Children, as a general rule, defy all of our preconceived notions. In our consensus reality there are rules. In theirs, everything is fair game. Jumping off a park bench yelling “superman!” as far as they are concerned can mean flying from one side of the park to the other. An action figure has feelings, and teddy bears will protect them in the middle of the night from the monsters under their beds. There are no limitations. There are no rules. Anything, and everything, is possible. Unfortunately, as children grow and mature, society beats that belief out of them. One concussion and a hospital trip later, six year olds may start to understand that they are not flying. They cannot suspend themselves mid air. Reality, or our version of it, molds them slowly and gradually, as if they are the hardening play-dough that was left forgotten on the kitchen table. The wonders of the world, the belief in infinite possibilities, all start to crumble with their disappearing innocence. Eventually, they all conform and are christened into our consensus reality – placing clear borders and limitations between what is real, what is fiction, and what is merely fantasy. At some point, they awaken with the word “impossible” on their lips, and it’s a poisonous taste of “reality” they can never wash their mouths clean of.
Consensus reality is a human phenomenon that can be explained as a mindset of a set of people. The consensus reality of one society may differ greatly from that of another society. The old myth “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is a great example of consensus reality. In this old tale, the Emperor hires fashion designers from all over the land to design him a new set of clothing. After finding himself dissatisfied with the proposals of hund...
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...day someone will discover a potion that will reprogram parts of our DNA and abilities, and one day we will all be flying. It sounds crazy, but so did flying cars, until the Wright Brothers invented the airplane.
Our consensus reality is a dangerous thing. It can stifle creativity, innovation, and experimentation. Children are our future, and when they begin to conceive the capabilities the world truly exists, it opens options that once seemed impossible. Jumping off a park bench and yelling “superman!” will not help one fly. But that does not mean that flying s impossible, just improbable. And it is up to these toddlers jumping off park benches to discover these dreams, despite society’s scoffing at their every attempt. The park bench is a good start. Trial and error; all they need is a good teacher or two, a good story or two, to reveal to them the other options.
Kehily, M. J. 2014. Understanding childhood: an introduction to some key themes and issues. [e-book] Available through: online https://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/0335212689.pdf [Accessed: 20 Mar 2014].
Children have their own views of the world. they do not see it as adults do, and they do not see it as other children do. the world is, at this point, a product of their imagination and whatever information they draw in from the world using their senses. (wilkie 100)
Imagination and reality are often viewed as opposites. People are told to stop playing pretend and to face reality like an adult. However, in Alison Gopnik’s short story, “Possible Worlds: Why Do Children Pretend,” she discusses counterfactuals and how humans of all ages experience these counterfactuals. Gopnik’s definition of a counterfactual is the product of hope and imagination, also known as the woulda-coulda-shouldas of life. These counterfactuals include all the possible scenarios that could have happened in the past and all that could happen in the future. Scientists have proven that knowledge and imagination go hand in hand and without imagination, pretend, and fantasy there would be no science or opportunity for change. In the text, Gopnik explains how even babies are capable of
how children live in a world of their own. Adults try to get into this
More specifically, imaginative play is very important during this stage of development because it serves as a means of understanding the world. For example, imaginative play allows the child to comment and try to understand reality via an imaginary world that the child can control and manipulate. This in turn, allows the child to express their feelings in a pretend scenario without receiving the same responses if expressed in reality. As a result, this assists the child in the understanding of emotions and perspective thinking because during imaginative play, the child expresses strong emotions and must empathize with each other’s ideas and feeling (Davies,
Categorization and social projection are important ways that people can more successfully navigate their social environment. People need to know that there are others in their in-group that share the same attitudes and behaviors as they do. If people are unable to determine how many people in their environment share their attitudes and behaviors, it would be more difficult to engage in social situations without offending or contradicting others. For this reason, false consensus is an interesting offshoot of this important idea. The false consensus effect refers to the fact that people have a tendency to over-estimate the proportion of the population that shares an attitude or behavior with him or her.
Consensus: When a person is not sure how to act or what to do, they tend to look at other people to see how they respond. It is well known fact that people tends to follow the majority. This is known as consensus. It can be applied in the organizational and interpersonal settings for instance when rallying a team around an idea.
Cook, G., & Cook, J. L. (2010). The world of children. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
James, A. (1998). From the child's point of view: Issues in the social construction of
...roviding the “box” for more creative and imaginative play. In addition, parents must gather around the dinner table and create family traditions that will last forever in their children’s memories. Parents must emulate the Knott family who are creating memories by spending time together outdoors instead of watching television in separate rooms. As a result, these children develop intellectually, emotionally, and socially and contribute both to their family and community. Elyssa Knott, at the young age of 11 states, "How much fun could you possibly have if you didn't use your imagination?" (Kalb, par.1) As parents follow Kris Knott and her family’s example, they will see their own family beginning to change and acknowledge the importance of spending quality time together, letting go of the television remote and stepping back to the basics of play.
... growth where a child is forced to start looking for solutions for everything that is wrong instead of simply being a child. This analysis prove that children have their own way of seeing things and interpreting them. Their defense mechanisms allow them to live through hard and difficult times by creating jokes and games out of the real situation. This enables then to escape the difficulties of the real world.
The first experience (appendix 1) the practitioner was working with a group of children, the activity was reading a story from a book to which a discussion is formed. The aim of this activity was to promote the children’s thinking development. This type of thinking is from Matthew Lipman (1993) who uses a philosophical approach, it is known ‘stories of thinking,’ this can help to a...
“Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see,” said Neil Postman in his novel: The Disappearance of Childhood. In recent generations, the ideal of childhood innocence has been disappearing due to several factors of modernization. But the innocence of youth needs to be protected so children will learn and grow in healthy ways, rather than rush into adulthood. It is a grown-ups’ responsibility to build a metaphorical wall between a child’s innocence and various types of media and consumerism. Although it is becoming increasingly difficult due to the powerful world of media, which constantly reinvents itself to outwit the latest parental imposition, the preservation of innocence is not impossible. The innocence of children is what turns them into successful adults, and how well adults do at this job may determine our planet’s future survival. The concept of childhood innocence is rapidly dying due to electronic media such as the television, the internet and corporations that use children as a commodity such as Disney, ultimately illustrating that adults must fight to preserve childhood innocence.
My theory of reality seems to go along with Berkeley's in the fact that reality is in the mind. Reality is non-physical and exists only in the minds of us and/or of others. There is no right or wrong in reality and it is proven through different examples and concepts of what is real. Each person sees what he or she wants to from a certain experience and believes it to be reality.
The ability for children to discover is innate. From birth children discover all sorts of different things about the world around them. It has even been said that "babies are as good at discovery as the smartest adult" (Gopnik, 2005). Discovering is the natural way that children learn. By interacting with the world around them, they ar...