It takes a community – Part II

Logan Dailey
Posted 8/4/21

Last week, I wrote about my experience at the Easter family concert held northeast of Lusk.

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It takes a community – Part II

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Last week, I wrote about my experience at the Easter family concert held northeast of Lusk. I wrote of the importance of coming together as a community and working together as a community to make life better for everyone. 

This week, I am going to expand on that idea. I recently had a conversation with a friend about children in our community. Some will argue it does not take a community to raise a child, only good parents. I believe good parents are where the foundation begins for raising children, but it doesn’t stop there.

A child is born, and parents are required to set themselves apart from the life they knew before. That child is now the single most important piece of existence for the parents, and they must now devote their affection, time and attention to that child in order for it to grow and thrive. 

Nurturing a child isn’t simply letting it lay in a crib for hours and hours followed by feeding it and putting it back. Nurturing a child begins with love, spending countless hours engaging with and teaching the child. Even as an infant, children need to begin using their senses of touch, smell, hear, see and taste. As children begin to use these senses, they begin to learn about the world around them. 

From this point, the child begins walking, speaking, reading and becoming somewhat independent. The child will likely spend some time at home and some time with a babysitter, whether that sitter is a family member or a community member. Some parents take their children to a trusted friend while others take their children to a daycare. Regardless, the parents do not carry this task out on their own. 

As the child continues to grow, they will then go to school, sometimes beginning with pre-school and sometimes beginning with kindergarten. In order for the successful continued growth and development of the child, the parents must be able to rely on the school to protect and nurture their child as they continue to progress.

Think about it for a moment, the child gets up in the morning, the parents get them ready, they board the school bus, walk to school or are driven by their parents. From this point, the child enters the school and will remain there for most of the day. After the day is complete, children either go to daycare, some go straight home, some attend after school functions and some are picked up by their parents.

Given that example, the child has encountered and interacted with a lot of different people. Each one of those people play an integral part in developing who that child is and who that child will become. Without trust in the child and the community, the whole process fails. 

Just as the schools must hold children accountable for their actions, parents and community members must hold the school accountable for their actions, especially when they do not step up and protect and nurture the children they are charged with caring for every day. 

The same can be said for other community members outside of the school district. Families need to work together and build their children up. A child will never flourish if they are constantly faced with circumstances detrimental to their development. 

We must all work together, as a community, to ensure children are receiving the protection, care, attention and cultivation vital to their growth and development. It does not begin and end with the family at home. It starts with the family, but then moves on to the neighbors, the churches, the clergy, the babysitters, the daycares, the other children, the bus drivers, the teachers, the coaches, the doctors, the first responders, everyone.