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Infancy
and Pre-school Nursing (
A
New Challenge
As
the baby gradually becomes a child, his world starts
widening - from his
parents in the beginning to people around him. The surrounding
environment
keeps on building his personality. In the first two
years the baby grows
steadily and changes rapidly. The cooing and babbling
sounds that come from
the tiny mouth have magical attraction. By the time
he sits and crawls he has
learnt how to make mess of things. Within a year he
is used to do a lot of
mischief and get on other peoples' nerves. The little
angel becomes active
and as such, needs protection from a lot of household
dangers when he walks,
runs, talks and pokes into anything he finds interesting.
As
he grows he learns how to communicate meaningfully with
others. He sees,
observes, responds and learns. Countless information
piles up in his small
brain and tries to confuse him about the meaning of
the world. He is in the
process of building his unique personality. This is
the time when parents
have tremendous role in his rapid physical growth, intellectual
development
and spiritual quest. The child's life begins as an adventure
and this,
naturally, puts a high demand on the parents. Everyday
he masters new skills,
speaks new words and understands new concepts through
games and other
activities. All parents remember their child's beginning
years with most
affection.
A
Question to think about
: With
reference to the way in which a child develops in the
first 2 years, suggest practical ways to make them learn.
Safety
and Well-being
A
baby is dependent on others, but not ignorant or totally
helpless. He knows
when he is happy, hungry, tired or in pain and he signals
these with his
sound and body movement. As 'health is wealth', the
parents must take their
young child's physical well-being, safety, immunisation,
etc, very seriously.
So should be the moral, spiritual and intellectual upbringing.
The formation
period of a man's journey in the world should have a
strong grounding on all
these.
A
Question to think about
: What
kind of environment is suitable for a moral, spiritual
and
intellectual upbringing.?
Child's
Attachment to Parents
Parents,
especially mothers, should provide physical closeness
to child in
order to give him security and peace when he needs most
in a world which is
totally new to him in his tender age. In the early days
someone has to keep
an eye on the vulnerable creature. A child, of course,
should not be made
unnaturally dependent on parents. A gradual natural
'programme' for
independence needs to be adopted. This requires careful
planning for positive
parenting. The practical task of parenting needs 'professionalism'
and basic
'skills'.
A
Question to think about
: Suggest
a basic plan for how you would gradually make your child
more
independent.
Children
Learn through Play
Children
love playing. The sort of games or play a child likes
vary. Games
and other activities give him the opportunity to learn
about the world around
him. Prophet Muhammad gave importance to this. Even
in his old days, he used
to engage himself in innocent play with his young wife
Ayesha. It is
universally acknowledged that physical activity, games,
intellectually
stimulating play, etc, enhance children's creativity
and confidence.
A
Question to think about
: Suggest
examples of games you would play with your children
and how you could modify them so that they have an Islamic
perspective.?
Parents
Learn from Children
Parents
do not have to be psychologists, but they need common
sense and
elementary knowledge to interact and contribute to their
child's development.
Conscious parents continuously learn from the child.
It is a two-way process.
If parents respond positively to a child, he will eventually
develop into a
sociable and considerate person. But parents should
not hurry in such a
process. All children are born with innate potential,
parents need only to
blossom them.
A
Question to think about
:The
author says: "But parents should not hurry in such
a process." How do you think "hurrying the
development process of a child" can affect his
future
and character.
Beware
of TV as a Baby-sitting Tool
The
struggle for survival in the real world keeps parents
terribly busy. As a
result, many of them cannot invest required amount of
time with their
children. In situations these, TV could unwittingly
take place of a
Baby-sitter. For the tiny minds, finding no other creative
things to do, TV
can prove to be a 'Terrible Virus'. Like viral infection,
TV addiction can
have fatal effect for the growth of the child. Unless
it is absolutely
essential for both parents to engage in full-time earning
or study, parents
should plan between themselves to make sacrifice for
their loved ones. Even
for those lucky ones who have support from the closed
family members, making
time for their children is vital.
A
Question to think about
:
How can TV prove to be a "terrible virus"?
Suggest ways of using TV
positively.
Home
as the Nursery
Positive
parenting involves pro-active teaching with love and
care, but with
admonition if and when necessary. All these should have
contexts. Parents
should plan for disseminating knowledge and understanding
commensurate with
age and ability. One cannot expect parents to have formal
syllabus as schools
have, but conscientious parents have targets and focus
in educating their
children from the very beginning.
Children
are not adults and as such should not be left on their
own to find
their own way. It is true that natural instinct leads
human beings to find
their way to survival. But children need nurturing -
physical, intellectual
as well as spiritual, in order to grow as 'emissary'
of Allah on earth. If
the parents fail to shape their character in Islamic
way, the environmental
effect will turn them away from Islam. Responsible parents
are like cautious
potters who meticulously and sensitively engage in shaping
their vulnerable
raw materials for a wholesome outcome. Every community
invests on creating
their future generation in their way. Muslims in the
past succeeded in
creating Muslim personalities when they were the teachers
of humanity.
Unfortunately, this vision is blurred to many Muslim
parents. This has proved
disastrous for the ummah in the past centuries.
A
Question to think about
: What
is the meaning of "pro-active teaching"? How
would you make your child develop a love and thirst
for learning about the "righteous
predecessors" of Islam?
Examples
are Better than Precepts
Children
are efficient in identifying love, affection, anger,
sadness and
other human features. They can read the faces of their
parents even when they
are small. Parental dealings have to be meaningfully
positive, especially in
their tender age. Parents need to overtly display their
positive feelings.
They should maintain consistency in their dealings and
behaviour. However,
discipline is also important for proper upbringing and
teaching. That does
not mean that parents should only resort to 'Do's and
Don'ts' to discipline
their children.
A
Question to think about
: What,
according to you, is important to maintain the balance
between love and discipline?
Vocabulary
and Islamic Ethos
As
sickness spreads fast, swearing words and slang languages
could be easily
learnt by the children. Parents must be careful in using
words at home.
Islamic vocabulary should be constantly used before
the children so that they
get the habit of saying them. The words, Bismillah,
Alhamdulillah,
Insha'Allah, Assalamualaikum and like should be in their
lips as daily
vocabulary. At the same time parents need to practise
religion and general
rules of human decency. They should make a habit of
uttering supplications
loudly so that they make imprints on young minds. Children
in a house where
parents are practising Muslims copy many of the rituals
that have lasting
influence in their life.
A
Question to think about
: How
would you deal with a situation where your child has
picked up
swearing words at school and is using them frequently.?
Personality
Traits
As
a child grows under the very eyes of the parents and
other adults, he
develops his own unique personality. Some of the traits
are inherited or
hereditary. His physical features, such as height and
colour of the skin and
mental characteristics, such as aesthetic talents are
passed from the
parent's genes. However, a child's environment is as
important as their
genes. His upbringing, health care, education, abundance
or deficiency of
love, family manners, etc, influences the growth and
development of the
child and moulds his personality.
Parents
have lot of expectations from their child. But no one
knows whether
they will be realised. Every baby has a future that
is already predetermined
by Allah. This belief and conviction is rooted in Islam.
Instead of creating
fatalism and passivity, this creates in Muslims a full
reliance on Allah and
an over-arching urge for dynamic and creative action,
targeted only to please
Allah. Heredity, environment and action are the ingredients
of human destiny.
Parents must have open mind about them. At the end of
the day parents can
only try and pray for their children.
A
Question to think about
:
Show how "having lot of expectations from their
child" be both beneficial
and detrimental.?
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