The calyx covers a bud, till the flower is fully formed. A flower develops and matures when hidden. The calyx is the womb of protection for an emerging flower.
A home is such a protective environment from the time a baby is born. From the mother's womb to the cradle of a home is a journey of nine months; from the home till the child joins a pre-school the home envelops the child for his or her early childhood development.
Anna and I have been working on the final stage of a book, Engage your child, a manual of ideas for enhancing awareness in early childhood. This book gives ideas to parents on how to involve with a child from birth to the pre-school years to give the child the first experiences of growing up outside the mother's womb. The baby from the time he or she takes the spontaneous first breath at birth, is in the environment of a home surrounded by parents who introduce the environment in an instructional attitude!
A baby becomes familiar with the rhythm of feeding, sleeping and waking up, under the primal influence of hunger and satiety. From hunger or physical or emotional discomfort guiding the baby to react or respond, the baby becomes familiar with sounds, light, human faces, touch and cuddling, which condition the baby to develop some spontaneous behaviours. A crying baby by three to six weeks after birth develops the habit of getting consoled and stops crying when carried by mother and breast fed! This form of 'demand feeding' gets replaced by 'planned feeding' which mother offers at three hourly intervals. This is the foundational transition in the behaviour of an infant. A baby receives attention without having to ask for. The first emotional experience of trust emerges in an infant from the experience of being provided for when the baby needs feed, or physical nearness of being carried and cuddled.
The first experiences in the life an infant are decisive for this trust behaviour to grow to make the baby comfortable to move on to the next stage of autonomy in the toddler period, according to the psycho-social theory of Erick Erickson .
When an infant grows in trust in the first year of life, he or she grows into the experience of autonomy in the second year of life.
It is the home ambience that contributes to a healthy transition. Most of what we shall witness in the pre-school years of a child, would have been largely influenced by the events in the life a child in the first two to three years of a child.
How to make an infant experience the cradle of a home with pleasant memories is an issue that needs lot of attention! The psycho-social orientation of a baby from birth to about three years is derived from the experiences at home. Does the home have a rhythm that corresponds with the needs of an infant or a toddler! Is the home environment protective and promotive of the needs and aspiration of an infant and toddler ! I wonder whether parents are informed and supported enough to develop this orientation about the significance of the home ambience in the life of a child in the first three years!
The sepals in the calyx offer a bud, protected space for the bud to become a flower !
Is our homes such a protected space for an infant and a toddler !
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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