A communication time!

The above photos of two Bulbuls in our garden, while feeding together   turned a meal time into a communicating time!

The Bulbul who arrived at the feeding station first turned to different directions with bird calls to invite its pair for the meal. From feeding separately from two bowls, they came to tether to feed from the same fruit, taking turns. 

Yesterday, during a conversation time with a family, I was disturbed to hear that the meal time at the home was a TV viewing time. Their child who was three years old had poor expressive language skills. As early as from six months of age, the chid was introduced to feed watching TV. After a while it became a family behaviour. 

Sharing a meal together creates an occasion to be present to each other and to create a communicating time. That was what I noticed with these two Bulbuls. 

The 'machine language' might appear to be entertaining. The 'language of the heart' brings endearing experiences. For children, the endearing experiences are formative and foundational to develop trustful and intimate relationships. For children, such family times offer to experience the family times around a meal as fellowship times. 

A child drifts to be occupied to play alone by two to three years of age, if he or she is not introduced to the experiences of togetherness. This is one of the serious disadvantages of offering children to be occupied with TV viewing or playing with mobile phone. Their social world regresses to an animated world where interaction is replaced with passive entertainment. 

The Bulbuls demonstrated a contrary experience. They turned to each other in between feeding. They chirped to each other and found pleasure in that communicative ambience. The visual, auditory, emotional and social experiences play a large role in the first three years for the social formation of a child! 

The sounds, colours and animations of a visual screen are not what a  child's brain is conditioned for in the pre-school years. But human presence, voice, face, touch and interactive play! 

The Bulbuls above demonstrated that communicative intent during their meal time! The meal  time, becomes a fulfilling time, when it becomes a fellowship time !

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)