Values in Children
Several values were stressed to Maya children. Not only was a strong work ethics desirable, but working for the betterment of the community was necessary.
Families were extremely important to the Maya culture, and respecting the leaders in one’s family was imperative. "A sense of responsibility is another important quality which children have to learn. This includes independence, self-confidence and the ability to make decisions." It is believed that the most important quality for children to have was common sense, and they received this by shadowing their parents.
Among Yucatec Maya parents, the ceremony called hetsmekʻ is still practiced even among professionals living in Mérida, the capital of Yucatán.
Read more about this topic: Childhood In Maya Society
Famous quotes containing the words values in, values and/or children:
“Today so much rebellion is aimless and demoralizing precisely because children have no values to challenge. Teenage rebellion is a testing process in which young people try out various values in order to make them their own. But during those years of trial, error, embarrassment, a child needs family standards to fall back on, reliable habits of thought and feeling that provide security and protection.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“With the breakdown of the traditional institutions which convey values, more of the burdens and responsibility for transmitting values fall upon parental shoulders, and it is getting harder all the time both to embody the virtues we hope to teach our children and to find for ourselves the ideals and values that will give our own lives purpose and direction.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“If you would shut your door against the children for an hour a day and say: “Mother is working on her five-act tragedy in blank verse!” you would be surprised how they would respect you. They would probably all become playwrights.”
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985)