PRENATAL CARE

Actions are the seeds of fate, deeds grow into destiny.

When a seed is sown into ground, you cannot immediately see the plant. With time and intentional efforts, it grows into a large tree. Then the flowers bloom and only then the fruits can be plucked.

The best outcome is ensured by proper seed and noble intentions for nurture in right direction.

The pre-conception efforts if followed by right parenting endeavor in prenatal and early years of the child, it would be useful for the youngster for developing balanced personality.

For the purpose of family, nation as well as total humanity welfare in mind, we are trying to understand measures we can take to create well-mannered young generation. In last article we discussed the formula for procreative conception. The period from conception to the birth of baby is also important. Can we use this period for the development of a child? This article tries to discuss this.

Classic Examples of Prenatal Education

We all are aware of story of Abhimanyu in the world famous epic Mahabharata. While Shri Krishna explains Chakravyuva (certain battle field arrangement) to his sister Subhadra, with fetus in her womb i.e. Abhimanyu, listens to same of its part. Later, he used this knowledge at the time of Mahabharata war. Examples of prenatal education are also found in the biographies of Bhagwan Buddha, Bhakta Pralhada, Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Phule & Vir Sawarkar. The recent example is Tabla Maestro Zakir Hussain. Except these occasional examples, we do not see easy availability of prenatal education method to common people. On the other hand, many years modern medicine had declined that a child can understand and learn during prenatal stage.

Prenatal Education – Opinions of Experts and Scientists

Earlier scientists thought that a fetus has no awareness of the environment in a womb of a mother. Recent experiments in this field has Proven it wrong. A fetus has perception of many kinds. This Knowledge plays very important role in his growth and development. This is the opinion of French expert prof. Jean Pierre Relier. According to American expert Fredrick Wirth, fetus has deep impact of your emotions, thoughts & action during prenatal stage to post birth stage.

Canadian Expert Thomas Verney says, the experience from the moment of conception is important in the development of brain. Child’s personality, nature and high thinking ability develop on the basis of it. Worldwide research has now proved that prenatal education is necessary for nurturing the future generation not only in the interest of an individual or family but also for world peace and security. For last several years, number of research papers are being published by scientists explain the importance of prenatal efforts. Summaries of some  research papers are given.

Some latest research references.

Pregnant women respond to music with stronger physiological changes in blood pressure 
Date: May 20, 2014. Source: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Summary: Pregnant women, compared to their non-pregnant counterparts, rate music as more intensely pleasant and unpleasant, associated with greater changes in blood pressure, a study has demonstrated. Music appears to have an especially strong influence on pregnant women, a fact that may relate to a prenatal conditioning of the fetus to music.

Fear of Childbirth Predicts Postpartum Depression

Jan. 3, 2014 — Expectant women with prenatally diagnosed fear of childbirth are at an increased risk of postpartum depression, according to a study of over 500,000 mothers in Finland. Women with a history of depression are at the highest risk of postpartum depression. The fact that fear of childbirth puts women without a history of depression at an approximately three times higher risk of postpartum depression is a new observation which may help health care professionals in recognizing postpartum depression. The results were published recently in BMJ Open.

Exercise during Pregnancy Gives Newborn Brain Development Head Start

Nov. 10, 2013 — As little as 20 minutes of moderate exercise three times per week during pregnancy enhances the newborn child's brain development, according to researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital. This head-start could have an impact on the child's entire life.

Babies Can Learn Their First Lullabies in the Womb

Oct. 30, 2013 — Infant can recognize a lullaby heard in the womb for several months after birth, potentially supporting later speech development. This is indicated in a new study at the University of Helsinki.

Capacity of Fetus to Acquire Knowledge

A person gains various experiences during his life time. Brain is sensitive to the experience of every moment. But brain is most sensitive during prenatal and post birth stage few early years when brain’s development takes place at maximum speed. Emotions of mother affect fetus in her womb. If mother is stressed, a hormone called catecholamine is produced in her body. It reaches to the fetus. Fetus experiences much more stress than a mother. On the other hand, if mother has soft & tender emotions of love then hormones called Endorphin, Oxytocin are produced in the body of mother. These hormones reach to fetus and affect positively.

Prenatal Progress of A Fetus

Fetus starts experiencing and learning from the first moment of existence. Therefore condition of a mother and her surroundings are important at this stage. Growth of a fetus is known to take place as follows:

15 days: First cell of a brain is created.

3^rd week: First heartbeat.

3^rd month: All organs, which a developed person has, are created.    

4^th month: Starts listening.

5-6^thmonth: Fetus can listen very well. Remembers stories/songs heard. 

7^th month: Fetus can listen & see. Understands smell, taste and touch.

8^th month: Memory and decision making activities start. Fetus dreams, prepares himself to take birth.

9^th month: Fetus weighs approximately 3 kg. Heart circulates around 300 gallon blood. When growth is complete fetus sends message to the mother through brain. Labor pain begins and child is born.

Thus as the life and organs develop in pre-birth stage, the learning or nurturing of the fetus takes place. This process can be used for the better future of the child by intentional and planned efforts by the parents.

Important Information for Parents

If you want to impart prenatal education/sanskars on child, the main responsibility of it lies on mother and father. “I/We will behave as we like, as we wish, but my child must be good behaved and well-mannered”. Such attitude on parts of mother and father cannot be considered logical and scientific. It is important to cherish the feeling that parents desire this child from the bottom of their heart and they are eager to welcome and receive him/her in this world.

It is important to eat nutritious (Satvik) diet*, be happy, having tension free behavior, avoid all kinds of addictions and bad habits.(*Refer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sattvic_diet)

Mother should stay among the people who care for her. She can lovingly care more for the fetus, if she gets security, care and love from her family. If conception takes place with resolution of a couple and later, they lovingly take care for fetus till its birth, it will benefit the child throughout his life. Temporary psychological tensions and troubles do not have particular effect on fetus. But long term, severe tensions of a mother creates possibility of adverse effect on fetus.

Prospective parents should deliberately try to remain calm, balanced and maintain satvik (pious) nature during prenatal stage of a child. Hormones created in mother’s body during this stage plays important role in developing brain cells and later personality of a child.

In prenatal stage, if you nurture child with love, affection and unwavering faith, then a child can learn behavioral skills in his life at a proper time.

A role of father is also as important as that of mother.

It is important to communicate with love and affection in every possible way with the child in prenatal stage. During prenatal stage, do not try to teach child anything. Just convey that you love him and eagerly wait to welcome him in this world. This is enough for effective communication.

Do all this while doing your day to day activity, job and business.

Prenatal Help from Manashakti Research Centre

At Manashakti, the work of prenatal sanskar is going on for last over fifty years. A 3 day study camp is organized at Lonavala and one day seminars are organized for sizable groups of child expecting couples at different towns all over India as per demand. Every year more than thousand couples are benefited from this training. A thesis is published based on information collected from the 2000 children with prenatal sanskars. It is now proven that these efforts are beneficial to child in his future life.

Garbh Sanskar (Prenatal Education)
(http://www.manashakti.org/content/garbh-sanskar-prenatal-education-experiments)

Every parent wishes to have a talented and virtuous child. All virtues can be acquired through the Sanskar (i.e. purification) process. Today, science proves that the fetus can learn and memorize; and hence, good values can be imparted to it. Manashakti is experimenting with and propogating the concept of Garbh-Sanskar since 1961 and has received international acclaim too! Thus, to procreate a bright, healthy & cultured baby,  literature and products are available.

To maintain good health, it essential to practice Yogic postures (Yogasane) consistently, and during pregnancy, this becomes even more important. Doing yoga would go a long way in reducing transient problems/disorders during pregnancy, and for an easy and natural delivery. 

Contents:-

1. Prayer

2. Preliminary Yoga for warming-up

3. Yogic postures to be done specifically in each pregnancy trimester

4. Shanti Mantra

5. A booklet showing various yogasanas.

This Garbhasangeet has been specially created to develop courage and peace in the baby-in-the-womb, as also, as a service to the society.

This is an unsurpassed music for the baby in the womb. It is an excellent way to infuse good values in the baby, and strengthen the bonding, with the fetus.

Contents:-

1. Gayatri Mantra ( Rag Yaman and Rag Bhairav)

2. Rag Yaman, Bageshri, Bilawal, and Todi ( Vocal)

3. Rag Lalat, Rag Kedar ( Violin)

4. Parade Song
5. Garbhopanishad, and a

6. Western composition.

The would-be parents are expected to listen to this music every day, soon after the conception is confirmed. This would go a long way in reducing their stress, and also impart good values to the baby through the medium of music!

Books / Publications:
 (http://www.manashakti.org/events-schedule/books)

Detailed guidance about how one can impart best prenatal sanskars with help of prayers, music, story, reading, games, diet, Yogasanas and meditation is available from Manashakti prenatal education project. This project aims at creating new well-mannered generations to build nations to serve the humanity at large.

Post Birth..

First seven years in the life of child after birth are important for the development of the emotional part of the personality. These are very relevant and useful years for the proper parenting efforts. This would be the topic of our next article.

Vijay R. Joshi.

PRE-CONCEPTION CARE.

Healthy Seed Breeds a Healthy Crop

A child must get training/guidance not only for success in academic examination, but also for sound health and in shaping modest and responsible behavior/character. This will pave the way for success in the future, happy life.

“घटाघटाचे रूप आगळेI प्रत्येकाचे दैव वेगळेI

(“Every person is unique. Everybody has different fate”)
.

As every person has different personality, every person’s destiny is also different. But it can be changed suitably by training the mind to think and act correctly.

We are deliberating about what is the possible share of efforts by others in making child’s future favorable. And the prime initial role is that of parents, mother and father, who are in the proximity of the child not only since its existence, but even for the concept of would be existence.

Healthy seeds are necessary for excellent harvest. The same principle applies for super procreation. It demands seed to be pure, strong and healthy. The long journey that decides what kind of human being the child is going to develop into, begins at the moment when a mother conceives. But pre-conception care is also necessary for proper conception.

Let us review the latest research on need of pre-conception efforts.

Ref:  Daily Science News: Research from research organization.

1. Preventing child obesity in the next generation must start before conception. Date: October 13, 2016 Source: University of Southampton

Summary: The key to preventing obesity in future generations is to make their parents healthier before they conceive, leading health researchers suggest.

2. Mothers who binge drink before they become pregnant may be more likely to have children with high blood sugar and other changes in glucose function that increase their risk of developing diabetes as adults, according to a new study. Date: April 3, 2017. Source: The Endocrine Society.

3. Work to improve children's health should start before mother becomes pregnant. Date: October 20, 2014. Source: University of Southampton

Summary: The key to making future generations healthier could lie before the mother becomes pregnant, researchers believe. In a new article, they say that a greater understanding is needed of the role of maternal nutrition in preconception and its impact on the child.

4. Fathers drinking: Also responsible for fetal disorders? Date: February 14, 2014 Source: Taylor & Francis

Summary: Maternal exposure to alcohol in-utero is a known risk and cause of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). FAS children suffer significant problems such as retarded intellect, stunted growth and nervous system abnormalities, social problems and isolation. Until now, fathers have not had a causal link to such disabilities. Ground breaking new research has been revealed which shows dads may have more accountability.

5. Epigenetics: Mother's nutrition -- before pregnancy -- may alter function of her children's genes. Date: September 20, 2012. Source: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

Summary: A pregnant mom's diet affects her child's health. Now, new research in mice suggests that what mom ate before pregnancy is also important.

6. Parents' preconception exposure to environmental stressors can disrupt early development. Article spotlights latest science showing transgenerational health impact of environmental stressors. Date: August 4, 2015. Source: The Endocrine Society

Summary: Even before a child is conceived, the parents' exposure to environmental stressors can alter the way genes are expressed and ultimately harm the child's health when those genes are passed down to the next generation, according to a new article.

7. Fathers' age, lifestyle associated with birth defects

Date: May 15, 2016. Source: Georgetown University Medical Center

Summary: A growing body of research is revealing associations between birth defects and a father's age, alcohol use and environmental factors, say researchers. They say these defects result from epigenetic alterations that can potentially affect multiple generations.

8. Parenting begins before conception. September 3, 2016

New research shows that your health and lifestyle-factors around the time of conception can have a significant impact on both your chances of achieving a healthy pregnancy as well as the long term health of your child.  In fact it may be even more important than your genetics.

What are epigenetics? Epigenetics are the tiny DNA changes that alter their structure and function. Our DNA is not as ‘set in stone’ as you may think. Just because you have a history of heart disease, does not mean you will automatically pass this on to your child. In fact, during the crucial preconception period, you have the chance to actually improve your genes!

Our genes are sensitive to the environment to which they are exposed. This means that genes can change the way they are expressed depending on their environmental conditions. These changes are known as epigenetic changes.

Factors such as

• antioxidant status
• availability of macro and micronutrients
• stress
• alcohol
• smoking

can have a positive or negative influence over these epigenetic chances. We have long known that these changes occur in utero, however research now shows that you can start influencing the health of your future child before you even conceive. Healthy diet and lifestyle factors combined with availability of important nutrients can influence the environment in which your egg and sperm grow and develop, encouraging positive epigenetic changes. Both the egg and sperm have around a 90 day developmental cycle, where they progress from immature follicle into the mature egg and sperm ready for potential fertilization. It is during these critical 90 days that you can positively influence your DNA which is set to become your future child.

The motto of ‘being the best Mum starts well before birth’.  Now research is showing that the nourishment you provide before you even conceive, may be more important than ever.

"Manashakti" offers guidance.

Foreseeing the need of pre-conception training, Manashakti has already started the guidance to the needy couples through a full day workshop. Let us see the concept in some details.

Conceiving with Resolution

Process of conceiving begins at a moment when ovum, i.e. female egg fuse with gametes, i.e. male sperm. It is believed that three to four months prior to this moment is the important period for pre conception care. Because during this period process of egg and sperm production continues in body of mother and father. This means the preparation to deliver good child should begin around 12-13 months before birth of a child. 

Here we are mainly discussing the mind’s role in such efforts. Husband and wife should resolve to deliver a baby before this. That is to say; the birth should be by the desire or resolution of parents and not incidental or by accident.

YOUR DESTINY IS YOUR CREATION.

During sexual intercourse, healthy male releases about 500 million sperms into vagina of a woman. But only single sperm can unite with an egg of a woman. How this choice is made is an unsolved question. The moment of meeting of a sperm and an egg is the first moment of existence of a future child. This moment is very important for the human being who is going to take birth and live long life. It is the first experience of child to be borne. Efforts to ensure worthiness of human egg and sperm are necessary including physical and psychological state of mother and father and total environment. Therefore it is beneficial to consciously put in efforts in preparation of this moment. 

Eugenics – The Science of Creation: Eugenics means the science of good creation. It is the science of creating good generation, good people. The process of human birth (creation) depends on many components. Worldwide efforts were taken and are being taken to make it better. We find a deep reflection in Indian culture about super procreation, i.e. creation of better people. We also find some mantras in Vedas about this. Indian culture suggests 16 sanskars for a person which are rituals performed pre-birth stage to post death stage. These sanskars teach us about the obligation in our life. Out of these 16 sanskars three sanskars are performed before birth of child.

·  Garbhadhan: knowledge of the efforts to be taken by mother and father to produce good child

·  Punsavan: protection of fetus and welcoming the spirit.

· Simantronayan: (craving of pregnant woman, डोहाळे): purifying environment, taking care of mother.

Following is the book written by Gajanan Kelkar of Manashakti which is good reference on the subject. (http://www.manashakti.org/books/super-procreation)

Marriage and Compatibility

For successful conception, many things prior-to; should also be successful. Among those things primarily important are choice of your partner for marriage. Choosing correct partner and marrying him or her is one of the 16 sanskars. Marriage is considered as a life-time relationship in Indian / vaidik culture; continued with a number of responsibilities only for self and family but also for elders and society in general. (Some cultures consider marriage as a contract). In classical Indian culture, marriage is considered necessary for Gruhasthaashram (गृहस्थाश्रम). Gruhasthashram is considered as the base of three other ashrams (i.e. Brahmacharya ब्रह्मचर्य, Vanprastha वानप्रस्थ and Sanyas सन्यास). We see happiness of an individual and happiness of society combined here. Sexual relationship is not the only purpose of marriage. To live responsible and better married life, what should a husband and wife do, what they should avoid, etc. comes under this sanskar (विवाह संस्कार). In Eugenics or super procreation, choice of a partner and compatibility are very important for birth of a child. Two people must have compatible nature to live happily ever after.

Manashakti Research Center provide guidance for pre-marriage compatibility and post-marriage compatibility. Very rarely the “couples are made for each other”. In pre marriage stage if couple properly understands the character or personal traits of the partner, it will be useful to know what efforts, adjustments, both need do to enhance compatibility. These efforts will eventually result in happy married life. After marriage, during initial days when husband and wife experience each other more closely, with intimacy, then more understanding, faith and love for each other should emerge. Having complete awareness about this is important while choosing partners for marriage. The birth of a child after marriage (not pre-marriage) is desirable and assumed in this discussion. This assumption has become more important and relevant in today’s era of evolving social values.

Thus if compatible married couple conceive with resolution, the possibility of favorable child is utmost, as there would be better chances of proper physical and psychological environment at the time of conception. In this context, a day seminar of Manashakti Research Center on Super procreation is very useful for newly married couples. (http://www.manashakti.org/content/newly-wed-and-pre-pregnancy)

Newly Wed and Pre-Pregnancy

Marriage is one of the turning points in life; and the future life is to proceed on two wheels of the cart. To have a smooth run, there should be harmony between the two wheels. Taking a right direction at this turning point is the first step towards a happy home. A happy home wins half the battle of life! To that end, Manashakti has following activities, literature and products.

                                           

Suprajanan Workshop (for couple)(Language-Marathi)

Machine Test

Energy Quanta Test.

Post-Marriage Adjustment Test

Suprajanan Test.

Nature and Nurture – Both Are Important

Genes of parents play important role in development of brain and overall personality of the child. Now it is also proven that environment in which conception happens is also equally important. Genes are part of nature, but environment is a part of nurture. The feeling of being wanted by parents is very conducive to the child since prenatal stage. Conceiving child and bringing up with love is very beneficial. If physical or psychological condition of a mother is tense or depressed during this stage, this can adversely affect child for life. Responsibility of care of woman during this period mainly rests with her husband and her family. But it is also important that the woman herself be aware and take active initiative in these efforts.

Happiness / Satisfaction / Positive Attitude

Memory means remembering things. Where does this memory begin? Memory means storing what we experience and learn. During this process we change ourselves according to our experience. A fetus cannot have experience of an infant. Likewise a child cannot have experience of an adult. Even though experiences of a person change, the moments of his earlier existence remain intact in later stage. All the experiences from the moment of conception are stored in our cells as a permanent memory. Our today’s personality is an overall result of it. If prospective parents understand this process, they will be able to create positive memories of happiness and satisfaction in child.  Young children are suffering from psychosomatic disorders based on tension and depression. These disorders resulting in destructive and self-destructive nature are linked with the experiences in initial life. Modern science has proven this. Negligence, horrific incidents, bad behavior in this stage, weakens the child physically and psychologically. This creates deficiency in them. Their academic progress gets slow. Child needs love, faith and care from prenatal stage till they are grown up. This is responsibility of parents and teachers as well. When good quality seed is sown, the plant will grow to reach the sky. The prenatal care of the child really starts from pre-conception stage. Pre-natal care is the topic of our next article.

Vijay R. Joshi.

EVERY CHILD IS UNIQUE IN NATURE

 Every child is Unique and needs unique way of teaching / educating.

The general review of the present conditions of young generation will reveal that younger kids are capable to grasp a lot more information than any previous generation. This young generation seems comparatively more aware of own self, free of inferiority complex and know about their desires and ambitions. They are also eager to learn and try new things in life. But simultaneously, largely they seem to chase materialistic pleasures and are no fan of discipline. They are also self-centered and ignorant of value based lifestyle. 

Though we do not like to generalize, the above conclusion, it is derived from the contacts made with several youngsters in schools and colleges through various field activities of Manashakti Research Centre. However, there is no point in denying the fact that today we see different kind of generation-gap which is widening faster. Of course, problems in rural, urban and metropolitan areas are different and they do vary as per the economic class. Nevertheless we find growing tensions at student and parent’s level everywhere. Thus it appears necessary that individuals, institutions, organizations and strategy makers should review problems and the root causes objectively to find appropriate solutions. We shall try to analyze in this context. 

Educating-global-citizens-for-the-21st-century

Mind and Life Institute Conference, October 2009 at Washington USA had detailed deliberation on this subject.
(http://www.kosmosjournal.org/article/educating-global-citizens-for-the-21st-century/)

How can our educational system evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century? How will we educate people to be compassionate, competent, ethical, and engaged citizens in an increasingly complex and interconnected world? The urgent challenges of a globalized and interdependent world demand a new vision of world citizenship that is not confined to national boundaries, but encompasses moral and ethical responsibilities to all humanity. People coming of age in the 21st century will need to develop unprecedented levels of intercultural cooperation, mutual moral concern, creativity, and skill in effectively addressing the challenges of the world today—challenges economic, ecological, and inter-cultural/religious in nature. An education that will prepare young people to become competent and compassionate world citizens in such a context. It cannot be measured only in terms of cognitive skills and knowledge, but must address wider aspects of the heart, including skills and qualities of awareness associated with conscious self-regulation, ethical and social responsibility, and empathy and compassion for others. The time has come to usher in a holistic view of education that empowers children and builds resiliency, hope and confidence.

Neuroplasticity allows us to take responsibility for our own behavior by reshaping our brain at the level of synaptic connections. Teachers and education policymakers gave infuriating examples of how the current school system fails and inspiring examples of brilliant solutions when you connect students to their inner worlds and to each other, and when students and teachers join efforts in radically new ways, sometimes even formalizing respect for community and values by collaboratively penning their own classroom constitution at the beginning of the school year.

The Western educational paradigm focuses on technical skills to mold students into good worker bees. Teachers expressed frustration at being told to teach to the questions on standardized tests. Shame on us for treating students as if their worth arises from how favorably they contribute to the mean and standard deviation of their school district’s scores! We can do so much better! Kids deserve so much better! This one-dimensional, test-score-driven approach has, to this point, largely ignored the importance of cultivating students’ emotional development and regulation, but these two types of education need not be independent. Research clearly shows that children who are more skillful in regulating their emotions score higher on memorization and reasoning exams. Students who are given the tools to more effectively manage their inner lives seem to learn more deeply. Children who are encouraged to care move beyond themselves to care about the collective and not just ‘me’ and ‘mine.’

H.H. Dalai Lama has made secular education, as distinguished from religious education, a priority as the scientific evidence of the consequences of a chaotic interior life are known. And universities such as Harvard and Stanford have heard the call. (REF - http://www.kosmosjournal.org/article/educating-global-citizens-for-the-21st-century/)

With the initiative of “Mind and Life Institute” at the end of the first decade of 21st century, the topic of Character development has been taken up by leading experts in the field. This is indeed a good news. But the emphasis seems only at “school level”. As seen below the learning process doesn’t start after the child is admitted to school, but right from prenatal stage, rather from pre-conception stage. The role of homes (parents), and other stake holders is also critical.

There are millions of children in the world who do not afford good school admission, rather any school admission. If planning at global level is to be considered, then more comprehensive approach appears necessary. Way back in 1960s, Swamy Vijnananand, the founder of Manashakti Prayog Kendra in India, thought on these lines and evolved rational, secular, all affordable approach.

We have to first understand and agree to the fact that each child is unique. Let us see some references on this.

Uniqueness of individual (child) 

(REF http://dailyedventures.com/index.php/2014/08/18/ellenbrandenberger/)   August 18, 2014
“Every student is unique in his or her strengths and challenges, and it is the job of the teacher to foster highly individualized learning in response to the student. Not the other way around.” – Ellen Brandenberger, USA.

I think the most important thing to remember is that high need in a child necessitates both high expectations and highly individualized support from teachers and school community members. While this is easier said than done, and can often feel like an uphill battle, each child deserves a quality education, but needs very different things to get there, whether it be a hot lunch, a literacy coach, a math tutor, or otherwise. 

REF - http://www.kidscount.com.au/en/parenthood/every-child-is-different

EVERY CHILD IS DIFFERENT

As parents, we are constantly comparing our children to others. Whilst this can be a source of great pride, it can also become a source of worry that something is wrong with our child or that we are doing something wrong as parents. Every child is different. Children develop differently, have different personalities, possess different strengths and require different kinds of support to meet their individual needs. All children develop at their own pace and in their own way. 

Children grow and develop at different rates. While their developmental pathways may differ, most pass a set of predictable milestones along the way. It is normal for children to experience developmental spurts and slow spots in different areas of their development over time. If your child is a little ahead or a little behind at a certain age - this is normal. Most of the time, given the right nurturing and stimulation, all children will catch up in the end.
All children have different strengths and vulnerabilities. Some are good at sport, others music. Some are very academic and others not. Some are highly anxious and others are more relaxed. Some children are good sleepers and others wake through the night for years.
The task of parenting is a constantly changing one as the growing needs and abilities of our children change over time. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ way to parent. What works for one child may not work for another. What worked when children were two years old may not work when they are four years. Adaptability and flexibility are key ingredients to parenting. It is normal to lack confidence in your parenting at some time. 

The uniqueness of each child

(Information based on the Philippines' Multigrade Teacher's Handbook)
Every child is an individual, with special social, emotional, intellectual, and physical qualities.
Children are unique. They are individuals and no two children are alike: physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually, each child is a unique individual. Because children are unique, even if there are common needs and characteristics that children of a particular age or stage of development share, they must be understood by their parents and teachers in their uniqueness, and their individuality must be respected.
For example, even in a single-grade classroom composed of 45 to 50 seven-year-olds, not all of the seven-year-olds will be reading at precisely the same ability level. They will also differ in the ways they are able to understand and solve word problems in mathematics. They will have different personalities—some will be shy, some will be confident, some outgoing, some quiet but competent. They will each have their own life experiences and feelings about themselves. They will have different likes and dislikes, interests and needs.
However, this does not mean that a teacher has to prepare 45 or 50 different lesson plans whether it is a single-grade or a multi grade classroom. Instead the teacher must be able to get to know and understand each of the children and prepare teaching/learning activities that will respond to and reflect these individual needs of children. As children work individually or independently, in small-groups or as a whole group, they will each benefit in their own way from these activities. What is most important is that the teacher, who is primarily responsible for planning the daily activities through which the children will learn, should know every child and keep track of how well each child is able to learn.

Role of parents in nurture is important as the role of a teacher.

As stated by one of the speakers in the Washington 2009 seminar organized by Mind and Life Institute,  in mass-accident,(like train accident where lot of people suffer different types of injuries and damages of different organs), each patient needs specific, special treatment which can be given by different specialist doctors… 
In the class room in a similar manner, the need and requirement of each child is different, requiring different special skills. But this  has to be attended by single or two academician teachers. The job is complex, beyond the reach of a teacher. This nor simple, not practical. Rarely some teacher would be able to meet such expectation. What to do? Can we depend entirely on teachers for child’s complete personality development? 
Let us start from the purpose of educating a child in its basic details.

Objective of Education

In dictionary ‘learning’ is defined as a modification of behavior through experiences. Function of learning is in accepting the experience one gets in life and accordingly making (appropriate) changes in own behavior.  Experience means learning as per situation. Thus objective of education is understanding overall meaning of these experiences to make right changes in own behavior. 

In a way, child who is getting an experience and factors responsible for giving child the experience are important in the learning process. For better education child must remain in a condition where he gets good experience. We must try to provide him favorable or at least, less adverse environment from the beginning of learning process. 

When Does Learning Begin?

If you want to make a perfect pot then you must use proper clay and water as a raw material. Insist on using good quality clay. Should use water proportionately to knead clay. Then only you will be able to produce perfect pot. The same principle applies to human intelligence and his internal-external personality that develops through this intelligence. The physical and emotional inputs in the child should be properly blended at appropriate time to cast a good character of the future adult.

Around 7 billion people reside in this world but we won’t find two people having exact same skin color, appearance, likes and dislikes, character, etc. This is the uniqueness only nature can create.  The human efforts can endeavor to shape the nature by proper care of nurture.

How Does Human Personality Develop? Which Things Do Affect It?

Every parent obviously wishes for best personality development for his child. This can make himself/herself happy in life. To fulfill this aspiration child must be given proper education as early as possible. When should we start this education? When does child begin learning? We must find answers for these basic questions. 

Learning from Prenatal Stage

The entry of child in this world is the moment of his birth. But before birth; child exists in his mother’s womb for about nine months. Does the child learn during this pre-birth existence? Manashakti Research Centre’s founder Swami Vijnananand undertook study, experiments and research on this topic since 1960. Based on the work of many scientists, researchers in world, it is now proven that acquiring knowledge, sensitivity and process of changing behavior by gaining experience continues in child even in the prenatal stage. Development of brain, sense organs and other life processes are on during the pre-birth stage. Favorable condition should prevail in prenatal stage to provide child with proper nurture (emotional imprints) and education. We have to put in intentional and pre-planned efforts for this. 
Detailed study courses and mind-body machine tests giving guidance to the parents on this topic are available in Manashakti Research Centre. We shall see the details later. 

Stages in Post Birth Development

Life develops step by step by various ways and means since moment of birth to the stage of adulthood and even after that. Physical, psychological and intellectual development, emergence of varied consciousness regarding different aspects of life takes place during this period. Every person has his own natural personality. But this personality transforms as per environment and the perception of experiences gained. Thus every person gets independent and unique features, shape and existence. This whole process is now studied under the branch of science, called ‘epigenetics’. Generally it was believed earlier that development of personality takes place mainly till youth, but recent research on brain functioning claims that this process continues during entire life till the moment of death. 

We can broadly consider three major stages in the post-birth child development process till attainment of age twenty one.

Stages of Development

First seven years after birth
Eight years to fourteen years of age
Fifteen years to twenty one years of age

The development takes place on psychological/intellectual levels as follows – Emotional development takes place in first stage. In second stage, mainly thinking or analytical capabilities are developed. In addition to these two things, setting goals, aspirations and ambitions, academic education, physical health and diverse aspects of entire personality take shape in the third stage.  

For the correct formation of personality on each stage, it is necessary to put in specific efforts based on the needs of the stage prevailing. If we keep this aspect in mind and evolve an appropriate strategy of education/nurture, we can achieve the results and develop the up-coming generations to successfully face the challenges of the changing world. 
This necessity which is based on mind-brain relation, is described in a beautiful aphorism in Indian traditional education system. 

लालयेत पंचवर्षाणि, दशवर्षाणि ताडयेत |
प्राप्ते तु षोडशे वर्षे, पुत्रे मित्र मिवाचरेत ||

(Parents or elders should nurture the child only with love, affection even pamper it till first five years of age. Later till the child becomes around ten years old it should be spanked and provided role model, exemplary behavior and appropriate environment to inculcate proper behavioral discipline. When the child turns around sixteen years (attains mature age), then he/she should be treated like a friend. They must feel like grown-up and their opinion matters. They need to exert on their own for the progress and necessary support should be made available from elders, if felt needed.

To ensure this process happen properly, responsibility distribution can be as follows:

Stage                                         Primary Responsibility

Prenatal stage                                  Mother, father
Till seven years                        Mother, father, teacher 
Eight to fourteen years                Teacher (main responsibility), mother, father (only guidance) 
Fifteen to twenty one years        Teacher, mother/father (limited to suggestions and advice only                                                                when desired,). Maintain friendly relations 

How Does Learning Take Place?

Having seen the stages of learning and the responsibility attributable to the nurturing elders, let us see how the process of learning normally takes place. 

Child acquires knowledge (ज्ञान) using sense organs (ज्ञानेंद्रिये). Through exposure to the outer world the learning takes place. These sense organs absorb entire knowledge available mainly during awake time of the day. That is to say the process of the knowledge assimilation takes place through seeing, hearing, touch, taste and smell. The experience creates stimulations in the child based on individual perception and as a result imprints in the memory system generate changes in behavior of a person later, in due course of time. This is in nutshell; the process of learning and shaping the personal traits or behavior. We must note that learning does not take place only in school but also in home and other places as well. Let’s estimate the extent each sensory organ participates in this process.

Sensory Organ                                                         Estimated Participation in Learning process 
Eyes                                                                            80% (seeing)
Ears                                                                            10% (listening)
Other sensory organ (skin, tongue and nose)                     10% (touch, taste and smell)
Total                                                                             100%

It means seeing and listening play major role and is very important for proper education and learning. 

Where Does  Learning Take Place?

Learning process continues throughout the day in waking hours. (Sleep period also can be used to certain extent for learning, but that aspect needs separate deliberation and is excluded in our discussion). So we must consider how time of day is spent. General classification of the time spent in a day by a student is considered as follows:

SI. No.            Place / Location                                                          Time of The Day (%)
1                    Home                                                                                             16 %
2                    School                                                                                              16 %
3                   Friends/Neighbours/other places in society                                      16 %
4                    Mixed (out of above three)                                                               12 %
5                  Sleep / rest                                                                                       40 %
                 Total                                                                                              100 %
    
We can see that students learn in school (mainly from teachers), at home (mainly from parents) and in society (from friends, neighbors, etc.) in almost equal proportion. Every concerned party should be aware and understand the necessity of efforts on every level to create proper imprints on the highly sensitive mind of the growing kid in his/her earlier years of life.  

Summary: Learning/nurturing process should be made available to the child since prenatal stage till the stage of attaining adulthood. We briefly reviewed the outline of this process in certain details. Everybody concerned bears the responsibility to create proper environment and avoid improper things. A child must get training/guidance not only for success in academic examination, but also for sound health and in shaping modest and responsible behavior/character. This will pave the way for success in the future, happy life. And the responsibility rests not only with school but also with home, media, policy makers and society at large. We shall see more on this in articles to follow.


Vijay R. Joshi.