It goes without saying.

Living with the Gonzales family at Punta Boca del Salado, Baja California, Mexico, means being adopted and integrated in an extended family.
It is like a small community.
A commune.
Consisting of family members, visitors, friends and rancho helpers.
It is a coming and going of people and only a small number are at the rancho all the time.

These days about 15 persons are here.
This includes 5 children.

These 5 kids are the third generation of the Gonzales.
There is Gumaro (59 years old) and his wife Lucretia who are the first generation.
They had 5 children: Juan Manuel, Angelito, Norma, Christina and Ismaël.
They are the second generation and they all have kids except Ismaël who at 22 is still a bachelor.
The 5 children around now are from them: they are cousins.

Normally these children live in the small town of La Ribera, about 1,5 hour drive north of the rancho.
This so they can go to school.
But whenever possible, they come to the rancho and spend time there.

Friday was “Dia de los Muertos” when the people not with us anymore are specially remembered and schools were closed.
This created the opportunity for the family to spend time together at the rancho.

These children are happy children.
Their faces radiate that they feel happy with themselves, with their family and in their situation.
Just have a look.
See these faces and share the happiness:





Some interesting observations can be made when seeing these children spending time at the rancho.
There are three rules.
Even for the adults.

1. First rule is to respect the traditions.
2. Second rule is to respect the older people and their authority.
3. Third rule is to be responsible for each other.

Somehow for these children it is natural and logic to respect these three rules.
Maybe because they see that the adults stick to them as well.

These children are made involved by the adults in certain activities at the rancho.
Like in the morning, when traditionally the floors are swabbed, the ground around the buildings raked and the plants watered.
Like in the evening, when the goats return to their corral and need caring and the horses need to be watered and fed.
The children help and do this without opposing or complaining.
Even swabbing and raking they do with a pleasure and without any protest.

But much time of course they can play and there it can be observed that hardly ever they have conflicts.
They manage to be together in a harmonious way.

These children are very fortunate the way they grow up.
They will become beautiful human beings simply because they are loved and because they are in a safe and an emotional healthy environment.

One of the persons around Sigmund Freud was Carl Gustav Jung, from Switzerland, who lived from 1875 to 1961.


A very interesting and intriguing person, as he was able to bridge European psychology with Eastern Mysticism.
He came to deep understandings about our minds and hearts and this is what he had to say about education of children:

"Children are educated by what the grown-up is and not by his talk."

This is exactly what the Gonzales children are reflecting.
They live in a harmonious and healthy social infrastructure evolved from many centuries of people living together.
The children are not told what to do and how to behave.
They simply see and follow.
It all goes without saying.

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To learn more about Carl Gustav Jung, click on:
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/jung.html










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