Snow Melt

Thoughts on Childhood Trauma

Day 422: "All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma." Kuzuo Ishiguro
The January 14th, 2014 prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt Forum"  is
Do you agree or disagree? What are some popular deceptions that should be told to children? Do you believe it is more traumatic being deceived as a child or more traumatic dealing with the harsh realities of the world at a very young age?

I don't agree with that because just the opposite could be true when the child finds out about the deception, especially if that had to do with someone or something very close to the child. In fact, I'm not sure that, in present world conditions, you can prevent a child from being traumatized in someway. A parent can mitigate the trauma by making sure the line of communication remain open so the child can talk about his or her feelings, but I'm not sure that it can be prevented. Of course, I'm not a psychologist or expert in child psychology, so I could be wrong about preventing childhood traumatic experiences.

I think the important thing when it comes to trauma is learning how to handle it, which is something we do either at the time it occurs (with the help of parents) or it's something most of us do as we grow older and face the side effects of the trauma. If we don't learn how to deal with the side effects then we are stuck in the trauma and need help to deal with it. I think it's better to teach children how to deal with it at the time it occurs because eventually. when the child becomes an adult he or she will have to deal with the side effects of the trauma.

Thought of the Day: “As a matter of fact I had a terribly traumatic childhood. But afterward I sort of reraised myself.” - Michael Gruber, The Good Son