A MODEL FOR
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GIRL-CHILD IN BULGARIA: BALKAN TRADITIONS AND
CHALLENGES IN THE NEW MILLENIUM
Valtcheva E, Tzaneva V
University Hospital ¡®St. Marina¡¯, Department of Pediatrics, Varna,
Bulgaria
Objective: The abstract describes Bulgaria, a small piece of
the Balkans, a union of many different people - Bulgarians, Turks,
Armenians, Jews, Roma, Greeks, Tatars, and of different religions -
Christian Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Judaists. Nowadays
with the tolerance and collaboration between all these people the model for
development of the girl-child follows the model of the Bulgarian
family. It is a combination of
Balkan traditions and values of the 19th and 20th centuries, of child
health care and of the requirements of the new millennium.
Methods: Archives, statistical and sociological methods and
analyses of existing data have been used and organized in tables and
diagrams. They prove six main
models for upbringing and development of the girl-child in Bulgaria that
reflect her psychological and physical health.
Results: The model for the development of the girl-child in the
19th and 20th centuries has been described in Bulgarian literature, songs,
arts. The main values were
industriousness, moral and ethical norms of behavior, motherhood, knowledge
of and adherence to national family and religious traditions. Education started at an early age.
The rapid and dynamic changes in the Bulgarian society in the last 10 years
have been resulted in social and economic instability and polarisation of
society (and family) in unclear parameters and requirements of society as
to moral and ethical norms of behaviour, education and values, in quick
acceptance of western lifestyle, music and fashion, and in enormous
emigration stream. In the combination of national traditions of the
Bulgarian society and the challenges of the new millennium, during the last
10 years the formation of six main models for upbringing and development of
the Bulgarian girl-child can be observed. They are further summarised in two main modes of
existence, the possessive and the existential (Erich Fromm). However,
everyone is exposed to the threat of stress, drugs, sex, violence,
paedophily, psychosomatic diseases. These dangers are overcome due to the
collaboration between state institutions and non-profit organisations.
Conclusion: In the Balkans and in Bulgaria the girl-child has
always been a symbol of the light and the future, and later in her
development she becomes the moving force of society. The preservation of the best
Bulgarian traditions rooted in the Balkan culture is possible only through
their adaptation to the requirements and criteria of the new millennium and
of united Europe.