeClan Galbraith, when he recorded the following back in 2006. I think he was around 11 years old at the time:
(email subscribers, view on my blog)
As adults, parents, business leaders, teachers, family members, neighbors, government leaders, and just plain “folk”—what are we teaching the children? Really teaching them?
Thank you Judith, for this important message.
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4 Responses to “Children are Watching and Listening”
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Dear Bob,
Tears rolled as I watched this video. Kids are asking why while we continue on with our daily routines many times oblivious to their needs and concerns. Thanks you so very much for the video. It’s poignant and beautiful. (And what a voice!)
Thanks also for your encouraging words about my blog. They’re appreciated.
Judith
Judith Ellis´s last blog ..Being Goldman Sachs IV
Wow – So very moving! It goes to show you just what the impact the irresponsible entertainment sector (can’t call it news) has on everyone – including our children – these days.
Thanks for sharing Judith’s post and the videos.
Jeff
Jeff´s last blog ..Adobe MAX Attendees – Downloads Available
Judith – Thank you for opening up my eyes to this situation–it’s so easy to ignore the very young as we go about our daily tasks. But then, your posts always make me think…and feel.
Bob Foster´s last blog ..Children are Watching and Listening
Jeff – Now that we get our news (the little we really need to hear) from sources on the Internet we trust; mainstream media seems to be there primarily for entertainment value. Sadly, many of our children watch this stuff, especially the violent parts.
I once had an ER nurse tell me that she gave talks to schools to explain that bullet wounds do indeed hurt…she had had too many young victims tell her, as they came into the ER, that they didn’t know gunshot wounds really hurt.
Children are impressionable, and, as Judith said, they are watching and listening.
Bob Foster´s last blog ..Children are Watching and Listening