Evaluation of the Proverb: It Takes a Village to Raise a Child

In 1996, Hillary Clinton wrote the book It Takes a Village And Other Lessons Children Teach Us. This was the reemergence of the idea that the familial unit is insufficient when it comes to raising children. Parents, in the mind of many, are not capable of seeing to it that their children are raised properly. Therefore, they need help...and not just a little help. They need a great deal of help-a village!

This proverb, of African origin, has been grossly taken out of its original context to support a very liberal, and socialistic mindset. It its original context, this would have been a statement of extended family helping to raise a child in the way that was believed to be best by the parents of that child. Most of the village would have been very close knit and probably related in some way or another to one another. The child would have been under the constant oversight of someone who cared enough for the child to discipline it when it strayed from his parents' instructions and to watch out for that child's safety. However, the way it is used today is not from the pretense of the "village" being the literal village in which the child lives, among his family and true friends, but rather a large conglomerate of social and governmental entities that step in to alleviate parents of the responsibility of raising their own children!

This adjustment in the way children are raised has actually led to major problems for children growing up, and for our society as a whole. Children are no longer restrained by their parents, because it is the school's responsibility to teach them to behave. Parents no longer care for their own children's health care because it is the government's responsibility to provide healthcare for them. If you think that is overstating the case, simply look at the platform of just about any candidate running for a national office! This mentality has been at least one factor in the current financial difficulties of our nation. Parents have been programmed to think that they are owed certain things from their government (both local and federal). These programs add up to billions of dollars per year!

In truth, it does not take a village to raise a child. It takes dedicated parents. When people become parents, it is their responsibility to provide for that child. They must provide for the physical, spiritual and emotional well being of the child. They must provide for the educational well being of the child. When that responsibility is sloughed off on someone (or something) else, it leads to general attitude of irresponsibility. Consider how many parents blame someone or something else when their children are involved in something bad. It is never their fault-even though they are never with the child, and never doing anything to mold them for their future. Too many parents turn a child over to a baby sitter or day care center as early as 6 weeks old, and then do nothing but see them for an hour or two at night until they leave the house for college! There is a need for parents to be the prominent provider of leadership and instruction with their own children.

Does this mean that parents cannot get help with the raising of their children? Of course not. If parents consider the concept of the proverb under consideration in its original context, it can provide a great benefit. When parents have a plan for raising their child, and the extended family and friends know what that is, and help to keep the child on track, they are a great benefit. But, when parents turn their kids over to the government (through the modern educational system) to be raised, they are making a mistake. Schools should be teaching our children Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. It is not the school, or government's place to take over the moral, ethical, and behavioral training of our children!

We as parents need to break the cycle that has developed in our country, where people feel that they are owed something. The only way to do that is for one generation to instill the proper attitudes in their children. Parents: raise your own children! Don't pass it on to others. It will instill in you and them a true sense of responsibility, and respect. That is a great place to start in fixing the moral and financial dilemmas of this society!