The South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People is hoping to help parents, carers and educators understand children better with the release of her third The Things That Matter report.
Releasing The Things that Matter 3: Views of 8-12 year olds on life, school and community, the Commissioner, Helen Connolly said the Report reflected responses from thousands of South Australian children who completed a ‘Commissioner’s Postcard’ in the second half of 2021.
Commissioner Connolly said the 13,868 children who completed a postcard in 2021 wrote about the importance of family and friends, and how much pride they took in being kind and caring, and in looking after people, the environment and animals.
“They also want grownups to know that they have ‘our back’, and that whilst it may not always be obvious, they love and appreciate all that we do for them,” she said.
She said most of the postcards received came from children born since 2010 and participants’ responses to four questions provided a detailed insight into their lives.
“They also consider themselves to be smarter and more capable than most adults give them credit for, and although they acknowledge they have much to learn, they don’t want this to mean they’re overlooked or not listened to,” she said.
“Children in this generation also want adults to recognise that being a child today is vastly different to the childhood their parents experienced last century.
“They see a real disconnect between the views they have on many of these issues, and those expressed by their teachers and parents.”
Commissioner Connolly said that as in previous years, many children were very concerned about the planet.
“Whilst certainly not in the majority, there were some children who identified that not everything in their lives was going well,” she said.
“These children said they wanted adults to stop yelling at kids, and that they didn’t want to see adults fighting in front of them, or smacking them, or not explaining things to them.”
The Commissioner’s 42-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
