Statuses, photos and pictures dedicated to Soviet childhood evoke nostalgia and bitter “But now...” among today’s parents. And then he goes on with a recitative: social networks, smartphones, they don’t read, they don’t like nature, a lost generation, here we are at their age... Blaming everything on the corrupting influence of progress is as easy as shelling pears. During our childhood, this role was brilliantly played by “bad company,” remember? “My Petenka is gold, kind and obedient. It’s his friends who influence him like that, the losers and slackers,” lamented the mothers of the local hooligans. This means Petenka has nothing to do with it, and you can relieve yourself of responsibility. Well, what can you do here?
No need for ideal
It’s often the same with gadgets: in our time there weren’t any, everyone just went to libraries, played rubber bands and collected scrap metal. But now... And that’s it - the situation is declared hopeless, and mom goes, mind you, not to the library or for scrap metal, but to the social network - to like pictures of Soviet schoolchildren playing hopscotch.
But for starters, it would be good to remember your own childhood. So, to be honest, without lubrication and idealization. Yes, there were rubber bands and Cossack robbers. But there were also cards, secret cigarettes, and obscene jokes told by “adult” sixth- and seventh-graders. And to be honest, they didn’t really read the books. Yes, we watched good cartoons about Carlson and Uncle Fyodor. And “Santa Barbara” and “Simply Maria”, when they first appeared - wasn’t it? Yes, we valued friends not for their smartphones - they didn’t exist. But weren’t we, a little later, going to play incredibly cool Dandy and Sega at a classmate’s house, sitting for hours playing virtual battles?
There were always those who built birdhouses and moved grandmothers, and those who littered in hallways and broke light bulbs. As now, many children play sports and dance, write reviews and essays, learn languages and help elders. And the problems are not in the modern world, but within the family, the child, the school community. And if you start with them, the effect will be much better.
Preventive measures
But the problem of computer addiction has not been canceled. Yes, many schoolchildren and teenagers literally live in virtual reality. Often - to the detriment of ordinary reality. What can be done to prevent this?
1. No problems with communication and self-realization
Psychologists say that parents often confuse the cause-and-effect relationship when they combine “not interested in the real world” and “sits at the computer all day.” The gadget is not an evil magician and sorcerer, capable of turning a smart, active, sociable and cheerful child into a pale Kashchei, languishing over a smartphone. Addiction and unhealthy addictions begin with problems in the real, non-computer world. No interests, can't find it mutual language with peers, a feeling of loneliness overcomes - and the child resorts to the simplest and most accessible means of keeping himself busy. And you need to start not with the safe where laptops are stored, but with conversation and solving internal problems.
With kids who cling to their mother’s phone and demand a toy, it’s often the same thing: the child is not taught to play, explore the world, draw, and so as not to interfere, the busy mother gives “for five minutes” such an interesting thing with a magic screen. And then, a month or two later, he laments: “What should I do? How to wean it off? The answer is not just not to teach, but to show an alternative. Really interesting, and not “do something!”
2. No forbidden fruit
There are, there are such children - not many, but still. For reasons of principle, they are not bought “that vulgar Barbie” or “that terrible blouse with rhinestones,” and then they are strictly protected from gadgets. Phone - to call! Take daddy's old one and don't be indignant. They are not indignant and even assent: yes, of course, but Masha was given an iPhone, and she is so proud of it, it would be something. Children generally often say what we want to hear. And during recess they follow Masha-Sasha-Pasha with their tail, in the hope that they will be allowed to play.
When an adult fundamentally refuses overconsumption and fashionable things, it is his choice. When it is imposed on a child, it is again his, the adult’s, choice. And the creation of another childhood dream, forbidden and sweet. Remember that most often, having gained independence, it is the girls at home who have to be home “promptly at nine” who break down.
3. Consistency
Look at what parents do and say: “Read 20 pages, then I’ll send you to the computer.” “If you study well, you will receive a tablet at the end of the year.” What is given the status of a boring obligation here, and what is given the status of a reward?
And where do most dads and moms say this? From behind a monitor screen or staring at a tablet. We talk about how beautiful the world around us is, how good it is to visit and take walks, but we ourselves only go to someone’s pages. But it is a truism that a child is taught not by words, but by parental example.
Help your child find a balance between benefit and entertainment, between virtual and real - by your own example. After all, new technologies provide a lot of useful and interesting opportunities: search for books and films, look at paintings from any of the world’s galleries, create your own photos. To paraphrase a well-known aphorism, the one about money, gadgets are a bad master, but a good servant. Not the best goal, but in many cases an excellent means.
Marina Belenkaya
Introduction
Poverty as a key source of ill-being in the modern Russian family
Medical and demographic situation in Russia
Abortion problem
Maternity benefits
Social orphanhood: street children
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
The family acts as the first educational institution, with which a person feels a connection throughout his life. It is in the family that the foundations of human morality are laid, norms of behavior are formed, the inner world is revealed and individual qualities personality. The family contributes to a person’s self-affirmation and stimulates his social and creative activity. In other words, the primary socialization of the child takes place in the family. Naturally, disruptions in family functioning directly affect the child and his development.
In modern Russia, the family as a social institution is undoubtedly experiencing a crisis. We can single out several facets of this crisis: demographic, socio-economic, moral. One way or another, there is a massive spread of such a phenomenon as a dysfunctional family. Hence the massive spread of a whole range of problems that befall children in such families.
This paper attempts to analyze the social problems of childhood in modern Russia. It is necessary to emphasize the following: the topic “social problems of children” is not included in the list of “socially significant”, no matter how strange and regrettable it may be. Russian society has become accustomed to the sight of young beggars, criminals and prostitutes, and such phenomena as domestic violence, alcoholism in the family, and mass poverty have simply become the norm. However, the very presence of these problems, which, I emphasize, are widespread, threatens the very future of our country. Therefore, their study and solution is an urgent need.
1. Poverty as a key source of ill-being in the modern Russian family
Of course, there can be many reasons for the dysfunction of a particular family, and they are different for each specific family. However, it is obvious that the key social problem that has caused the explosive growth in the number of dysfunctional families in our time is poverty.
In 1992, as a result of the total economic crisis and “shock therapy,” the bulk of the population was thrown into the abyss of poverty. At the same time, all the savings of the population in cash and non-cash forms were actually completely “expropriated”. This is where data emerged about the 70-80% share of the poor in Russia.
So, if at the end of the 60s the share of low-income people (“poor”) was 29.6%, at the end of the 70s - 32.1%, at the end of the 80s - 30.7%, then as a result of the shock Therapy, the problem of poverty as an independent one disappears, being replaced by the problem of economic devastation, a drop in the level of economic development and, as a result, the living standard of the population as a whole. The country as a whole is becoming poor. But the catastrophic drop in income of the population was considered at that time an extraordinary, but very temporary phenomenon associated with a short period of socio-economic transformations. Thus, these processes were “transformers”, decided without taking into account Russian characteristics for shock therapy.
A family cannot exist for a long time using up to 70% of its budget for food, since there are still a number of low-elastic needs (housing and utilities, transportation, clothing for children). In conditions of high inflation, which largely affects goods consumed by the poor, the poverty line changes more intensively under the influence of prices. At the same time, the poor could not remain indefinitely within the extreme consumption structure: some food supplies were quickly depleted, children outgrew their clothes and shoes, and prices for housing and communal services and transport grew rapidly.
Two forms of poverty have emerged: “stable” and “floating”. The first is due to the fact that low level material security, as a rule, leads to deterioration of health, deskilling, deprofessionalization, and ultimately to degradation. Poor parents produce potentially poor children, which is determined by their health, education, and qualifications obtained. Social research on the persistence of poverty has confirmed this hypothesis and shown that people who are “born as persistently poor” remain so throughout their lives. The second form, much less common, is due to the fact that the poor sometimes make incredible efforts and “jump out” of their social, virtually vicious circle, adapting to new conditions, defending their right to a better life. Of course, in such a “leap”, not only subjective, personal factors play a significant role, but also objective conditions created by the state and society.
The drama of the situation lies in the fact that two thirds of children and one third of the elderly population find themselves “beyond the threshold” of social guarantees, in the poverty group. Meanwhile, the majority of older people, through their past work, have secured for themselves the right to at least a comfortable existence, and the poverty of children cannot be tolerated, because it undoubtedly leads to a decrease in the quality of future generations and, as a consequence, the main characteristics of the nation’s human potential.
There is an intensive process of feminization of poverty, which has extreme forms of manifestation in the form of stagnant and deep poverty. Along with the traditional poor (single mothers and large families, the disabled and the elderly), a category of “new poor” has emerged, representing those groups of the population that, in terms of their education and qualifications, social status and demographic characteristics, have never before (in Soviet time) were not low-income. All experts came to the conclusion that the working poor are a purely Russian phenomenon. Today, their low incomes are primarily due to the unreasonably low level of wages at state enterprises, unemployment and underemployment, as well as non-payment of wages and pensions.
According to the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation, in the third quarter of 2003, the share of the population with monetary incomes below the subsistence level of the total population was 21.9% or 31.2 million people. These figures indicate the dynamics of a significant reduction in poverty.
A detailed analysis of the composition of poor families, or what is called the “profile” of the poor, shows that in demographic terms, of the total number of family members, more than a quarter (27.3%) are children under 16 years of age, about a fifth (17.2%) - persons over working age, and the rest - more than half (55.5%) - are the working population. Special calculations show that, by gender and age, the population with disposable resources below the subsistence level in 1999 included 59.1 million people, including 15.2 million children, 24.9 million women and 19.0 million men. This means that the poor were: 52.4% of the total number of children under 16 years of age, 39.5% of women and 35.6% of men. This is the most general characteristics. It shows that in terms of material security, more than half of children are below the “border” of a decent life, and the share of poor women is higher than the share of poor men. Despite the fact that the difference by gender is small, there is still every reason to talk about the feminization of poverty, which is confirmed by the factors shaping it.
According to social composition, the following groups of the adult population are distinguished among the poor: more than one third (39.0%) are employed, about one fifth (20.6%) are pensioners, 3% are unemployed, 5.3% are housewives, including women located in maternity leave for child care. In terms of demographic typology, there are three groups among poor families: a) married couples with children and other relatives (50.8%); b) single-parent families, which may include other relatives (19.4%).
Poverty, unemployment, economic and social instability, unrealistic hopes, and collapse of plans intensify the process of marginalization of the population. As a result, a social layer of paupers appears as a consequence of increasing downward social mobility, increasing in intensity. This is how the “social bottom” is formed and strengthened, which is actually rejected by a society that practically does not even know its true dimensions. A special study of this problem allows us to identify four groups of people who make up the “social bottom”: 1) beggars who openly beg for alms; 2) homeless people who lost their housing, as is known, primarily due to the emergence of the housing market; 3) street children who have lost their parents or run away from home; 4) street prostitutes (including children) leading an antisocial lifestyle. Representatives of the “social bottom” have similar features. These are people who are in a state of social exclusion, deprived of social resources, stable connections, who have lost basic social skills and dominant values of society. They have actually already stopped fighting for their social existence. At the same time, each of these groups has its own specifics, but there are no hard lines between them: a homeless person can be a beggar, and a homeless child can be a homeless person. Nevertheless, all representatives of the “social bottom” have their own characteristics, formation features and socio-demographic properties of their identification.
2. Medical and demographic situation in Russia
With the implementation of the national project, as Valentina Petrenko, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy, noted with satisfaction, the mentality in relation to healthcare, mothers, children, and families is changing. However, many problems remain. How they can be solved was discussed at a round table meeting dedicated to current issues of demography and child health, which took place in the Federation Council.
According to expert estimates, in our country 60% of the total number of births is the birth of the first child, 30% - the second, 10% - the third or more. And in England the birth rate of a second child is 50%. In France, the emphasis is on the birth of a third and subsequent children. The study shows that about 60% of Russian married couples who have one child would like to have a second if they had the conditions: housing, financial opportunities.
The problem of infant mortality is also quite acute. There are successes. If you don't look around. Still, the achievements of the maternal and child health service should not be undermined. They are. Thus, recently there has been a significant reduction in maternal mortality. Although abortion remains a problem in the structure of maternal mortality, according to Olga Sharapova, director of the Department of Medical and Social Problems of Family, Motherhood and Childhood of the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development, their share has even increased. It was 18%, but in 2006 it became 23%.
An improvement is observed in the morbidity rates of women: there is a decrease in the frequency of detection of anemia during pregnancy (by more than 3%), labor disorders (by 5%), the development of septic conditions in pregnant women and women in labor (by almost 30%), bleeding in the postpartum And postoperative periods(by 16%).
Using the example of children under the age of one month, we really manage the indicators of life and death,” says the director of the Ivanovo Research Institute of Motherhood and Childhood. V.N. Gorodkova Roszdrav Lyubov Posiseeva. - If other services also work with other age categories, I think a lot will change.
Another question is that I would like more. According to E. Baibarina, despite significant investments, there is underfunding of perinatal services. Wear and tear of equipment in maternity hospitals reaches 80%, underutilized effective techniques. Modern technologies for, say, artificial ventilation of the lungs in a variety of modes against the background of surfactant administration make it possible to successfully care for premature babies. But everything comes down to financial problems, since nursing such a child costs about 7 thousand rubles a day (for comparison: in Europe - 2-3 thousand euros). Where such means are found, the achievements are obvious. An example is the Moscow Regional perinatal center, where early neonatal mortality decreased in a short period of time to 2.3 ppm.
Reducing perinatal and neonatal losses is highly costly; it is possible mainly through the use of high-tech medical care, the use of effective safe medicines, noted the participants of the round table. However, there are a number of problems associated with their availability. Regions are forced to allocate money for expensive drugs from their budgets, but limited funds make their widespread use impossible. In addition, the standards of medical care for children, especially up to one year of age, lack modern methods for the prevention and treatment of pulmonary pathology. In some regions there is a decrease in the supply of neonatologists.
As is known, the vast majority of diseases in the early neonatal period and many diseases in infancy and older age are associated with the unfavorable course of pregnancy and childbirth, which requires a significant strengthening of the preventive orientation of obstetricians towards the birth of a healthy child. In the meantime, the focus of obstetricians is on the condition and health of the pregnant woman, and not on the outcome of the pregnancy. The stillbirth rate remains high. But here lies a reserve in increasing the number of children born, L. Posiseeva noted during the round table.
Particular attention should be paid to the reproductive health of northerners, believes Gennady Oleynik, Deputy Committee of the Federation Council on Northern Affairs and Minorities. Three quarters of pregnant women living in the North have significant health problems, 70% of them do not receive enough necessary food products, vitamins and microelements. All this significantly affects the health of future generations. Up to 80% of children have developmental disorders before birth.
Children of the North have unequal starting conditions in life compared to children in other regions of the country and get sick 2-3 times more often. Under the influence of unfavorable climatic and environmental factors, there is a lag of 2-5 years in the age-related development of the immune system. Every fifth child is underweight. Many northern regions of Russia are not able to independently solve the problem of ensuring the full development of children in extreme conditions; they need additional, targeted support from the state. In its absence, the process of depopulation will increase. The question of the need to preserve the “Children of the North” program was repeatedly raised. Unfortunately, the efforts were in vain. Although a number of problems of children in the North are highlighted as a separate line in the “Healthy Generation” and “Children and Family” subprograms of the Federal Target Program “Children of Russia,” this is not enough.
3. The problem of abortion
The population of our country is declining: more people are dying than are being born. This has brought to life the president’s new demographic initiative, which provides for support for families with children, an increase in child benefits, payment of maternity capital, etc. But economic measures alone are clearly not enough. It is necessary for motherhood and fatherhood to become a conscious need, and for children to be a desirable and significant life goal for every family. In Volgograd they approached the problem from a different angle. Here, for the first time in Russia, a psychologist service began working at antenatal clinics. Their task is to convince a pregnant woman planning to have an abortion to abandon her decision and save the life of the unborn child.
Five main reasons for abortion in Russia
Why does a woman decide to undergo an abortion operation that is unsafe, has a serious impact on her health and well-being, and is not very approved by society? As a rule, not from a good life, psychologists have found. Here are the most common reasons:
Unstable marriage, lack of confidence in the partner. When a marriage is falling apart at the seams or “love hasn’t worked out,” only the most naive women expect that the birth of a child, and not their first one, will help save the relationship. Most women are afraid that this, on the contrary, will alienate their husband or partner, and they will be left alone with a child, or even two, in their arms.
Unsolved housing problems. Many young families are forced to live with their parents or rent expensive housing. This often becomes the reason for refusing to have a child, especially a second one.
Poor financial situation. With low incomes for young families, the birth of a child often forces them to further lower their standard of living, denying themselves many things. But if, at the birth of the first child, grandparents are ready to provide them with assistance, including financial assistance, then the birth of the second grandchild is sometimes greeted without much joy, since it also places a burden on them.
Insufficient level of sexual culture. Many young women and men are not aware of modern methods contraception, do not think about the consequences of casual and unprotected sex.
Medical indications. The health status of many women is such that pregnancy (especially repeated pregnancy) can be dangerous for them. Official statistics are silent about the prevalence of such a phenomenon as pregnancy due to rape, but, according to doctors, it is not as rare as it seems.
Over the past 15 years, the number of abortions in Russia has decreased significantly - more than 2 times. If in the early 90s more than 4 million abortions were officially registered, then in recent years, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation, their number does not exceed 1.7 million per year. And yet it is too early to talk about significant successes in this area: at the same time, our birth rate was falling, so about 57% of all pregnancies still end in abortion. Particularly alarming is the fact that every fifth abortion is performed on teenage girls under 18 years of age.
From 10 to 15% of abortions result in various complications that require serious and long-term treatment, and sometimes end tragically - in the death of the woman. Up to 8% of women become infertile after an abortion. In our country, every 10th married couple is unable to conceive a child. According to the Scientific Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, 6-7 million Russian women are infertile, but these data are incomplete.
There is no doubt that the legalization of abortion in the 20th century was an element of woman’s emancipation and gave her the right to decide her own destiny. But since then, it has somehow been forgotten that both a woman and a man equally participate in the birth of a new life. 29-year-old Zhanna and her husband Ilya represent a rare case: this couple came to one of the Volgograd antenatal clinics together. They have an apartment and a second-grader son is growing up.
But if we have a second child, we will all have to limit ourselves in many ways - the family budget will shrink,” says Ilya. - You still need to live up to the “maternity capital”, and money for additional expenses will be needed not in three years, but immediately. The wife receives a good salary. What will she be left with after maternity leave? According to the law, everything should be preserved, but will the employer wait?
The psychologist must be prepared for such a conversation. Will Tatiana be able to convince Zhanna and Ilya that the greatest joy of the birth of a baby will atone for all the passing everyday troubles and material difficulties? For now, it is enough that both of them have not made a final decision.
Abortion is clearly prohibited by the Catholic Church and Islam, so in countries where these religions have a strong position, abortion statistics are low. Abortions are allowed in most countries in Europe, North America, East Asia - China, Mongolia, Vietnam, North Korea and almost in India. They are allowed with restrictions in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. In China, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea and Vietnam, from 25 to 45 abortions are performed per 100 pregnant women, in India and Turkey - 5. In Zambia and South Africa - about 5, in the rest of Africa - at least 17.
In the European Union, abortion is legal everywhere except Ireland. However, their numbers vary: from 18.3 in Sweden to 5.4 per 1000 women of childbearing age in Spain. The Netherlands has the least number of them in the world: less than 5 per 1000 women.
The maximum number of abortions occurs in the republics of the former USSR and former socialist countries: in 14 out of 25 countries - from 40 to 63 per 100 pregnant women.
4. Maternity benefits
Russian parliamentarians are convinced that there is no problem in the country with finding sources of funds necessary to increase maternity benefits. In their opinion, huge gold and foreign exchange reserves and a stabilization fund can be used for these purposes. At the same time, parliamentarians believe, it is necessary to make accurate, arithmetically verified calculations so that the innovation is beneficial to women with both large and small salaries. In addition, politicians expressed the opinion that it is necessary to proceed from the minimum subsistence level of the child, and not from the salary that the woman received before pregnancy, so as not to discriminate against the majority of women in the country who have low wages.
The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation found the legal norm limiting the maximum amount of maternity benefits to be inconsistent with the Constitution. The norm, which was preserved in the laws on the budget of the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) for five years, essentially deprived wealthy working women of equal compensation for wages during maternity leave.
In six months, by decision of the Constitutional Court, the first part of Article 15 of the law “On the Budget of the Social Insurance Fund for 2002”, which for the first time established the average monthly income level, which cannot be exceeded by maternity payments, will no longer be in force. During this time, the Russian government and the State Duma will have to amend the current legislation. The corresponding bill, lifting restrictions on the amount of monthly maternity benefits, will be submitted to the State Duma within the next week and a half, and it is planned to pass it before the end of the spring session.
The basis for the investigation was a complaint to the Constitutional Court from a resident of the city of Sarov Nizhny Novgorod region Tatyana Banykina, who filed a complaint with the court about the violation of the constitutional rights of all well-earning women to receive state social guarantees during the period of bearing a child. In the ruling, the judge said the laws “disproportionately limit the amount of maternity benefits for insured women whose average earnings exceed their cap.”
In 2002, the amount of the monthly maternity benefit was determined in the amount of average earnings and did not exceed 11,700 rubles. Since 2002, the “maternal maximum” has been raised several times and by 2007 the threshold rose to 16,125 rubles. However, this amount is far from being 100% compensation for average annual earnings for all Russian women.
At the same time, many experts doubt that the state will soon begin to compensate 100 percent of the income of pregnant women and young mothers.
The Constitutional Court refers to documents of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which state that it is preferable to increase the amount of maternity payments to 100% of the average wage. As Elena Vinogradova, representative of the Federation Council in the Constitutional Court, explained, thus, the size restrictions will remain, and it is still difficult to say how much benefits will be increased.
According to the State Duma representative in the Constitutional Court, Elena Mizulina, the government and the Duma will have to provide for “some other mechanism” for payments, since the Social Insurance Fund may not have enough funds. It is possible that part of the amount will be paid additionally by the employer.
According to Anna Gvozditskikh, a lawyer for the NGO Center for Social and Labor Rights, employers are unlikely to positively evaluate such an innovation. Today, benefits for expectant and young mothers are paid entirely from insurance amounts, while employers often unreasonably believe that women cost them more than men.
According to the plenipotentiary representative of the government in the Constitutional, Supreme and Arbitration Courts, Mikhail Barshchevsky, “The Constitutional Court motivated its decision with the desire to create favorable conditions to increase the birth rate." “It seems to me that the Constitutional Court has gone beyond its powers. Issues of demographic policy fall within the competence of the legislative and executive powers,” Barshchevsky said.
poverty social family orphanhood
5. Social orphanhood: street children
The scientific community became interested in the problem of homelessness back in the early 90s. However, systematic surveys have not been carried out across Russia or large regions. The reason is the lack of own funds and budgetary allocations from scientific institutions, as well as the lack of interest in this problem among the authorities, both local and federal. Research teams carried out surveys only for individual cities in Russia.
The problems of street children have been studied for several years by the Institute of Socio-Economic Problems of Population of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This paper presents the results of surveys in 1995 and 1999 conducted by the author, a survey by Rossiyskaya Gazeta in 2002, as well as a survey of experts who analyzed the situation of homelessness in the country.
The 1995 survey involved 115 street children who were in a reception center in Samara. The results showed that 62.5% of children ran away from home, previously lived in families.This is also confirmed by statistical data on those delivered to children's reception centers (in 1999 they were transformed into temporary isolation centers for juvenile offenders). In 1995, 32.4 thousand teenagers, or 56.6% of all those brought to reception centers, ran away from their families. About half (43.7%) of the examined children lived in single-parent families, i.e. with one of the parents (almost always the mother), 31% - with grandparents or other relatives. The main reason for this situation is the deprivation of parents' rights for failure to fulfill their responsibilities towards their children. Only 25% of children live in full family, i.e. with father and mother. However, very often in such a family there is an unemployed person (sometimes both parents are unemployed), and there are other reasons for trouble. Quite a large number of children run away from alcoholic parents. Moreover, this reason was never noted in our survey as the only one; it was usually accompanied by the child’s starvation, his poor relationships with parents and teachers. Another point should be noted: children who left home for this reason accounted for almost 30% among 9-14 year olds, half among 5-8 year olds and almost 100% among 15-17 year olds. About 18% of children noted reluctance to study as the reason for leaving home. About 12% left home because no one wanted them there. Among the reasons is this: the mother died, and the child was left in the care of relatives who do not care about him. At the same time, none of the children surveyed noted a lack of love for their parents and relatives as a reason for leaving home. Even children from families of alcoholics did not take advantage of this hint. About 10% of children in the survey ran away from home because they wanted to travel. But even in this case this reason did not act as the only one, usually she was accompanied by the following: “ran away for company,” “bad relationship with parents.” Only 5% of teenagers ran away from home solely in search of romance and adventure. 5% of children according to survey data ran away from orphanages, shelters, boarding schools, etc.In 1995, according to state statistics, their number (who ran away) in reception centers was 5.6 thousand or 9.8% of the total number of children taken there. The absolute number is not very large. However, if we compare them with all children living in orphanages, their share will be 6.9%, while only 0.3% of all children living in a family run away from families. The main reason why children run away from reception centers is the desire to return home, despite the difficult life there (87%). 25% ran away due to poor relationships with teachers and mistreatment of them. Different children are running ages,in our survey the smallest is 6 years. The most significant group of street children are children aged 9-14 years (58% of all street children). Distribution by semishows that these are mainly boys - 78.6%, girls make up 21.4%. The majority of street children are city residents (almost 80%). Rural children make up just over 20%. Length of staychildren in homelessness range from 2-3 days to 7 months (meaning those who end up in a reception center. If the child is outside a reception center or other child care institution, then these periods can be as long as desired). Moreover, our survey revealed the following pattern: the younger the child’s age, the longer the period of his or her homelessness. The explanation is quite difficult to find. Dangers facing street teenagersdiverse. One of them is connected with the place of overnight stay. Street children usually spend the night “wherever they have to” (this is the most common answer). Many have a permanent place in the attics or basements of mostly old houses, at train stations and can become easy prey for any criminal, including a maniac. The teenager faces another danger while earning a living. Its main sources: begging, theft, petty racketeering, haggling, part-time work at gas stations, car washes, collection and delivery of empty bottles. Those who are stronger can work as loaders in a store. One of the teenagers named his source of income as “undressing children.” Many disappointments and surprises await them along this path. Most street children are connected to one degree or another with the criminal world. Street children can also join a group of adults, and if it is criminal, it is very difficult to get out of it, according to employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to statistics from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with a general increase in crime, adults are committing fewer and fewer crimes; in 70% of cases, minors convicted of any crime were supervised by adults. Having run away from home, from the oppression and cruelty of parents, a teenager is often still at risk of becoming a victim of violence, robbery, and insult. Thus, according to some data, from 20 to 40% of children undergo physical violence, and about 8% - sexual violence. These children are also highly likely to acquire bad habits, become addicted to drugs, alcohol, criminal activity, and prostitution. HealthAccording to the survey results, the number of homeless children leaves much to be desired: more than 70% of children are sick. Second examinationstreet children was carried out in 1999. It was attended by 69 street children who were located in the Central Institute of Children's Education in Veliky Novgorod. His data confirmed many of the trends identified in the 1995 survey. The majority of street children (52%), as in the first survey, have a family: 28% - complete, 24% - incomplete, 36% - live with other relatives, with their grandmother and /or with grandfather, 16% - in an orphanage, orphanage. Living with parents is not always positive for a child. From a young age, these children saw something that, according to psychologists, had an impact on their psyche and will affect their entire future lives. Only a very few of them can forget about it later and lead a different way of life. This survey revealed new patterns: 45.5% of children had one of their parents, and in some cases both were unemployed, 17.4% of children had one of their parents in prison, 8.9% had parents (or one of them) deprived of parental rights. A comparative assessment with the 1995 survey shows that the reasons for running away from home, as well as their frequency, have not changed. On average, each child ran away from home (orphanage) 5 times, but in some cases this number, according to them, reached 25-30 escapes. More than a quarter of children (22.6%) did not study or work. This is the most dangerous group. They found themselves, as it were, alone with life, without the slightest support from relatives and loved ones at the age when they most needed it. Not only their parents, but also the school, housemates, and the public did not pay any attention to them. A new study confirms the criminal nature of the escapees’ pastime: 52% steal, 30.5% earn extra money (collect bottles, work as loaders in a store), 13% beg. One third of street children earn money alone, 19% sometimes team up. The rest (52.5%) act in groups. This makes it easier for them to survive and defend themselves, but more dangerous for society. When children gather in groups, they feel more unpunished and become more aggressive and embittered. Let us recall that in the 1995 survey, almost 70% of children were united in groups. Apparently, the ideas of individualism, the need and desirability of relying only on oneself, declared in society, did not pass unnoticed even for these children. There is another difference from the 1995 survey: then in 20% of cases these groups were led by adults, now the situation is different - the number of such groups has decreased by more than 3 times and is only 6%. In the 1999 survey, among the organizers, a higher proportion of peers was noted, rather than older children, as was the case in 1995. Some teenagers said that they organized groups themselves. What are these children's plans for the future? In a 1995 survey, 53% of homeless people would like to return home, 29% would like to continue their studies at school, vocational school, technical school, 17.6% want to live like everyone else, some want to study and work. Only 12% had no plans. None of the teenagers noted such a hint as “I can’t change anything,” that is, all children, to one degree or another, hope for the best changes. And the best changes, in their opinion, are to have kind and caring parents(this was noted by 53.8% of street children, including among 9-14 year olds - 64.7%, and among children 6-8 years old - 33.4%), to have a friendly family, respectively - 46.1%, 29 ,4%, 77.6%. At the same time, 17.7% of children noted that they would like to live independently, separately from their parents. The questionnaire also contained what adults thought were typically childish responses. Thus, almost 12% of children aged 9-12 wrote that they would like to have a lot of toys, 23.5% - beautiful clothes. I would especially like to highlight a group of children, for whom the best change is the opportunity to eat well. Moreover, their share is quite large: it amounted to 26.9% of all respondents (including those aged 9-14 years - 23.5%; 6-8 years - 31.7%). Conclusion
In 2006, it became fashionable and relevant to talk about Russia’s demographic problems, about its future in 2015, 2020, 2050 or even 2100. Both on the scale of the federation and in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the implementation of the corresponding “projects” has begun, for which it is planned to allocate colossal and simply unprecedented amounts for our tight-fisted state. In this regard, in conclusion I would like to note one important fact, which is somehow missed by modern Russian society. An increase in the birth rate, even to stratospheric “African” heights, and, accordingly, a drop in mortality is simply meaningless, in conditions when the majority of Russian children live in dysfunctional families and face such phenomena as parental alcoholism, violence, including sexual violence, humiliation, and poverty. , homelessness. Without solving these problems, Russia's key problem - the degradation of its human potential and the decline in viability as a self-sufficient society - will not and cannot be solved. An analysis of the situation shows that the authorities, although they have a fairly good grasp of the situation, do not want and are not ready to act adequately to it. It seems that they do not have a clear idea of what needs to be done. Caring for the entire society about children, about all of them, not just about our own, should become a priority in society. Today, most people don't have this yet. To overcome such a crisis of public consciousness, it is necessary to recognize it. “Devastation,” as Professor Preobrazhensky argued, “is not an old woman with a stick, devastation is in our heads.” Society's awareness of its condition as a crisis would mean the beginning of qualitative changes. Bibliography
1.Alekseeva L.S. About violence against children in the family. // Sotsis, 2003 No. 4. P. 78 - 85. 2.Breeva E.B. Social orphanhood: experience of sociological research. // Socis, 2004 No. 4. P. 44 - 51. 3.Vakulina O.S. Family counseling and family therapy within the framework of social work with families. // Russian Journal of Social Work, 1998 No. 2-3. pp. 51-64. 4.Zaigraev G.G. Features of the Russian model of alcohol consumption. // Socis, 2002 No. 12. P. 33-41. 5.Rimashevskaya N.M. Poverty and marginalization of the population. // Socis, 2004 No. 4. P. 33 - 44. 6.Sheleg L.A. Dysfunctional family as an object of social and pedagogical activity. // #"justify">. Bateneva T., Kornev V. Save the unborn. // Izvestia, April 3, 2007. .Russia has the means to increase child benefits. // “Regions.ru”, March 23, 2007 .Korshunov A.
Benefits for women in labor: it’s too early to rejoice // Economics and Life, March 31, 2007. 10.Evpanova V.
The medical and demographic situation in the country still remains very difficult. // Medical newspaper, March 30, 2007.
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The problem of childhood in the modern world
Lutseva Irina Yurievna
Taganrog Institute named after A.P. Chekhov (branch) of the Rostov State Economic University (RINH)
annotation
childhood adult relationship gap
This article reveals the problem of childhood, shows the attitude towards childhood in different historical periods of time and at the present stage of development of society. The current stage of building new forms of relationships between children and adults is also considered, the main indicator of which is the gap between the lives of children and adults.
Key words: future, growing up., Childhood, innovation, childhood crisis, adult world, society
Childhood is one of the most important periods in a person’s life. During this period, the child goes through the greatest path in his individual development from a helpless being to a personality adapted to nature and society, capable of taking responsibility.
Today, there are many definitions of the concept of “childhood”, as well as delimitation of its time frame.
Thus, from the point of view of sociology, childhood is nothing more than a permanent and naturally changing part of society, which performs a number of specific functions, and also actively interacts with society and its individual elements. In physiology and psychology, childhood represents a stage of the life cycle, during which the body begins and continues to develop, forming its most important functions. And in social pedagogy, this period of life is considered as the initial stage of socialization of the individual, including the assimilation of a certain system of knowledge, norms and values, the development of social roles that allow the child to develop and function in society.
The problem of childhood and the patterns of mental and personal development of the child were studied by such scientists as L.S. Vygotsky P.P. Blonsky, S.L. Rubinstein, A.F. Lazursky, A.N. Leontyev, L.I. Bozovic et al.
The authors offer a large number of concepts and principles of the psychophysical development of a child during this period of life, however, today there is no consensus or answer to the question of what childhood should be like and how the younger generation should be raised.
The evolution of the status of childhood has come a long and difficult way. Even in the Middle Ages, receptivity to education was considered a positive feature of childhood. A prominent representative of that time, Philip of Navarre, noted that this period is the foundation for the rest of life, on which a good and strong future can be built. Later, a great contribution to the attitude towards childhood was made by the scientist Erasmus of Rotterdam, who determined that it is extremely important to take into account age and not allow anything that may exceed the child’s strength in any type of activity.
From the point of view of science, the understanding of childhood as a special and unique phenomenon began to take shape in the second half of the 19th century, but only in the 20th century did interest in childhood arise as a special social phenomenon thanks to the efforts of M. Montessori, N.F. Pestalozzi and other pedagogical reformers.
The rapid development of the modern world has a huge impact on childhood. Today, the child is recognized as an independent subject of law and has a special social status. However, active technologization and the introduction of innovations in all spheres of life put forward an urgent need to connect the world of children with the world of adults.
On the one hand, the world of adults and the world of children have become closer, which is due to the fact that the child has access to everything that was previously forbidden: he has almost unlimited access to information, more and more is becoming permissible, and from this a certain independence of children has appeared.
On the other hand, adults moved away from children, and not only because the former stopped caring for children. Recently, children have remained aloof from society's activities in discussing various adult problems.
Today people are increasingly talking about discrimination against children. The world of childhood is somehow deformed by the world of adults.
The current stage of building new forms of relationships between children and adults is designated by scientists as a crisis of childhood, the main indicator of which is the gap between the lives of children and adults.
Scientists identify a number characteristic features for this crisis.
Firstly, the relationship between adults and children is changing, in which adults act as teachers and educators, where their efforts are aimed not at interacting with the child, but at influencing.
Secondly, previously formed ideas about the development of the world as growing up are destroyed, and a period of breaking the image of the adult world begins. If previously children could not wait to enter the world of adults, today there is a certain fear of growing up.
Thirdly, children found themselves completely outside of socially significant matters. Today, the tendency to distance the world of adults from the world of children is becoming more popular. However, there are several sides to considering this feature of the childhood crisis. On the one hand, children are provided with all the benefits, but at the same time adults do not let them into their world, as a result of which the former resort to extreme measures to defend their rights to stay in the world of adults - alcohol, smoking, drugs, etc. On the other hand, they are completely excluded from real socially significant activities, are more often pampered by their parents and remain under their care longer, but this all leads to no less unpleasant consequences. Children become unable to do anything, which in turn leads to prolonged infantilism.
There is also a collapse of specific types of children’s activities - “pseudo-school” forms of education are crowding out play from children’s lives. Distribution of activities specific to children during adolescence junior school student, leads to an exacerbation of the teenage crisis, its protracted and destructive nature. Play and children's parties have undergone enormous changes due to the active informatization and computerization of society, especially in recent decades.
All this is happening under the powerful onslaught of innovation in the modern world. The media, television and the uncontrolled flow of information from our computer monitors are replacing traditional forms of children’s activities and communication with adults, which leads to a distortion of children’s worldview and their life values, and cases of mental health problems in children are becoming common.
All this suggests that the child is joining adult life much faster than several years ago, back in preschool age he begins to actively become acquainted with modern technology, and at school he becomes a confident user of it. Parents increasingly demand discipline and obedience from their children, limiting the right to choose and the opportunity to be themselves. All this entails irreversible consequences: weakened physical and mental health, loss of active communication skills, distortion of moral and ethical ideas, shallowing of the inner world.
As D.B. believed Elkonin, childhood arises precisely when a child cannot be included in the system of social production due to the fact that he is not able to fully master the tools of labor due to their complexity, as a result of which the natural inclusion of children in productive labor is postponed. However, this idea was relevant a couple of decades ago, and today we see a completely opposite picture.
Despite a lot of pedagogical research and statistical data indicating that in the modern world the growth of such children's problems as social orphanhood, deviance in the children's sphere, the problem of health, social adaptation and freedom of choice has increased, the activity of state policy in the field of childhood has increased.
Today, it is the child who is at the center of numerous discussions and debates; it is in relation to childhood that new laws and regulations are being developed on such a large scale. All this indicates that childhood is of great importance for the state, and therefore for the future.
Each of us was once a child, and today, having the opportunity to consider the problem of childhood through a scientific prism, we can realize how difficult it is to be a child and how great the task of pedagogy is in this difficult time in every person’s life. Today, the main task of each of us is to help the younger generation, because their future and the future of our country will depend on us. And if today a child is just a tiny birth of a new life in the womb, then tomorrow he will become a new maker of history, a person capable of opening new horizons.
Bibliography
Borovikova L.V. The world of adults and the world of childhood: trends in the development of relationships // Academic Bulletin of the Institute of Adult Education of the Russian Academy of Education // Man and Education No. 1 (26) 2011, St. Petersburg [Electronic resource] - Access mode: http://obrazovanie21.narod.ru/Files/2011-1_p069-073.pdf
Gaisina G.I. The world of childhood as a social and pedagogical problem //Psychological and pedagogical problems of education// Pedagogical education in Russia.2011.No.5 [Electronic resource] - Access mode: http://journals.uspu.ru/i/inst/ped/ped16/ped_17.pdf
Kodzhaspirova G.M. Pedagogical anthropology: textbook. aid for students universities - M.: Gardariki, 2005. - 287 p.
Mukhina V.S. Developmental psychology: phenomenology of development, childhood, adolescence: Textbook for students. universities - 7th edition, stereotype. - M.: Publishing center "Academy", 2003. - 456 p.
Elkonin D. B. Child psychology: textbook. aid for students higher textbook institutions - 4th ed., erased. - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2007. - 384 p.
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Despite the child’s exposure to a variety of educational and educational activities from the state and family. At the end of the twentieth century. A number of scientific works have appeared in which the problem of the loss of the specificity of childhood has arisen - the disappearance of specific features, differences of children, manifestations of the subjectivity and originality of each individual child, that which is peculiar to childhood and distinguishes the world of children from the world of adults. Or their replacement with differences in teenage subculture or adult culture.
Signs of loss of childhood specificity include:
- The disappearance of certain elements of the children's subculture ( children's folklore, traditional children's games, etc.) or replacing them with elements of teenage subculture and adult culture. This leads to the inability of the child to develop in her own way.
- The predominance of adult types of activities in children, the disappearance or insufficient manifestation of actual children's activities (swinging, outdoor games, live communication with peers, reading children's literature, etc.). As a result, children's individuality is lost.
- The loss of children's infrastructure (children's newspapers, magazines, books, food, films, clothing, toys, entertainment, etc.) of its purely childish characteristics, not taking into account the characteristics of child development.
- Reorientation in the formation of the mental gender of the child’s personality from a clearly fixed gender role model to an inversion model (masculine for girls and feminine for boys).
- A decrease in the level of cognitive development of children, their natural curiosity, the desire to read and learn new things is especially characteristic of children during childhood.
- Premature maturation of modern children. IN modern conditions childhood is getting closer and closer and resembles the world of adults. And this can lead to the fact that the very sociality of childhood can be destroyed.
Among the reasons for the loss of childhood specificity are the following:
– Destruction of institutions of socialization (family and children's community) and changes in methods of cultural transmission: the direct method (through adults and children) and the method of transmission through cultural tools (books, toys, works of art) are replaced by television methods and television socialization;
– Liberalization of sexual morality and demoralization of children's subculture by the adult community. Due to the weakening influence of the family and the introduction of a unisex model of sexual socialization, children are less focused on romantic love and family values, and more on “sex appeal”;
– Contradictory attitude towards childhood; adults ignoring all aspects of children's lives, except those that, in their opinion, lead to success;
– Availability and widespread distribution of the media environment. Television and computers blur the boundary between childhood and adulthood, because they do not require training to understand them and do not distinguish the target audience
– Early exposure of children to adult information (propaganda of cynicism, sexualization, cult of money, power, permissiveness). Which is difficult for them to perceive, does not correspond to the level of their development, but takes root in the memory of children. This leads to a transformation of their value system, the assimilation of “on-screen” patterns of behavior, criteria of beauty and justice;
The reasons for the loss of childhood specificity can be called the following:
– The emergence of things for children (entertainment, clothing, food), but created as for adults. Children gradually lose their childishness and become more and more like little adults. Their products and entertainment are increasingly reminiscent of adult things, destroying children's individuality and originality;
– The demographic crisis and the decline in many indicators of the quality of life of children in terms of their physical, mental and moral-spiritual health, the child’s humane attitude to the objective and social world, subjective psycho-emotional well-being, kindness, an optimistic picture of the world of children;
– The emergence of anti-childbirth and social movements. Who strive to equalize the rights and opportunities of children and adults. This leads, on the one hand, to the reluctance of adults to communicate with children and to have children in general. On the other hand, it leads to one-sided education (children are given rights, but they do not have responsibilities), which leads to the formation of an irresponsible personality;
– Weakening of playful interactive forms of joint activities of children;
– Low level of spiritual development of people, their low reading culture, undeveloped and indiscriminate cognitive interests.
Thus, modern childhood is under the influence of a number of factors (destruction of the family and children's community, demographic crisis, processes of informatization and virtualization, the formation of consumer behavior patterns, the childhood industry, etc.), etc. This significantly changes its specifics (elements disappear children's subculture and purely childish characteristics in children's things, the level of play activity and cognitive development of children decreases, etc.).
Societies differ in what age group has the greatest status. In traditional cultures, the status of an individual increases steadily with the number of years lived, and the elderly have absolute authority. In an industrial society, able-bodied adults have the greatest influence, pushing retirees to the periphery. IN modern society, in which youth becomes the greatest value, belonging to the younger generation becomes a value in the labor market. The specificity of modern industrial and post-industrial society is the ever-increasing speed of change, and the gap between the culture of different generations is increasingly growing. In the 70s XX century, as the rate of change in the external environment increases, internal differences between young people and old people inevitably become more noticeable. The pace of change becomes so intense that a few years of difference produces large differences in life experience person. The younger generation as the bearer of the most modern knowledge and those better prepared for the future acquire a higher status than their parents. Adults begin to imitate children, master their clothing style, their jargon, and listen to their music. It has become fashionable to make large feature films for adults based on cartoons and computer games.
Children's vision of the world is now becoming universal. Interest in childhood is becoming more and more intense, and the image of a child occupies an increasingly important place in the world of adults.
The profound changes in modern childhood are revealed and deeply analyzed by D. I. Feldstein. The meaning of these changes, revealed by him, is “civilizational breakdown”: “... the emerging instability of the social, economic, ideological situation, discrediting many moral guidelines causes massive psychological stress, which has a serious impact on the general spiritual and physical health of people.” “It is very alarming that... there is a detachment of the adult World from the World of childhood. In fact, children today have left the system of constant contact with adults,” says D. I. Feldshtein. The most alarming factors that determine profound changes in growing people include: 1) marketization, market ethics, which increases children’s orientation toward consumption; 2) adoption, which separates the child from the cultural traditions of society and its history; 3) marginalization - unequal access to educational resources, growth of deviations and much more. Modern research shows that the child has become different. D. I. Feldshtein identified 13 positions that reveal these changes:
- 1) decreased cognitive development of children;
- 2) decreased energy in children, increased emotional discomfort;
- 3) impoverishment of the level of development role-playing game, which leads to underdevelopment of the child’s motivational-need-post sphere, as well as his will and arbitrariness;
- 4) decrease in children's curiosity and imagination;
- 5) deficiency of voluntariness;
- 6) insufficient social competence of 25% of younger children school age, their helplessness in relationships with peers, inability to resolve simple conflicts. At the same time, there is a dangerous tendency when more than 30% of independent solutions proposed by children are clearly aggressive in nature;
- 7) introducing children to TV with early age has serious consequences, such children need constant external stimulation;
- 8) impoverishment and restriction of communication of children, including children adolescence, with peers, an increase in the phenomena of loneliness, rejection, low level of communicative competence;
- 9) an increase in children with emotional problems who are in a state of affective tension;
- 10) intensification of the onslaught of information flows, primarily television and the Internet.
Factors of intensive childhood change. In big Russian cities Modern children don’t have yards -“spaces of life with an air of freedom” (B. Okudzhava), and in rural areas - gaming outskirts. Child psychiatrists and psychotherapists say: children's play yards were taken away, and then they were forced to occupy attics and basements.
Democratizing children's lives, legal freedoms recorded in international, state and other documents, and restrictions (especially in big cities) on the space of children’s life activities, the actual deprivation of the child’s inalienable right to play, primarily traditional for all cultures - play with peers.
The value of children and marriage, the formation of parental attitudes and a special emotional connection with the child, family life “for the sake of the children” - and a sharp decline in the birth rate, conscious celibacy: “... the value of children becomes an independent factor motivating birth control - such is the paradox of our time.”
Rise in the last decade standard of living child (increased consumption of goods and services, increased living comfort, mechanization of everyday life, the quantity and quality of the children's entertainment industry - books, films, toys for children, etc.) - and a decrease quality of life(the child’s subjective satisfaction with the conditions of his life, his psycho-emotional well-being, optimism).
Significant costs of the socialization process of modern youth include pronounced infantilism a significant part of it, which is caused by the peculiarities of the gaming consciousness, convinced of its protection from the responsibilities and hardships of everyday life. Playing with reality, or playing in an illusory world, which is expressed in fashionable youth communities living according to the laws of virtual reality, in long-term material and everyday dependence on parents, etc., is based on a secret desire to renounce those social rights, the implementation of which is associated with practically-oriented efforts and at the same time from the rights and responsibilities assumed by “adult” life.
The right to childhood is hypertrophied to the right to eternal childhood, which, in essence, there is a denial of the right to adulthood.
There have been serious shifts in the motivational needs of children - emergence of new, very dubious values, negative shift in motives etc. To a large extent, this is due to the loss and lack of stable socially developed guidelines, clarity of positions in relation to the reality of adult society itself. The structures that ensure the formation of children's society have been reduced to a minimum, in particular various children's amateur associations, the importance of which cannot be covered by various subject sections, clubs and other extracurricular forms of educational work. Children feel the need to develop multifaceted connections among themselves at different ages, to organize special social structures that are significant both in adults and in children's world. In the absence of such positive structures, growing children realize the need for connections with peers in the subcultures of certain groups, in spontaneous associations, in small, often negatively oriented groups, manifesting themselves in their own way in mass shows and discos.
A modern child from an early age is free to use a TV, computer, smartphone, tablet and other electronic devices. He masters all this as already solved problems, a starting position. Children grab the highest, achieved level. Meanwhile, for adults these tasks are still in the process of development, conclude the decision process. Moreover, when dealing with new electronic and computer toys, games, etc., the child, in his relationship to them, raises questions that require adults to comprehend them.
A situation has developed that is difficult and inadequate to the needs of children and the tasks of education in building relationships between children and the adult world. On the one hand, the adult world seems to have come closer: children have become not only more relaxed towards adults, more confident, and often condescending and contemptuous, which is associated with the greater availability of information, with the fact that almost everything previously forbidden has become accessible and permitted , a certain independence of children appeared. On the other hand, at the same time, the adult world has moved away, since adults not only become less involved with children, but also do not appear before them in a clear position of their attitude and their demands. At the same time, older children - teenagers and high school students - actually retain the position of a child in the eyes of close adults and the adult world as a whole. Children are not included in the sphere of social activity and in the discussion at an accessible level of those economic, environmental, socio-political and other problems that adults live with.
Schools still do not adequately create opportunities for children to be included in situations, requiring them to demonstrate personal social activity, self-determination and responsibility. There is obviously a sharp contradiction between the accelerated general social development of children, associated with conditional inclusion in the world of adults, and the possibilities of real social functioning and real personally significant ways of socialization and individualization that are closed to them.
In modern conditions, a qualitatively new circumstance has appeared that significantly complicates the process of developing the personality of a growing person, as already mentioned - avalanche-like, uncontrollable, uncontrolled information from cinema, television and computer screens, pages of magazines and newspapers of varying levels of dignity and dubiousness. All material specially presented to the child, from educational subjects to moral principles, no matter how broad it may be and no matter how hard parents and teachers try, is in the same vein with a much larger flow of this free information.
Modern childhood has expanded significantly in time, has lengthened in developed countries over the past 100-130 years by 1/3 - from 12 to 18 years. At the same time, increasingly dynamic development occurs within each stage (stage) of childhood.
Serious problems of moral education have arisen: obvious sympathy and trust of some children in "new values" - pragmatism and individualism against the backdrop of persistent calls to be competitive and successful, often at any cost; increase in aggressiveness, immoral acts, cases of violence against peers, adults, teachers. Foreign researchers also note aggressiveness and an insensitive attitude towards people. Analyzing “the motives for the ever-increasing cruelty of schoolchildren,” modern Japanese researcher S. Murayama comes to the conclusion: “Children who committed the most brutal crimes were no different from their peers: neither in family, nor in psychological, nor in economic terms - they were the same as everyone else " He explains the inhumanity of their actions by the emptiness of their inner world, loss of sensitivity to living things: these are “people with robot syndromes.” Many modern toys also contribute to this - Barbie dolls, monsters, zombies, etc., creating an inhumane gaming environment. All this indicates the need to develop ecology of childhood, aimed at developing ways to solve childhood problems and create a comfortable and prosperous living environment and life for children.
Childhood is a social phenomenon, but the idea of Childhood is not characteristic of every society. Neil Postman, in his best-selling book The Disappearance of Childhood, ominously and fatalistically suggests that if the “idea of childhood” appeared at a certain stage in human history, then it may disappear. Something similar is already happening in the modern world. Children's clothing is disappearing, children's toys and games increasingly have a pronounced character of attributes and actions of the Adult World, and not always the best. Children's vices and crime are not much different from adults.
A clear understanding of all the outlined problems, their anthropological and pedagogical analysis and comprehension are aimed at finding real ways to solve the problems of modern childhood.
Test questions and assignments
- 1. What is the universality of the worldview of modern children and how does this affect the world of adults?
- 2. Characterize and illustrate with examples the profound changes in modern childhood.
- 3. Justify the ways of neutralization negative factors intensive changes in childhood.
- 4. J. Korczak formulated the child’s requirements for adults. How do you think, they correspond to modern children? Justify your opinion.
"Don't spoil me, you are spoiling me with this. I know very well that it is not necessary to provide me with everything I request. I'm just testing you.
Do not be afraid be firm with me. I prefer this approach. This allows me to determine my place.
Do not answer to stupid and meaningless questions. If you do this, you will soon discover that I just want you to deal with me all the time.
Don't pay attention too much attention to my little ailments. I can enjoy feeling bad if it brings too much attention to me.
Do not allow my bad habits to attract an excessive share of your attention to me. This will only inspire me to continue them.
Don't force make me feel younger than I really am. I will take it out on you by becoming a “crybaby” and a “whiner.”
Do not do it for me and for me what I am able to do for myself. I can continue to use you as a servant.
Don't give in to my provocations, when I say or do something just to upset you. And then I will try to achieve even greater “victories”.
Don't demand immediate explanations from me as to why I did this or that. Sometimes I myself don’t know why I act this way and not otherwise.
Do not expose too much of a test of my honesty. When intimidated, I easily turn into a liar.
Let my fears and fears do not cause you concern. Otherwise I will be even more afraid. Show me what courage is.
Don't let promises that you cannot keep will shake my faith in you.
Don't be inconsistent. This confuses me and makes me try harder to have the last word in all cases.
Don't find fault come to me and don't grumble at me. If you do this, I will be forced to defend myself by pretending to be deaf.
Dont be upset too much when I say, “I hate you.” I don't mean that literally. I just want you to regret what you did to me.
If you tell me that you love me and then ask me to do something for you, I think I'm in the market. But then I will bargain with you and, believe me, I will make a profit.
Don't force me to feel that my misdeeds are a mortal sin. I have the right to make mistakes, correct them and learn from them. But if you convince me that I am not good for anything, then in the future I will be afraid to do anything at all, even knowing that it is right.
Don't defend me from the consequences own mistakes. Like you, I learn from experience.
I feel when things are hard and difficult for you. Don't hide from me. Give me the opportunity to experience this with you. When you trust me, I will trust you.
Never even hint that you are perfect and infallible. It gives me a sense of the futility of trying to be equal to you.
Don't correct me in the presence of strangers. I will pay much more attention to your comment if you tell me everything face to face.
Do not worry that we spend too little time together. What's more important to me is how we conduct it.
Don't rely for strength in your relationship with me. This will teach me that only strength needs to be taken into account. I will respond more readily to your initiatives.
be careful, when the time comes in my life to be more focused on peers and older guys. At this time, their opinion may be more important to me than yours. During this period, I am more critical of you and compare your words with your actions.
Treat your computer the same way how you treat your friends. Then I will become your friend. Remember that I learn by imitating examples rather than by being criticized.
It's important for me to know from you, what is right and what is wrong. But most of all, it is important for me to see in your actions confirmation of whether you yourself understand what is right and what is wrong.”
Not all the requirements named by J. Korczak are listed. What other requirements can be presented? modern child to adults?
