By Ifeyinwa Okeke
In life, we experience failures and successes, rejections and acceptances, but through all of these, the power of hope keeps us going. Inspired by the power of hope for a better tomorrow, embracing the other, instilling courage and fostering contentment are the three elements of formation children need to survive and thrive in the ever-changing globalized world.
Embracing the other: The act of embrace is very crucial in our existence in a globalized world because it paves the way for acceptance, love and reconciliation. With the increasing interconnection of people due to globalization, growing children should be taught the value of embracing the other because their continuous contacts with people from different races, cultures, gender orientation and religion.
When children are being taught from a very young age that it is acceptable to open your arms to other kids with different skin colors, they become equipped with the ability to connect with people and build relationships irrespective of physical differences. Also with embrace, growing children will accept themselves for who they are, which will help them be more self-confident because we cannot love others if we do not love ourselves.
Instilling courage: The ability to do something that frightens us is an important value which children should be taught at a very young age. With the extent at which the world is become more global, children with little or no motivation for growth or change will be left behind.
As a child, I struggled with the fear of change and I never had the courage to try new things. As I grew older, I realized that my classmates, who tried new subjects, were more versatile than I was. In college, I learned the power of being courageous because it helped me leave my place of comfort, make mistakes, learn from them and become better at what I did.
These days, I allow my older child to read books outside his comfort zone because I know that it will help him be one step ahead of his classmates, which I believe he needs in order to keep up with the fast pace of globalization.
I believe our generation and the one before were not prepared to experience the negative effects of globalization. I see people struggling to fit in and be accepted in the midst of others. I also see people exclude themselves from what they consider different (the other) because they never had the courage to embrace it at a young age.
My six-year-old son wanted to leave his school because according to him “he was the only brown kid in his entire school.” This was a small school of about hundred children. I could have made him happy by withdrawing him from the school, but I knew that if my son lacked the courage to exist as the only black kid in a small school of a hundred children, his chances of embracing his skin color and that of others is limited when immersed in our globalized world.
These days, he hardly complains about that, which I believe he has accepted with courage. Without courage, young children will grow up living their lives anxious and fearful of the other.
Fostering contentment: As humans, we are in constant search for more, but knowing when to stop the quest for more can eliminate some of the side effects of globalization, which are enabled by greed. But the ability to resist what is above our reach empowers us to thrive among the glitters and glamour.
Again, my 6-year-old son assumes French and Spanish are the two foreign languages worth learning, all thanks to globalization. In the past he showed interest in learning our native language, but with continuous exposure to French and Spanish, taught in his school, he is now embarrassed by our native language when asked to speak it.
I believe my work here is to teach him the power of being content and proud of our native language regardless of it being considered as a minor language among other languages. So if children are taught the value of being content with who they are and where they come from, some of the negative impact of globalization on cultural identity will be eliminated because they will grow up to appreciate their cultural background irrespective of their exposure to other cultures. Hence, fostering contentment paves way for self-confidence, gratitude and dignity.
In life, we do not have the power to change what has happened in the past, but we can change the future by the choices we make today. Therefore let us help our children make the right choices today by instilling in them values that will help them survive and thrive in our globalized world.
Ifeyinwa Okeke, a Nigerian immigrant, graduated in May from Northwest University in Kirkland with a master’s degree in international community development. She lives in Everett with her three children and works with the state Department of Social and Health Services.
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