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Raising Children with a Joy Ethic
http://www.conversationswiththegoddess.net
When I was raising two young sons in the 1970s, I wanted them to enjoy a stimulating environment. I knew no caretaker would feel passionate about my children’s development, as I certainly did. It would be up to me to make a home environment that was as beautiful, nourishing, and stimulating as I could make it. Our home was filled with children’s books, musical instruments, art supplies, and toys. To my sons, learning new things was fun, and I loved their wildly original ways of seeing the world.
It was my job to help my sons develop into the persons they were meant to be, people who could joyously thrive in the world. I wanted them to know that their worth was not dependent on anything they did or how well they did it. Yet I realized there was a tension between what I wished for my sons’ development and what the culture expected them to become, persons with a sober “work ethic.” In their school environment, joyful living was not in the curriculum.
I myself felt inner conflict between pressure for my children to become responsible adults, so as to “make a living,” and desire for them to develop into vibrant, joyful human beings. Joyful living seemed to be something people occasionally allowed themselves outside the work environment, when they went on vacation, or partied on weekends.
Today I’ve come to the conclusion that the nervous concern parents feel about teaching children a good work ethic is not as important as we’ve made it out to be. In fact, we long ago learned how to teach this so well that we do it on automatic pilot. Now it’s time to look at the unexamined assumption that learning a good work ethic is of the highest value in our culture. I propose that it’s high time to turn our attention to learning to teach our children a joy ethic -- for that is what we don’t seem to know how to do.
We might then discover that our highly touted productivity in the workplace is overvalued, at the expense of infusing all of life with the spirit of joy.
Article submitted Sunday, June 05, 2011 & read 328 times.
Dedicated mother and endowed scholar Dorothy Atalla (Chickee to her friends) never expected a trip to Petra, Jordan in the 1970’s would take her on a journey that would transform her life. Upon returning from her profound experience, Dorothy began to study ancient history, mythology and religion, archaeology, depth and transpersonal psychology, quantum physics, and the evolution of consciousness. Her book Conversations With the Goddess brings the emergent wisdom and power of the Divine Feminine to modern readers and affirms every woman’s role in the story of The Goddess. Visit www.conversationswiththegoddess.net to learn more and buy the book.
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