Children Learn What They Live
Question: Recently, my relationship ended after several years. We have a child and my ex-partner is preventing our 2-year-old child from communicating with me because of anger and hate towards me. My child loves me and cries for me. With this lifestyle that my child is going through, what are the effects? Please, I would like to be anonymous.
I think the environmental effects on children are fairly obvious. One method by which children is observation. In other words, children learn what they live. There is a poem by Dorothy Law Nolte that says it well:
“Children Learn What They Live”
If a child lives with Criticism—
He learns to Condemn
If a child lives with Hostility
He learns to Fight
If a child lives with Ridicule
He learns to be Shy
If a child lives with Jealousy
He learns to feel Guilty
If a child lives with Tolerance
He learns to be Patient
If a child lives with Encouragement
He learns Confidence
If a child lives with Praise
He learns to Appreciate
If a child lives with Fairness
He learns Justice
If a child lives with Security
He learns to have Faith
If a child lives with Approval
He learns to like himself
If a child lives with Acceptance and Friendship
He learns to find Love in the world.
Lorin L. Bradbury, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Bethel. For appointments, he can be reached at 543-3266. If you have questions that you would like Dr. Bradbury to answer in the Delta Discovery, please send them to The Delta Discovery, P.O. Box 1028, Bethel, AK 99559, or e-mail them to realnews@deltadiscovery.com.