Democratic Family Essay

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Question: Should the families be democratic in order to make the society democratic?

In the past, families were authoritarian which parents were dominant and repressive against their children and the children had no right to say anything in family issues. Today, this kind of family type is gradually being replaced by democratic families. So what is a democratic family? Family is seen as a school since it is the first place that children get an education and grow up. Until the end of their adolescences, they sustain their education in family. Therefore, families are important to shape the future because parents have central role in raising new generation. And, it has always been a controversial topic that how they should raise their children. …show more content…

Most parents see their children’s ideas as unimportant because they think that their ideas are not developed. However, parents should include the children to family discussions for the purpose of preparing the children to future democratic discussions. In the study of Gerrison Lansdown (2001) , Gerison Lansdown claims that including children to democratic processes and allowing them to express their ideas; teaches children to significance of respecting others’ ideas, develop their ideas and gives an opportunity to learn their own rights which will encourage them to defend their rights. For example, a child whose rights were violated by another family member or anyone else, will be willing to speak about this with his/her family and family will ensure his/her protection of rights (Lansdown, 2001). Therefore, it is necessary to include the children in family decision making process which will make them value democracy and get democratic skills like defending their rights and respecting others’ ideas. Moreover, including children in family decision making process helps children in character development. For example, Berkowitz (2007) gives information of his study displaying that the children of the parents who include them in family decision making, perform better in self – confidence and moral reasoning skills in comparison to other …show more content…

To begin with, democratic society is a society which ensures equality, freedom of speech, justice for all and toleration against the minorities. Also a democratic society needs responsible and active citizens. In the study made by Terrence Lovat, Lovat aim to assist teachers, parents and caregiver to educate the children by presenting nine values which are important in a democratic society: Care and compassion for oneself and others, understanding (tolerance) , doing one’s best, fairness, honesty, integrity, respect, freedom, responsibility (Lovat, 2005) . As seen, these values are compatible with definition of a democratic society. The most responsible are the parents in educating the children these values. By being a good parent and teaching the democratic values, children can have these values as it was mentioned before. For example, Berkowitz (2007) suggest the parents the behaviors like respecting and loving the children, including them in decision-making, being fair against them and granting autonomy to create moral and fair democratic citizens which will have the values important in a society (Berkowitz, 2007) . To sum up a democratic society is like a puzzle and behaviors which families teach their children are like the pieces of the puzzle. Therefore, it is necessary to piece them

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