Due to economic compulsion, the closely knitted families or joint families have disappeared. The world is getting more populated with little to distribute and plenty to demand. Having seen personally a lot of families failing to bring up the children and feeling sorry later after the situations had gone out of their hands, I felt it necessary to write on this issue. The more we care the lesser are our worries later. Let us discuss the factors that attribute to the growth of good children.
Mother’s milk is the best to make a child more intelligent, with a strong memory and physique. It has all the ingredients to fight any disease and a child given mother’s milk up to 12 months at least is generally able to fight any disease at the old age due to the immunity provided to it. Mother’ milk does not get spoiled even if it is stored outside a fridge up to 4 hours and in a fridge up to 8 hours. Start baby food recommended by your physician as food supplement after 6 months. Start giving the child plenty of citrus fruit juices and from mashed vegetables. Do not add sugar or salt to whatever you give to the child during its 12-18 months as it will not like the mother’s milk then.
A child needs to grow healthy of course but in your eagerness to see it a bonny baby do not push anything and everything on the earth. Up to 1 year, the child needs to be fed with liquid diet only unless its teeth grow stronger. Then we can feed it with solid food but in a fine pastry form like cereal food, rice, bread or chapatti. Ensure that the food is devoid of any spices as the child’s organs cannot tolerate or digest such a strong dose. This will lead to its organs disorder and subsequent poor health. Ensure that you give solid food only in the forenoon and not in the morning. Avoid items like eggs, butter, ghee etc that are not easily digestible. Introduce these when the child is above 5 years and becomes very active to digest these.
Always cover a child’s ears, head, extremities (hands and legs) with woollen clothing during winter and rainy season or when there is gush of cold wind. During summer, cover it with thin clothing so that its perspiration is easily absorbed. At home small triangular shaped napkins made of thin cloth may be used so that more air flow is there in its lower region. Never use diapers unless you go out since these kill the senses of the skin of the child which cannot recognize the chillness of the urine when it passes or the urge to clear its bowels. This not only leads to retention of urine or stools but leads to urinary infection, constipation etc. Keeps the child clean using warm water and clean cloth to wipe so that it is free from infection. Apply baby powder in the folding of hands, legs, groin and back portion.
Ensure that a child never gets cough or cold at least within the first three years by drying its head and body after bath. If affected, do not neglect but take it to the physician immediately and give the medicines prescribed regularly as suggested. Also ensure that the child is able to hear feeble sound or see even the slight movements by turning its eyes and ears.
It is bad to allow the child watching TV just to escape from its pestering. This will lead to TV addiction and you cannot alter this habit when the child grows. Shows or pictures depicting violence or objectionable materials also spoil the child. Similarly, stop it handling any sharp item like a knife or razor. This will not only harm it but also develop violence later.
Avoid bribing to induce it in taking food, learning etc as this will corrupt the child. It is likely to disobey you later or start demanding a bribe for all acts. Never teach anything per force as the child will learn itself. Just answer its queries or tell what is good or bad. Allow it to move freely or do what it wants unless it is harmful to its physique or mind. This induces its creativity. The child becomes matured only when it crosses the age of 5. Ensure that it is not left in a school till then but allowed to remain at home and learn itself through all resources available including from its parents. Its mother is the teacher and home is its school. Hence let its mother teach it all the things, like good stories, songs, scriptures, manners, morals, reading habit, interaction with everyone to seek information etc etc. What a child learns during its first three years cannot be learnt by elders even after 50 years. Its capability is enormous. It can recall whatever it learnt up to 3 to 6 years later during its entire life period.
Most of the children are shy up to a few months and thereafter they mingle with all freely. To avoid shyness as the child grows, take it to different places and allow it to interact and ask questions. During the joint family system, there was no dearth for the child to learn or interact which is impossible in a satellite family. In such a circumstance, the parents alone must teach and interact.
Never tell a child anything without correct explanation or with illustrations wherever possible. Similarly never try a distant object to explain but the nearest object of the same kind. Always tell it everything related to an object or subject. For instance, if you want to teach it about a crow, first show it its picture instead of showing it sitting on a tree as the child then will not be able to see the crow but the leaves only. This may lead to a wrong perception about the crow. While telling the colour of the crow include all things that are also black in colour. Similarly when you tell about crow’s habits, like its cleaning environment by consuming waste food, decayed objects etc. emphasise that we should not eat those foods to keep our surrounding clean since they will produce all diseases in us. Thus teach crow’s good habits – the way to live together, sharing of food etc and caution about its bad habits. The idea is to teach as much as possible to the child to make it more intelligent and seeking further info.
Do not create fear sense as it leads to stammering. If the child is slow in learning teach it in its way and encourage speaking fearlessly without any shyness.
It is always better to allow a child to realize its mistake itself. This does not mean that you allow it to spill ink or take a knife. Hence teach it all “Dos and Don’ts” before it is able to walk or go near such objects. Spoon feeding must be avoided unless extremely necessary.
Create interest in learning and encourage reading habit. Get good books to improve its language, teach it courage, honesty, sincerity, good manners, remove fear, shyness etc. Let the child take part in all competitions in its school later when it is able as this increases its self confidence.
By adhering to the above, one can lay a strong foundation for the bright future of one’s children.
Written by Srinivasan