An evening of fellowship!

Anna organised yet another opportunity for us to gather for fellowship, table games and a meal yesterday in the department where I work.

It was the first get-together after our anniversary celebrations to mark the tenth year of the department. 

During the day, children who visited were children at five years or below, all of whom had a delayed language development with set back in behaviour and social skills. Two toddlers resisted clinical examination and protested when approached! Both of them had signs of Separation-Anxiety disorder. This is a frequent dysfunction in toddlers. Out of 15 toddlers whom I welcomed in the last two weeks, ten of them had this dysfunction. This distressed me. All of them began their screen time exposure at six months or earlier. The average time which they spent watching TV or the mobile phones was four hours in. day. One child spent the whole waking hours watching cartoons. 

This is an appalling situation! Children to grow up without opportunities to play with parents, listen to their singing, interacting at meal times or leisure times is a dangerous trend for parents and children. Parents are involved to meet the needs of children and not for creating intimacy with them. Children turn to parents to meet their needs and not for developing bonding to belong. 

As we spent the evening as a group to relax around the meal table, my thoughts returned to how each professional is carrying the grief stories of parents in their thoughts!

I used to promote a personal development plan for each professional during my involvement with them over the last thirty five years in the four places I worked. There used to be formal processes towards this, which became strategic for some professionals. The weekly debriefing session for the professionals is non-existent now. The three monthly audit of personal development plan is also not in practice. I realised how just like children drifting to choose to be occupied with media because parents are not proactive to build relationships, I feel I have slipped in not providing the opportunities for professionals to stay 'alive' and 'relational' by encouraging them to have a personal development pursuit. I wonder whether professionals would want to consider this as an essential part of their formative process!

We are humans. Our formation is a fundamental need. The work place is for providing input into the lives of professionals. It is what shall make them attend to their lives to work leisurely and spontaneously. 

There was laughter, conversation and sharing yesterday! I felt that this is an essential part of life at work!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)