Prepared for Flying Alone – or with the Others?

By Tuula Pere

February 2^nd, 2019

Prepared for Flying Alone – or with the Others?

Today’s world makes even a reasonably solid grown-up more than confused. How about children then?

The little ones are not well-prepared to meet this puzzled existence. They don’t yet have enough knowledge and experience to tackle the situations they face daily. But how can we ensure that one day they have? Learning to fly alone is a long process, and there is always the human factor involved.

A well-balanced childhood brings forth well-balanced grown-ups. To reach this harmony we have to provide children with the necessities of life – and I don’t mean just food, shelter, and healthcare. This list of obvious needs is long, but at the very beginning of it, I would add education, too.

The Finnish society experienced rapid changes following World War II. The children of the 1960s particularly enjoyed the new opportunities brought about by the welfare state. I am one of those children, and very grateful for that.

My background, combined with my studies at the faculty of law at Helsinki University, has given me a particular way to approach society. I can accept that a well-functioning society requires a lot of special skills, facts, and rules – also the legal ones – but that’s not enough, not for ourselves, nor for working well with others.

At its best, education at various schools or universities gives us more than just the basics for working as a builder, lawyer, teacher, or driver. Besides the necessary occupational knowledge, we get some tools to build us up as human beings. But not always.

The human elements often get lost under piles of practical matters, like lacking time, money, or motivation. We can become skilled professionals in technical details or measured with monetary values, but we can be inadequate as individuals. In the worst case, passing years of material success can make us self-content and selfish. We are happy, as long as we alone are happy!

I wouldn’t like to give this example to children. They deserve something better!

Every generation, in turn, needs its opportunity to learn, think, understand, and say its opinion. Everything happens in close connection to others and their well-being. The ability to take others into account starts developing already in one's childhood.

As adults - parents, teachers, coaches, and authors - we can teach children both to trust their own wings and to share life with others in a human way.