Making a crying child cheer up

I watched an elder sister engaging her toddler sister, while her mother was in conversation with one of our professionals in the department. The toddler was crying and wanting to be with the mother. The elder sister in an attempt to console the toddler brought her before the Acquarium. It took a while for the toddler to get drawn by the movement of the fish.

I was amazed with the patience of the elder sister. She gently and and thoughtfully kept drawing the attention of her toddler sister to the moving fish. Finally he got glued on to their movement and settled down till the mother returned after the conversation with the professional. 

I was not planning to do any photography in the morning yesterday. But two organisers involved in getting some photographs on the 'Healing touch' for a photography exhibition in connection with the Hospital day on 14 September 2022 requested me for a photograph. I tried avoiding to do it. But hey were insistent. That is how I came to the play area of the department where I found the two sisters. The older sister attempted different activities to calm the crying child. But it was sighting the  moving fish in the Acquarium which cheered the toddler. 

I felt enthused by the efforts of the older sister, her patience, kindness and nearness to her sister. She changed activities till the toddler was comfortable. 

In a conversation with her I realised that she substituted for the mother whenever the mother was occupied with household chores. 

Late Prof David Morley of the Institute of Child Health, London,  launched a Child- to- Child Programme in the early nineteen eighties to promote older siblings taking care of the younger siblings when both parents were working in the field, in some developing countries in Africa and Asia. The UNICEF adopted it as a programme which became very popular where older siblings in rural households were trained to feed younger siblings, provide Oral Rehydration Solution when the younger sibling had diarrhoea, weigh them every week and record it on a weight chart, and engage them by singing, reading stories from picture books, playing interactive games, etc. In fact, the older siblings in many instances prepared the younger siblings through an informal activity plan to join school. The older siblings did most of these activities when they were at home before and after their school hours. The school attendance at that time in poor rural households was only thirty percent because of which older siblings were full time with their younger siblings. 

Prof Morley, who told me about the inspiration about embarking on this programme recalled that he witnessed one older sibling in his neighbourhood taking care two of her younger siblings, when he lived and worked in Africa for ten years. 

How creative Prof Morley might have been to transform this experience to embark on establishing a foundation to popularise Child-to-Child programme to promote Child Development practices globally! 

I saw a Child-to- Child support practice yesterday in my work place!

Let me greet all older siblings in our homes who have a mindful and available attitude towards their younger siblings!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)