Childhood is an important developmental stage in the life of human beings. Of the different ways through which people enjoy their lives, the ones that took place during childhood are usually remembered with great fondness. This is because during this period, children are considered innocent. These formative years are considered by most people as the most formative.
Childhood days are not filled with thoughts of sex, death or troubles hence children experience the positive and negative side of life without having to think of the challenges associated with being an adult. Childhood fears can be tolerated because parents are always there to give support and love. On the other hand, adults may keep their fears to themselves making them difficult to heal .
Childhood innocence amounts to powerful emotional experiences that cannot be compared to any other. Teenage years are characterized by a certain degree of insecurity hence they give chance for varied feelings. After professional training, the lives of individuals begin to change. Once individuals get into work environments, adult rules such as professionalism and etiquette are the most important values.
This transforms life into a stable one with reduced joys. Cohen argues that no amount of professional training can wipe away the deep-seated assumptions of childhood. This is due the fact that childhood forms the basis of imagining capability, hopes and the most significant thrills in life. It is important for individuals to retain such childhood experiences or capture them in their memories later in their lives .
What many people become later in their lives is determined by their childhood assumptions. Although some of the assumptions are not the right ones to be followed and adopted in adult life, some individuals find it difficult to change their childhood perceptions on life. However, it cannot be ruled out that even professional training cannot eliminate these childhood assumptions.
Most professional trainings are comprehensive and present individuals with factual perceptions through which they should look at life and handle different situations. Most professionals usually secure employment opportunities in different sectors. Their exposure to the world of work enables them to understand the difference between their childhood assumptions and the reality they are required to cope with as adults.
They are required to embrace different codes of ethics and ways of behaving, failure to which they are faced with the risk of losing their jobs. This completely changes the childhood assumptions among individuals because they are forced by the working environment to adopt the right adult assumptions.
The implication of individuals spending time in work environments is that they are not required to uphold their childhood assumptions because they have to comply with adult ones. This does not however apply to all individuals. There are those who believe that professional training cannot wipe away their entrenched childhood assumptions.
Such individuals often find themselves in problems since some of their childhood assumptions do not find applicability in adult situations. Although there are some childhood assumptions that cannot be wiped away through professional training, most of them can be eliminated contrary to Cohen’s view.
Failure to wipe away childhood emotions may have a negative impact on conflict resolution. Some individuals get into conflicts with others on the basis of their childhood assumptions which are not applicable in adult situations. This may even magnify small problems and turn them into large conflicts. It is important for individuals to realize that their childhood assumptions hinder the process of conflict resolution.
References
Bailyn, E. (2012). Why Is Childhood Important?. Web.
Corsaro, W. (2005). The Sociology of Childhood. New York: Pine Forge Press.