Journal of Student Wellbeing

The perspectives of young children are of considerable interest to the community yet remain largely misunderstood. In this paper I posit that children are optimistic and have a deeper understanding of global, local, and social issues than was previously thought. This study challenges the notion that children are either adversely affected by knowledge or ignorant of global issues outside their control. The effects of external media and the reputed social decay of society, and the pessimistic worldview reportedly held by young children are questioned. In acknowledging children’s understanding of key issues, this research shows that children engage in an internal metacognitive processing of information that allows them to maintain their optimism. This paper introduces the concept of an ‘importance filter’, an internal information processing mechanism that assists children to make sense of their world