CHILD’S MOVEMENTS

  LEARN FROM A CHILD’S MOVEMENTS WHAT HE DESIRES  

                                              

“For hours he plays with his hands and fingers. At times he will lift and hold his toes, and occasionally open and close his eyes and mouth. Sometimes he starts sucking his toes. You will presume that he is hungry. No, he is not hungry. He is struggling to feel that part of his body.”

Attention. Our beloved baby has arrived. From a limited space he has come to the unbounded world. Now, of all the troubles he will face, these two are the most important problems:
First how will he know that he is also an individual, possess a body and a mind and have emotions and feelings. Secondly, how would he comprehend that he belongs to a family and a society? Or in other words how would he develop relations with his parents, brothers, sisters and other children out of the family?
Actually self realization and social relations are two such acts which will stay with him simultaneously throughout the lifetime. Act of self realization is a long process which begins with the discovery by the child about his control of his body parts. When he is about two months old, he commences movements to discover his body. For hours he plays with his hands and fingers. At times he will lift and hold his toes, and occasionally open and close his eyes and mouth. Sometimes he starts sucking his toes. You will presume that he is hungry. No, he is not hungry. He is struggling to feel that part of his body.

While considering one’s association with the society, a child realizes about his gender being a male or a female. Give your son as many dolls or your daughter a lot of toy cars,nevertheless by the age of one year they become sensible enough that a girl will automatically be attracted towards dolls and a boy towards toy cars.In this differentiation, some part is played by nature while own discriminatory instinct also effectively acts in recognition of gender dissimilarity.Unconsciously you become part of his character building after such symptoms. Closer a child is to the parents, the more he feels secure and subsequently the process of his self recognition will be faster. His individuality and relation with the society will also be strengthened respectively.

Two to two and a half months after birth, a child starts getting amused by the shapes of his arms and legs, tastes and movements he makes. A child is provided body parts by nature, which acts as toys for him to play with when you are not escorting him. At this stage, the process of recognition is like an automatic mechanism. Legs cross and come close to a child’s mouth by themselves and he suckles his toes with joy. Yet holding things proficiently, crawling or standing might take another year. Successive discoveries during the first year actually imprint reflection of his body on a child’s mind, though being obscure. A clear reflection, as visible in a mirror, will develop only once a child will be capable to express his reactions after observing, tasting, smelling and touching. This complete reflection is referred to as ‘Self Concept’ in psychiatric terminology.

CHILDREN AND HEALTHY COMPANY

To attain ‘Self Concept’, a child receives great assistance from the healthy company of his parents. Exploring his own body is an important factor for development of a child’s mind. Due to this process, he gradually becomes capable to visualize himself to be different from others. On the other hand he also learns to have control over his movements and acts. Senses of individuality, own gender, freedom and dependence are developed not only by interaction of a child with others but also by knowing self. Qualities to struggle, explore and discover are God gifted and hence their practice and abidance should not be impeded. With this sentiment he gets familiar with the body parts and their functions. Therefore if a child tries to explore his body parts, parents should never restrict him, no matter how bothered they might get. A child needs freedom to know about every part of the body. What functions are performed by each part, how individual parts smells and how taste on lips and hands feel different? With the results derived after experience from the five senses, he develops a sketch of his character and personality in his mind. Self Concept instigates his feeling of individuality that gives him confidence. With this concept of individuality, he builds up relations with his family and society. If he plays with soil and eats it, this act may be considered as ‘filthy’ in your perspective. But it is a natural display of his discovery and endeavor.
Self Concept develops gradually in the mind of a child, …very slowly. Actually self realization is a product of cordial relations between a child and the society. When a child is a newborn, he cannot differentiate between his personality and the environment. In other words he cannot judge as to where the borders of personality end and from where the parameters of social environment begin. After growing a bit, he will start understanding the difference of relations between his parents, brothers and companions when elders will also teach him to respect social relations and ethics.
The sense of individuality and unique personality develops in a child through his body and prevailing environment. At the time of birth, all movements and acts of a child are volunteer and reactive. Progressively his mind starts developing communication with the instincts and their resultants. As time will pass and when he will grow up further, he will gain control on his acts by his own will and intent. Initially he will turn his head towards a sound for observation. But as he grows up, while picture of that sound is developed in his mind, he will not turn towards it but will presume what the sound belongs to. You may term this as a process of learning.