My ideal world

I do not pretend to understand all the complexities of human nature or human society. But I do know that very few people are satisfied with the world as it now stands. I also know that with self-esteem a human being is positive, pro-active, creative, and loving. As a consequence, and knowing that there are a lot of people all over the world improving their self-esteem and the way they treat their children, I allow myself to dream of a better world. In this post I invite you to dream with me.

The parenting style and education system created by individuals with self-esteem will have, among other things, the following characteristics:

• What is nowadays called “the alternative birth” would be normal for most women.

• A parental license would exist, which a parent would receive after having completed an educational program with the following subjects:

- child psychology to understand the behavior of children and to learn how to avoid excesses and deficiencies in the satisfaction of their needs

- psychotherapy to heal emotional wounds that would negatively affect the future parent’s behavior so as to avoid the repetition of their programming

- training in respectful firmness as a method of setting limits on children

- training in couple and family relations

• To motivate parents to participate in these studies, those who successfully complete the course would receive economic benefits such as a special fund for each child and/or tax reduction.

• People who want to become educators would have to pass rigorous testing but their profession would be highly respected and enjoy the highest status in society. They would also be the best paid of all professionals.

• The training of teachers and educators at all levels would include psychotherapy and meditation.

• The education system would be redefined and inspired by the paradigms of Rudolf Steiner of Switzerland and Maria Montessori of Italy.

- In the first years, the educators would simply observe the children in different activities to detect their inclinations and talents.

- The children would attend a basic course where they would learn to read and write and where they would receive fundamental knowledge in subjects such as mathematics, history, geography, and biology. English would also be studied until they graduate.

- When their “talent profile” has been defined, each student would begin a “specialization program” in the area where they have shown skill, whether this be physical, manual, intellectual or artistic.

- Interwoven with these subjects, the child would receive classes in subjects related to the art of living: social and emotional skills such as communication, conflict solving, empathy, teamwork, sexuality, the expression of feelings, life-balance, and ethics.

- With their behavior and attitudes, teachers would model democratic leadership, and as the students grow, they would receive training in the democratic system and gradually participate more and more in some of the school’s decision-making process.

- In the spiritual field, students would study the history of philosophy and of the different religions to have a broader vision that later will enable them to make their own decision about their spiritual preferences. Any paradigm that breeds guilt, fear, or shame are eliminated.

• Schools would work closely with parents, from kindergarten to the end of secondary school. In the parent licensing - program they would have been prepared and motivated to actively participate in the education of their children.

• To be a mother or father would be considered a privilege and an honor. Society and business would have created a system that would permit mothers to remain at home for one year after the birth of their baby. Later, both parents would work part-time until the child reaches the age of three.

• No-one would work more than six hours a day.

Additionally

• By receiving a more humane education, individuals would have a healthier emotional memory, and, therefore, would be physically healthier, too. The collective health systems would be under less pressure and with a reduced incidence of illness would work more efficiently. Funds could be redistributed to other needier areas of society.

• There would be less demand for anti-stress medicine, so the pharmaceutical industry would devote a larger part of its budget to research into previously non-curable diseases and the development of medication based on a responsibly and ethically managed genetic science.

• The armed forces would no longer be armed because a true and lasting peace would exist. Nevertheless, each individual in society would have to spend two years in the Non-Armed Forces (NAF) working on social projects, such as housing construction.

I am probably being too romantic or idealistic on some of these points. I would like to be optimistic, but I have to admit that I sometimes doubt that there is enough time, because the collective emotional memory is too negatively overloaded.
But I don't want to get depressed, although sometimes, after a painful consultation, or after some news program with children dying in their mothers' arms, I start to cry. However, we have no other choice but to try to do what we can within our possibilities and area of influence.

Source: My book “Self-Discovery: The Challenging Path to a Fulfilling Life”