“What the mother sings to the cradle goes all the way down to the coffin.”
–Henry Ward Beecher
Our experiences during our first few months of life probably play a bigger role in what kind of person we will be than those of any other period of our life. It was discovered long ago that premature infants who spent too much time in incubators, instead of in their mother’s arms, developed major problems, but if the babies were frequently removed from the incubators and cuddled, they did much better. We all need love, affection and attention from the moment of birth, and we never outgrow this need.
The amount of love and attention that children receive at every stage of development, and especially in the early years, plays a major role in determining whether they will feel secure and confident as adults, or whether they will be insecure people who constantly seek the love and attention they never received as children. Many people suffer feelings of insecurity throughout their lives because they did not receive sufficient love when they were growing up.
Unfortunately, not all parents give their children the love and attention that is needed for proper development. Many children are not wanted when they arrive in this world, and the parents provide only enough care for some of these children to stay out of trouble with the law. And, of course, some children are severely abused. Neglected and abused children are not only the responsibility of their parents, they are also the responsibility of society.
Children hold the future of the world in their hands. The kind of adults they become, and thus the contributions they make, will be strongly influenced by the kind of childhood they have. And all of us can play a role in improving the lives of neglected children. We can support programs to help these children, we can volunteer our time as mentors in local schools and we can do whatever else we can to enrich the lives of those children with whom we have regular contact.
Some adults like to be around children and others do not. Perhaps some senior citizens, with much of their lives behind them, unconsciously resent the fact that children still have most of their lives ahead of them. Whatever the reason, some people have a negative impact on the children with whom they come into contact. That makes it even more important that the rest of us do what we can to have a positive influence on children.
Think about it.
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Copyright 20125
Allen W. Smith
