THINKING ABOUT BABIES…

I’ve been thinking about babies and why they need so much input in their early months and into the critical years of early childhood. Recently, I came across an idea explored by the late philosopher and theologian, Lord Jonathon Sacks.  In his book: ‘Not Just Good, but Beautiful’, Sacks reminds the reader that, millions of years ago, Homo Sapiens developed bigger brains than other mammals; they also began to stand upright – a posture which served to constrict the female pelvis. For these reasons, to facilitate the birthing process, human babies would be born more prematurely than any other species.  Consequently, the argument goes, human babies will need parental protection for very much longer.

Care for babies is not just about ‘feeding and watering’ and ‘topping and tailing’  and caring for their tiny bodies and brains, but about nurturing their human spirit too. Babies need our words and our gestures to communicate: ‘You are very special to me’. For every child to have a sense of being truly valued, having been nurtured with warmth and commitment, is beyond price - reverberating positively into their future in countless ways.

Green politics tells us that to survive on this planet, we must consider ‘the whole’ in time and space – surely a philosophy applicable to childhood too? For this reason, I would argue for ‘regenerative parenting’ – the idea that each child is part of the whole. Initially, what each parent does, and what we do in our communities, will count a lot. Good parenting is a universal preventative for much that can go wrong for children in our society.

Recently I came across an NSPCC Community project: ‘Look, Say, Sing, Play – to build your baby’s brain every day’. Here, parents were being encouraged to turn a baby’s ‘everyday moments’ into ‘brain-building’ ones. Personally, I would take this further - for parents to use ‘everyday moments’ to build their baby’s heart. In this way, the child will develop empathy/generosity/warmth/forgiveness and joy in their connection with others. Research is clear - it’s those early playful interactions with a loving carer that form the seeds of empathy in a child. What About The Children? for years has been highly committed to the study of infant brain development and also to the idea that: ‘It’s Love that builds a baby’s brain’.

In conclusion, I note with regret the low status currently afforded to unpaid Carers who, day after day, year after year, provide support at home for their vulnerable family members – the very old, and the very young. Those who give such care deserve very much more recognition, respect, and support than is currently on offer.

Leah Libresco Sargeant said:

Dependence is our default state, and self-sufficiency the aberration. Our lives begin and end in states of near-total dependency.

It’s worth remembering that.

Dr Carole Ulanowsky