What is a child?

  We often say or state that we would like to have children and that we love children very much.

It is also very common to say that children are our future.

With all this, we must ask ourselves what a child or childhood is and how to form or build a future adult from a child.

A child, when born or brought into the world, is still a physiologically or biologically sensitive being, who, after birth, develops from childhood and through the teenage years into an adult with an adult body, actually with our help. Childhood is usually defined as 14 years, and then adolescence begins until adulthood or 18 years. During this time, children and adolescents are also financially or materially dependent on their parents and/or guardians. The state also offers them assistance by drawing on so-called public funds, if the parents or guardians cannot support their children and/or adolescents with their own funds.

 For their biologically normal development, a child and teenager need adequate nutrition, clothing and a suitable living space. Newborns or children who are born are also completely biologically dependent on their parents, especially on their mother due to their mother's milk. Throughout this time of childhood and teenage years, their body with all its limbs grows and develops to its final size in adulthood. So much for the biological side of childhood and adolescence up to adulthood.

Of course, childhood and adolescence also know the psycho-social side of their growing up. A child who is born or a newborn begins to learn about the world around him and the people who surround him through his parents and those who actually provide for him or take care of him. In fact, the child receives the first knowledge about his psycho-social environment from his parents or guardians. The child learns to name things and people who surround him. The child also learns the first evaluations of his social and physical environment. Often, we call this primary socialization, which is actually the first knowledge about oneself and others, and one's own and others' actions and things. Very often, we can also determine that those who come first in a child's life are also those who remain in first place in his later life, even when school and the wider environment are involved in the upbringing of the child and adolescent. In this way and through all their teachers of life, the child and adolescent on the way to adulthood only upgrades their knowledge about themselves and their environment, both social and physical.

Normal biological and psycho-social development of a child and adolescent should result in a normal adult who is also able to take responsibility for their future life path as an adult. Adulthood is not only the right to dispose of and decide about yourself and your financial resources, but also the ability to survive and build your life path.

 All those who participated in the process of a child's and adolescent's growing up or training for an independent life path have more or less successfully completed their assistance to the child and adolescent to become an adult.