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Published: January 16th 2018
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Before coming to Italy I had few ideas of what the Italian family would be like. I expected tons of love between parents and children, as well as close extended family members and households full of people. Our first night in Florence we met at the carousel in Piazza della Repubblica where I saw a crying child. She didn’t want to be on the carousel, and her mother came to her aid. I had my assumptions as to what would happen next, but all were completely wrong. The woman walked over to her child, who was causing a small scene, and showed her that there was nothing to fear from the plastic horses that appeared to be frightening her. The mother hopped onto the carousel with her daughter and rode around until the girl stopped crying. This, in my mind, proved my original hypothesis of Italian families to be correct, but as we discussed today with Dr. Sarti this is not always the case.
Dr. Sarti has been a pediatrician in Italy for many years, and during his lecture on the development of children in Italy he brought up several different points to how kids are raised here.
One statement he made that stood out to me was when he said an Olympic medalist should not dedicate an award to their mother, for that is looking to the past and showing dependency. Instead the champion should dedicate their award to their spouse or children, otherwise known as their future lives and those that are a part of it. This was strange to someone like myself, who is best friends with my mother and would love to dedicate every achievement to her, because I believe my parents and my entire family have taught me many invaluable lessons I can never begin to repay them for. Though it wasn’t initially my way of thinking I can see where Dr. Sarti is coming from; children must not develop a sense of dependency on their parents and must not glorify the lessons that are natural for regular human development. Dr. Sarti also gave a metaphor using Nutella; he asked what one of us would do if we had a child who threw a temper tantrum over not getting an extra spoonful of Nutella as a treat. His simple answer was to rid the house of Nutella altogether, making the child throw out
their dependency on the treat. Again, this is not my initial way of thinking (perhaps because I was raised in a fudge shop and ate tons of sweets) but I can see his point. In order to teach a child what values are most important, they must see which items are easily done away with and which wants should be made rewards rather than necessities. Though I don’t plan on having children anytime soon, I hope to remember Dr. Sarti’s wise words when that time eventually comes.
Dr. Sarti never said Italian families aren’t loving and kind to one another, and in fact I have seen several examples of lovely families and wonderful parenting in the week and a half we have been here. On Monday we helped clean up a park in Florence with Angeli del Bello, which easily became one of my favorite parts of this whole experience. I began by painting walls that had been covered in graffiti and moved on to digging weeds out of the ground by the river. While working on the weeds a man and his son came by to enjoy the beautiful afternoon, and the boy played with his miniature soccer ball. He dropped the ball and it rolled to my feet, so I picked it up and carried it to him. The father smiled and I believe said thank you, and the boy wasn’t sure what to do. His dad could tell I didn’t speak Italian, but also knew the organization I was with and showed his son that I was no one to fear and just wanted to return the ball. This simple gesture and the sight of a stranger being unafraid of another stranger warmed my heart, and I thought back on this moment as we listened to Dr. Sarti. As he discussed with us, it is important to raise children to be independent and outgoing so they do not grow up fearing the world around them. This father showed his son that some strangers are good and just want to help, and he reminded me of the magnificence of connecting with fellow human beings. I believe we are asked to help clean the park as part of our experience in Italy because it allows us to see the natural beauty of this beloved town as well as to leave our marks in a positive way. In the few hours we were cleaning I was thanked by two people, heard the life story of one of our esteemed leaders, and enjoyed a splendid day with a bright blue sky. The greatest benefit of that moment was the inspiration it planted within me, and I will work to continue to be inspired as I take notice of the love throughout this wonderful city.
STEPS WALKED
Jan. 14: 11,159
Jan. 15: 15,158
Jan. 16: 10,894
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