Expert says deprived kids lose values of sharing

CEBU – Most of the deprived children have lost the value of sharing, an expert on children revealed.

Anabelle Fajardo, deputy executive director of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.-Children’s Fund said this after she has observed and been exposed to various behaviors of children being a Social Psychology graduate and a licensed social worker.

During the children’s festival held last October 18 and 19, children from all walks of life with different backgrounds gathered together and mingled with each other despite their cultural, social and economical differences.

Street children, orphaned, abandoned, abused, child laborers, special children, church-based children and those who have fortunately availed education in private and public schools were mixed in groups.

Fajardo said one of the things the facilitating team observed was the children’s behavior toward their group mates the first time they gathered together. Kids were hesitant to share because of some inferiority and superiority complex.

When they allowed the kids to play traditional outdoor games, most of them do not know how to play common street games like patintero, bato-lata and luksong-tinik.

Fajardo said maybe this is one of the reasons why computer games easily click with the young.

She said children are rarely exposed to outdoor games, which is healthier. Kids don’t appreciate this part of the Filipino culture anymore, she added.

Fajardo believed that another contributing factor to the kid’s behavior is the parent’s lack of quality time to spend with their children because television and computers have become substitute to parents who are busy with their jobs.

It is also observed that most of the children from the deprived communities have low self-esteem.

Fajardo said these children often feel discriminated that is why DACF tries its best to make them realize that they have hidden potentials. The children are also malnourished and smaller than the others who are of their age. “They don’t look like their age. They are shorter than kids they age which may be attributed to lack of nutrients they get,” Fajardo said.

“Home is considered the first place where children start learning. In here follows the important role of parents as their first teacher. It is very important that values are taught while a person is still young because it is very hard to inculcate these values when they become adults,” she added. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/WAB (THE FREEMAN)