The care of the next generation is important so we should be developing their mental, physical and spiritual qualities.
In the ‘What about the Children?’ by Watch? report, it was stated that overuse of baby equipment and electronic screens could impact negatively on the physical and emotional development of children under three years-old (‘Modern life damaging infants brains, charity warns, www.bbc.co.uk, 13 March 2014).
The report highlights the strapping of small children into pushchairs together with the increased usage of smartphones and tablets as being particularly damaging. The impact of modern lifestyle on the brain development of and the resultant deprivation of care for infants could have an impact on later life
Sally Goddard Blythe, the Director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, stated: ‘Social interaction helps physical development, for example eye contact, singing and talking. That is not happening if a child is in a forward-facing buggy and her mum is using her smartphone.
‘Infants need opportunity for free movement and exploration whether it is tummy time, cuddling or rough play.
‘Attention, balance and co-ordination skills learned during the first 36 months of life support cognitive learning and have been linked to school performance later.’
June O’Sullivan from the London Early Years Foundation stressed the importance of relationships: ‘Children’s wellbeing starts with positive attachment to adults who are attuned and responsive.
‘If they understand the children’s emotions and put their fears into words, it is very reassuring to the child.
‘Wellbeing in the early years is the foundation of success at school, in making friends and relationships and for all adult life.’
In addition, a report titled ‘The Play Return’ by the Children’s Play Policy Forum discovered that play improved children’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing (‘Play ‘boosts children’s development and happiness’,’ www.bbc.co.uk, 6 August 2014). Play also boosts children’s language, problem solving, risk management and independent learning skills.
Children who attended playgrounds particularly if it was regularly with their families were associated with family wellbeing and happiness.
There was also links to a range of improvements in academic skills, attitudes and behaviour, and to improved social skills, improved social relations between different ethnic groups, and better adjustments to school life.
It is essential that we are to ‘Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.’ (Proverbs 22: 6, see also Isaiah 38: 19, Lamentations 2: 19). Conversation is important so we are also exhorted to ‘watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your children after them.’ (Deuteronomy 4: 9)
We are to bring our children up so that they are prepared for the independence of adulthood with all the best training that we can give them.
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