In recent times, there has been a growing debate on whether it is beneficial to allow children to make their own choices in life from a young age, or does allowing them freedom lead to negative outcomes. In my opinion, there are more drawbacks to allowing children the freedom to make choices from a young age, outweighing the benefits. This essay shall discuss both perspectives and conclude that it is unwise to give children the liberty to make their own choices at a lesser age, which can often lead to bitter consequences.
Firstly, allowing children the freedom to make their own choices results in a lack of parental supervision, which is vital at a young age in order to make the right decisions. As an instance, Mark, a father of a ten-year-old boy, said that as his son frequently gets offers from strangers for a walk in the park or a chocolate, he forbade him from accepting gifts or offers from strangers when he is outdoors. This supervision allows his son to make an informed choice. Furthermore, as children at a young age are less mature, this clouds their sense of judgment while making the right choices due to their lack of experience with real-life situations. It is also believed that choices at a young age often lead to unexpected outcomes during adolescence. For instance, when Dave, a sixth grade student, chose to play online games whole day than rest, he was unaware that it would strain his eyes. Consequently, he was prescribed glasses as a teenager. Such instances highlight how due to a lack of experience and maturity, it is unwise to allow children excess liberty.
Conversely, certain individuals contend that children should be given more freedom from a young age to choose their own path. It is believed that such an approach can reduce their dependency for an elderly opinion for important matters. Additionally, it is argued that it helps children make better choices as they learn from their mistakes. As an instance, Dave, a seven-year-old boy, stated that he made a mistake when he chose between studying harder for examinations and spending more time outdoors to play. As he chose the latter, he fared poorly in his examination leading to a sense of guilt. He subsequently chose to study harder for his next examination and performed remarkably. Another point concerns academic curriculum. It is perceived that if children choose their own subjects at a young age, it leads to a better academic path as they specialize in a few subjects. However, since students at young ages are not certain about their interests at such a stage, offering them such a choice can cause difficulty, negating this advantage.
In conclusion, there are a vast number of implications to allowing children freedom to make their own choices at a young age. While there are considerable positive outcomes to this approach, from my perspective, the negative aspects associated with such an approach– such as lack of supervision and unpredictable outcomes, reiterates that it is not beneficial to allow children excess freedom, which can lead to negative outcomes.