The Wellbeing of Children
March 18th, 2007
And the Future of Freedom - A Manifesto:
Children are the mantle upon which the future of our planet rests, investing in their wellbeing is the ultimate sustainable and political act.
Every child is wanted and welcomed.
Pregnancy is a natural event (not a medical condition) and the importance of the mother’s emotional, mental and physical wellbeing is recognized and supported.
A natural birth affords significant benefits to mother,
baby, father and family; therefore both the potential
benefits and risks of any intervention warrant careful
consideration.
Parents have the right and responsibility to be fully
informed about pregnancy, birthing, health and education
choices.
Optimal development for infants and children is fostered
by full-term breastfeeding, baby-wearing, co-sleeping,
maintaining genital integrity (no circumcision), and
plenty of skin-to-skin contact.
Children are by nature social beings, born with the
drive to love and be loved, to learn about their world
through spontaneous play, exploration, and participation
inclusion in the activities of their elders, to cooperate
with others, and to contribute to their world. They are
most able to develop their full potential when treated
with care and respect.
Children are born with inherent, physical, emotional,
intellectual and spiritual needs.
Children depend upon their caregivers to protect
them from violence, abuse, being left to cry it out, shaming,
toxic food and toxic environments.
Children depend on their parents to demonstrate and
model to them appropriate ways of setting safe respectful
boundaries and limits to inappropriate behavior.
The role of the father and mother is profound and not
to be underestimated. Also important are the multiple
attachments outside the immediate family.
Optimal development includes supporting children’s
growth towards healthy sexual maturity across the physical,
emotional, social and ethical dimensions of sexual
wellbeing.
Family-friendly political, economic, educational and
social structures enhance parents’ opportunities and
ability to nurture and sustain a secure bond with their
children.
Community plays a vital role in raising children, both
as a support system for this secure bonding and also as a
source for secondary attachments.
Parenting our children means also re-parenting
ourselves. Self-discovery plays a major factor in the art of
effective parenting.
Imperfection is the lesson in how to be perfectly
human. Allowing ourselves as parents to make mistakes,
be transparently ourselves and emotionally alive in
relating to our children, enables them to individuate and
find their own separate and unique self.
After bonding comes healthy separation, facilitated by our
perfectly human inability to be everything to our children.
by Kali Wendorf
Mother, activist, magazine publisher/editor
Mullumbimby, Australia
Kindred Magazine
