Returning To Childhood: A Possible Way For Adults To Understand Children

From current childhood crisis, this study is mainly intended to explore the causes of current childhood crisis from the relation between adults and children, that is, how the adults to understand children as well as the influence of childhood on the children’s current state of life. The relationship in subject-object dichotomy, wide gap in conceptions and clash in cultural values between adults and children, all exert an affect of the adults’understanding on children and childhood. Meanwhile, the adults’ ambivalent attitude to childhood and exclusion of childhood concept, both not only aggravate childhood crisis but also the adults themselves get into deep trouble. Is there a mean for the adults to abandon their understanding way to children, so that both adults and children can establish a harmonious relation through the media of similarity and communication?Childhood is a life stage that every adult must experience, and also it is a life state that children possess and establish. Just the childhood is a new way for adults to understand children and reestablish the relation of adults and children. Because of its dual subject and prototype features, childhood constitutes a shared and equal connection between adults and children. Moreover, the childhood presents a cultural trait and a spirit implication as a deep root of life, which may lay the foundation necessarily for adults’ back to childhood. From philosophical hermeneutics, the adults understand children by virtue of subjective equality and horizontal share. As an equal and sharing connection, childhood should be consistent with the understanding conditions. By this, it is concluded that childhood is a possible way for adults to understand our children. In academic argument, this paper is also aiming to explore the application of understanding way to childhood as a medium in living practice. It needs not only to recall adults’ childhood but also to respect current children’s childhood in the relation of adults and children with a return of childhood as a medium. In order to understand children and comprehend what they think, adults should establish an equal dialogue relation with children, bring their experience into the most common childhood, and live with children together in equal dialogue relation and childhood experience.The object relation of adults and children is abandoned to some extent in the way of caring and understanding, but the imperfection of research perspective can be compensated for adult researchers as outsiders. By this way, the adults can care about children’s current childhood by their own childhood, which is energetic for adults to understand and care about children and deepen childhood life. This practice is advisable for adults to recall their past childhood and uncover children’s current childhood. By this way, adults also can get their own integrity and redeem their soul dilemma. This is that a beneficial effort and attempt for adults to understand children and cherish childhood.