March 27, 2014 - Written by: Guest Blogger

I Believe (and Hope) the Children are the Future…

Back in the day Whitney proudly sang about her belief in the children of the future. Although this hit song can more commonly be found amongst drag queens repertoires and hen night playlists, I think that its message is one that I am greatly dependent upon.

In the past few weeks, I have been somewhat ashamed by those of my generation, those who felt the need to consume a bountiful of alcohol for social media admiration and those who criticized an inoffensive charity campaign that has so far raised over eight million pounds.

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To put it bluntly, I am somewhat perplexed at what my generation deems ‘acceptable’ to the masses and what receives odd amounts of criticism.

In the words of Beyonce, break it down now…

First of all there was the wonderful craze of drinking obscenely unhealthy amounts of alcohol for a bit of attention on social media sites, primarily Facebook.

Those who chose to ‘Neknominate’ not only worried me in terms of how they easily buckled under peer pressure but also there seem to be a lack of care towards how it could affect their future, not just health-wise but in terms of career prospect and the lack of respect for themselves. (I am aware not everyone downed ten pints of gin or ate their pet goldfish but a minority did).

Secondly, the #nomakeupselfie has boomed in recent weeks and raised an outstanding eight million pounds for Cancer Research, and yet the campaign has been criticized for the methods in which people are involved with donating… the so-called ‘vain’ selfie.

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Now Lauren has recently written an applaud-worthy article on this topic but just to add my thoughts (briefly)…

In short I think the campaign not only cleverly makes use of a vain (and usually annoying) past time to raise money but it also addresses the big issue of society’s view towards women.

I’m sure I’m not the first and won’t be the last person to get comments of ‘you look a bit pale today’ ‘are you unwell?’ And ‘you must be lacking iron, sure you’re not anemic?’ When I haven’t worn makeup and this is crazy!

We are a society who sees makeup on women as routine; all you need to do is buy a copy of Heat, Cosmo, Now! Women’s Own, Woman, Look…(and so on) to find a feature on ‘Celebrities without Makeup’ usually to boost our own self-esteem?!

For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, I’d highly recommend the TED talk from the WOW festival at London’s Southbank Centre regarding this issue…

In recent weeks I’ve been volunteering at a local primary school to gain some experience before training to become a primary teacher, and I think it’s safe to say there is definitely a sense of relief when the children express their views.

In the past few weeks I’ve heard more worthwhile opinions than I could ever find on the Lad Bible, in the Daily Mail and in Heat magazine combined.

These children are already showing signs of how they want their future to look and the sort of society they live in and if only us adults (mainly readers/contributors/followers of the Daily Mail) would listen maybe we could learn something.

These are a couple of lessons that I will definitely encourage the world of adults to take into consideration:

1) There is more to life than what we need to survive. We all need to spread love and be loved.

This lesson was learnt during a science lesson. The children had been taking care of their own individual plants and were being asked what they needed to survive. As expected all of the children responded with water and sunlight…but then there was a surprising response that gained agreement from the class…

‘They need love as well, and we can sing to them’

I hear your awwhs or giggles, but how true is this statement?

Yes we all need to have the basics to survive however it’s easy to forget that a simple kind gesture towards another and just showing a caring attitude to those the community around us really goes a long way!

So for all those a bit skeptical about the #nomakeupselfie campaign, just stop and have a moment to consider why that person may have posted that selfie, and what it means to them, show a bit of love!

2) Men should show women respect and see that both sexes are equal.

It seems obvious doesn’t it? And I bet you sighed at reading this basic statement and yet some adults just don’t get it?

During a history lesson on Theseus and the Minotaur the children were asked what we could say was ‘definitely true’, ‘possibly true’ and ‘definitely untrue’ from the story. So it was systems go as we discussed the Aegean Sea existing today and the Minotaur being untrue… but then…

(After the story stated Theseus had left the girl who saved his life behind on an island because she ‘unattractive’)…

‘Sir the part where Theseus leaves the girl behind on an island is definitely not true as no guy would ever be that mean. It’s just too mean, guys wouldn’t do that.’

Girl across the room: ‘I believe they would. I’m sure they would.’

Interesting isn’t it?

The boy could not comprehend this mean behavior towards the girl and yet the girl thoroughly defended the actions? I am hopeful they’ll be many more guys in the next generation that are appalled at how our society treated (give it ten years) women.

I don’t know what the girl’s reasoning was behind her view, but I hope she is proven wrong and doesn’t have to endure future Lad Bibles, ‘show us your tits’ related Twitter posts and the wolf whistles as she casually leaves the house in joggers and a hoodie.

In the words of Dick and Dom: are you smarter than a ten-year-old? Well I flipping hope so!

Love,

Daisy

Tags: #nomakeupselfie campaign children Feminism life lessons sexism TED Talks Tracy Spicer Women