Maria Arpa
This week
Columbus Day
Plus…
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
and
The Wednesday Whisper
Christopher Columbus – hero or villain?
I read an interesting article about a young boy challenging his teacher. His mother who is of Native American origins, was called to the elementary school to discuss her son’s behaviour. Apparently, her six-year-old was being defiant in the classroom. His defiance was explained as follows. Upon his teacher explaining Columbus Day and honouring the courageous and brave sailor who discovered this land in 1492, the boy had a couple of questions for the teacher. He wanted to know how it was possible that Christopher Columbus discovered a land in which his ancestors had lived for over 30,000 years, he wanted to know what happened to all the people who lived there in 1491, and he wanted to know why the man responsible for invading his native land and slaughtering his ancestors was being honoured.
While the topic touches me deeply, what interests me for this blog post is how this child was labelled as defiant. There is even now a diagnosis called Oppositional Defiance Disorder. I diagnose it as a child desperate to be heard and understood. Of course, it’s possible that the child communicated in a way that was disruptive from a place of anger. And even if that is the case, isn’t it the role of adults to help children to show up as the best version of themselves? It’s not for children to ‘please’ adults in order to access love.
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
I’m working on my communication with my two year old granddaughter. I’m loving helping both of us to show up as the best version of ourselves.
The Wednesday Whisper
How do you show up as the best version of yourself? And who showed you how?
Are you DRM Facilitator material?
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