I was teaching in a primary school. Teaching kids of 5-8 years is a lot of fun. I had a student, Asha very cute one. But somehow she looked stressed out. I tried to inquire from Asha why it is so. From our interactive healthy conversation, I came to know Asha has an abusive father. My student Asha was growing up in an environment of constant threat, constant burdens, heavy burdens that influence Asha's everyday function. I started reading about the same and found that under constant fear, the stress system is activated excessively. It produces what we call toxic stress, and that disrupts the development of brain circuits during their critical periods. It disrupts the cardiovascular system. It disrupts the immune system and creates the foundation for a greater risk for a whole host of physical and mental health problems and difficulties, and learning. That really made me greatly concerned for dear Asha.
I talked to our principal, Madam. Principal Madam fixed a Zoom meeting with Asha's mother and requested mother help the child. The principal told the mother that early experiences of childhood literally shape a child's biology, creating either a strong or a weak foundation for all the health, learning, and behavior that follow for a lifetime. I, as the class teacher, was trying my best to make Asha happy and playful in
There were students like Suman, Rekha, and Rakesh whose parents were responsive, warm, and sensitive, which is why these children were doing well in every activity at school. Their language development was good, and they had secure attachment to their parents.
The expression of warmth could differ across cultures, but I found there were parents who smiled a lot and would demonstrate positive affect towards their babies. Their children had positive social developmental outcomes. There were students in my class who had negative experiences because of exposure to family violence, chronic and harsh parenting, and maltreatment. This threatens the secure attachment of children, and consequently, the later social development of children is limited.
Unfortunately, in India, our health sector will always look at child survival, they will look at immunization rates, but they will not look at holistic development in the sense that is their language, social-emotional development.
The moral of the story is that parents should give a happy and secure childhood to their children. If parents are not able to do so, they are neither helping children nor society in development.
Sukarma Thareja
https://sites.google.com/site/drsukarmaranithareja/home
https://sites.google.com/site/drsukarmaranithareja/home
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