Date: Saturday, September 26th 2015

Participants (from 14 countries):

Host: Rick

Moderator: Rick

Teams

Panel PRO: Marwa, Sunita, Flory, Amir Alipur, Alina, Pharida, Yusuf,

Panel CON: Johny.

Audience: Ali, Rozi, Imad, Jay, Lala., Shelia, Nguyen, Basil, Pharida

Panel PRO:

The most important memories are the ones that come from childhood.
When you are a kid, it is less likely to be judged since a child is yet very innocent.
Most children do not feel the burden of having to worry about the impression that other people get from them.
Major responsibilities do not fall in the hands of children. A child has fewer responsibilities than an adult.
A child does not have to hide any short comings, any dark side or history. His heart is still pure and innocent.
Most children do not have to manage their house, cook, clean or work. Everything is done by their parents, or an adult in charge.
Everything is provided by parents and studies are less intensive than when you are older.
Children only sleep, eat and play most of the day; that is pretty much everything they do, so they are always happy.
When we are a child, everyone takes good care of for us. A child is always protected, even by strangers if we get lost or come across a dangerous situation in the street .
A child receives a lot more attention than an adult.
Corruption is one of the most important problems in this world, and a person becomes corrupt only after growing up. A child lacks such a quality. As older we get, the more corrupt we become.
Our childhood often represents our family time together, cherished memories of vacations during school break, or during holiday traditions.
As a child, we go through many first: first time at a beach playing in the sand, building a snowman, having a pet, first childhood crush, first day meeting new friends etc.

Panel CON:

The above beautifully painted childhood phase is not true in the case of all children.
There are children who are abused and exploited and who suffer from dire poverty. In poor countries, children are afflicted with many diseases and continually suffer the pangs of hunger. They have to undertake the responsibilities of adults, looking for food and looking after of their younger siblings.
Childhood is not the best time in one's life because so many other things can happen in their life. For example, I could do something good as a child, but 30 years later, cure cancer, win a Nobel Prize, and live a great life. After that, their childhood will be completely forgotten.
Childhood is not the best time in a person's life because they are not completely free, your freedom as a child depends on your parents. Another example of limited freedom is child curfews.
Children are controlled by parents and cannot do what they want. While sometimes, parents do restrict children wrongly because they are overprotective or paranoid people.
Orphans may not have the same happy childhood as a child who has had parents with them since birth.
Bullying is something that happens mostly in childhood, in schools. Most children are victims of bullying and they would like to grow up as soon as possible to get out of that period.
These cases, however, may be considered as exceptions. Many still feel that the average child’s life is much merrier. Adult life is filled with responsibilities. Yet, responsibilities need not to be viewed negatively. There are many joys that come with responsibilities. For example, I have always experience great joy and satisfaction when I do well in my exam after studying hard for it.
Childhood can be looked back upon as one of the best periods in one’s life, however, with a positive attitude; an adult person can experience happiness as well in any other period of his life.

Audience summary:

Rozi voted for team B
Imad remained undecided.
Jay voted for team B
Lala voted for team B

Team B won this debate, congrats team B!

To conclude this blog, we would like to say that when we become adults we all have responsibilities, we have to do things that as a child we don’t have to do and sometimes, life finds a way to drain you, like a battery draining out its power. As an adult you have to be responsible for your own actions and live with your choices. As a child, in most cases, everything is new and exciting; everything is fresh and it is when you learn things for the first time. The key for being a happy healthy adult is to keep that child inside of you, never let that child go. Because when you deal with a lot of stress in your adulthood, one possible way to deal with that is to remember what made you happy when you were a child. If you could see things from the eyes of a child, life can become as exciting and enriching as it was when you were a child.

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Childhood is the best period in someone's life | September 26th 2015 | Recording File

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