Feral Children

It wasn’t my first time reading something about children raised in the wild but the videos of Genie the Wild Child and Oxana Malaya really triggered my emotional awareness. While watching the short documentaries in class, it made me realize the importance of our parents and the way they nurture us to be a well-rounded individual. Most people say that we grow up to be like our parents or the ones who have been there to guide us. They play a very significant role in our life because the values they taught will be the ones we’ll remember as we grow older. In forming our social well-being, our parents, siblings, and peers take up a great factor to be who we are now. In the case of Genie, she was isolated from the world, never had the chance to mingle with her peers until her adolescent years. Because of this, her mind still remained that of a 3 year old child who didn’t even know how to talk and walk properly. It gave me that goosebumps that people can sometimes be so cruel to the point where they will take away the life of an innocent child by prohibiting her to nourish herself. Culture very much is related in these situations. We are honed by our heritage and this serves as our primary identity. This is one reason why Oxana Malaya thought that she was a wolf. No one was there to teach her the ethics and morality of human beings. Her only companions were the animals whom she portrayed as well. Because of this, I believe that no one is born automatically genius. We need the proper care of adults to be human beings entirely not just physically, but socially and emotionally.