A few words for parents with very young children
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| Lokesh and his mother. May God bless and protect these children and children everywhere on Earth |
Across my home in India, is another home that was
sold recently. The new owners are redesigning and reconstructing parts of it.
The contractor has allowed a laborer, his wife and two kids to stay in the under
construction site so as to keep an eye on supplies in an otherwise vacant home.
In recent times, there is some prosperity in India and
extreme poverty has reduced but there still remain pockets of poverty and it is
out of these that most construction laborers come. Poverty is not new in India. It has
been there now for several generations with some families and when that
happens, humans can sink to the lowest of depths of humanity and this could be the
case with the laborer just mentioned and his two kids. Often it is a matter of
proper knowledge rather than poverty alone that does this to humans. This
laborer has a two year old son and a five year old daughter as shown in the
picture just snapped.
Now it has fallen on my shoulders, to provide this nice
family with some education with the hope that these sweet kids may find a
better life ahead and these are some of the things I taught them that I am
writing about here. They are useful for not only the poorest of children but
also rich ones around the world for some of the modern rich are neglecting their
young children too and leading them into poor lives.
I explained to the parents, consider a tree, if it stunted
when young, it shall remain stunted for life but if it develops a good trunk
than later deficiencies in its branches can be made up with some effort.
I told them, consider a building with a weak foundation, it shall remain a weak
one forever howsoever much is done to improve it from top, but another one with
a strong foundation may be improved later, and so it is with children. The age till they are five or six years old is the foundation of their life.
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| https://twitter.com/GottaBernNow/status/721921118299230208 |
As regards improving the lives of children, my suggestions
were the simplest ones. First she must wash clothes of children and bathe them
thoroughly daily and to begin them off, I have provided them with some supplies;
second, take care not to get angry or hit a child of less than five ever, for
it is with love that the best of minds and hearts develop. Third and the last
were hints on nutritious food and water that is easily affordable by this
family, things like half a hard boiled egg each for the kids, some milk, fruits
and green vegetables aside from the unleavened bread made on an iron plate on a wood fire. She makes this daily; it is
quite nice and the kids like it. This last is one thing that has remained with
even the poorest of families of South Asia
because it was with that that they survived in the main even when there was not much else
for food.
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The reason why an environment of care and love is essential
for children under the age of five is precisely why school, even a play school,
is never a great idea for such children less than five years old. A school
teacher that has to manage a whole bunch of them cannot do so with love alone
despite what the school says because it wants to make a profit from such
children. Instead, getting young children less than five some coloring books
and some blocks they can put together in different arrangements would go a long
way in preparing and developing their mind for school later. At most, a parent may teach a child of four
numbers from one to ten and some of the alphabet at home if they like. It is a
misconception in the mind of some parents that sending a child to school early
would help the child to become brighter. In fact the reverse would happen with
a stunted mind. This author went to school first after the age of five and
later went on to get the best of education in the best of universities of the
world on fellowships because of his top academic records.
Rather than school, what helps very young children much more
is a regular and daily exposure to green surroundings filled with grass,
flowers and trees, even as it nurtures the souls of adults too. Parents that
live in apartment blocks must take their young children out into green spaces
daily or if they live in a crowded city where it is not easily accessible, get
out of it unless they want stunted children built on weak foundations. Such a
building may be kept propped up for a full life time, but only with much effort
may it be prevented from coming crashing down.
UPDATE April 30, 2016
The name of the little boy in this story is Lokesh. Some days ago I called up my godson Shyamu (he is described in some earlier posts) and asked if there were any clothes left over that had become too small for his son (now 7 and also described in some earlier posts) and daughter (now 4) then these kids could make use of them. He brought over a big bag and now Lokesh and his sister have many bright clothes that are red, blue and green.
Lokesh now visits me every morning when I am in the garden and gets some biscuits from me and two almonds a day that he chews up quick . My own experience and study suggests that almonds help improve the IQ and memory hugely. I use the following dosage, 1 almond a day for one or two months a year for children between one and two, 2 a day for two years old, three for three year old, four for the four years old and thereafter only five a day until old age. The best time for this is before examinations for school children or winters for others. My god grandson on this regime now tops in his school class as did I on the same regime. He does his K-2 arithmetic sums at super speed.
Years ago, as a Professor when I wrote a booklet for students “How to succeed in exams” this tip was included along with several others to help students. The small book is available at Amazon here. Almonds are a great help for older persons too. Edgar Cayce an American Mystic used to say that an almond a day keeps cancer away and some recent research confirms this. Along with coconut it also helps older persons mitigate dementia and Alzheimer it seems and there are older articles on that in this blog.The limited number of almonds must be adhered to because excess may harm. There are strong components in almonds such as selenium that would harm instead of help in excess.Inspired by my effort the owner of the house under construction, a medical doctor, also brought some prescription health tonics for the kids and the result of all this is that Lokesh and his sister are bright kids now who shall hopefully see a brighter life ahead, God Willing.One never knows when a small kind deed may have a big impact. He shall note and respond likewise to add joy to your life, a joy that far exceeds what your own efforts may bring to it or be incapable of bringing to it because we all suffer from varying amounts of lust, greed and anger that pushes us towards misery rather than joy.
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| Lokesh on a visit to the author's garden. May the Lord protect him and all children of the world |
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