Week 2 Blog 1 Child Identity Development and Justice

As people bring children into this world they usually do so with the best intentions at mind for their child.  They want to raise them right so they may have a good life and reach their full potential.  But one is left to wonder; is having to best intentions and doing the best you can to raise your child right; enough?  After watching the clip Identity Crisis: Self-Image in Childhood I am able to see that the parents are not the only main influence on a child that helps shape them into who they become, there are several other factors involved.  The three things that stood out to me in this clip was one, I was amazed to see that by the time a child reaches the age of 5 they are able to tell the difference between a rich family and a poor family simply by looking at the outside of the home and they believe the child from the rich house was nicer and happier.  The second point that stood out to me was how children from wealthier homes were able to say what they wanted to be when they grew up but a little boy James who was brought up poor was completely undecided.  The third thing that stood out to me was children at such young ages regardless of their own race were already picking up on racial stereotypes and were favoring whites.   

Some of the aspects of identity formation that were shown in this documentary  that might have an influence on the youths’ perceptions of their own potential and can increase the likelihood of engaging in criminal activity were race, gender , and class.  Just as the clip states “the children reveal clear signals about their self worth and their expectations for the future that bear strong connection to nationality, gender, skin color, economic class, and the presence or absence of either parent” (Identity Crisis: Self-Image in ChildhoodWhen we tie this into last week’s readings on juveniles being incarcerated we can see that children that grow up feeling a sense of low self worth and have low expectations for themselves are the ones that later on take part in criminal activity and end up in places such as juvenile correction facilities.  ). 

The point in this clip that really squared with me was that “scientists believe that self confidence and how we feel about our bodies is greatly influenced by our parents and how they feel about their bodies” (Identity Crisis: Self-Image in ChildhoodChildren will be more opt to pick apart their own bodies and notice every flaw if they see their parents doing that all the time.  If a parent makes it known that a couple extra pounds is not visually pleasing to the eye a child will most likely have low self confidence if they themselves have a few extra pounds on.). 

The one thing from this clip that I feel people should be aware of is that just because odds are against you when raising your child doesn’t mean there is no hope.  One of the children in this documentary Tyrese faces a few challenges in his future and his mother is aware of this.  Not only is he a black male but there is a possibility that he may be dyslexic.  She does not want him to grow up with low self esteem and have low expectations for himself so she teaches him to be proud of his skin color.  Out of the group of children that were already following the racial stereotype and favoring whites Tyrese was the one that choose his own skin color over the whites.   

BBC/Open University Co-production. "Identity Crisis: Self-Image in Childhood" 2005. Online video clip. Arizona Universities Library Consortium. FMG Video On Demand. Accessed on 13 July 2009. http://digital.films.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/play/D6XDBV