Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln Counties
Area News of Churches and Related Christian Events
VOL. 1 NO. 14
REPUBLIC NEWSPAPERS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1992
"The greatest of these is love"
By DEBRA A. HELTON
In the thirteenth cen-
tury, the Holy Roman
emperor Frederick II
persuaded himself that
his native tongue was
the natural and univer-
sal language. He theo-
rized that all children
would speak it sponta-
neously even if they
were never allowed to
hear it spoken by others.
To test his premise, he
ordered a group of ba-
bies be removed from
their mothers immedi-
ately after birth and
placed with nurses that
had been instructed to
tend to their physical
needs with great care --
but to remain complete-
ly silent.
And so it was done.
The children never
heard a word -- and nei-
ther did they ever speak
themselves. To the last
one, they became ill and
died.
Parents are phenomenal-
ly important to the develop-
ing child and the meeting of
the physical needs of a
child is but one aspect of
the relationship.
Even basic personality
traits can be effected by
what the child perceives
the parent to feel.
For instance: an irritable
= mother can cause a child to
sense her irritability and
“that baby will cry. If the
mother is serene and gener-
ally reacts to her baby's dis-
tress with love -- holding
and comforting the child --
that baby will sense the
love and protection and will
cease its crying.
As stresses increase, an
"unloved" child's tolerance
decreases.
A child left alone in a crib
or playpen for instance, un-
touched and isolated, will
not react to basis stresses
(i.e. pain, fear, discomfort,
hunger) the way a normal
infant would. And as the
child's emotional needs con-
tinue unmet, physical
changes begin to develop.
The term used to identify
such children ‘is "depriva-
tion syndrome."
A simple X-ray of the
wrist can often alert a doc-
tor investigating a child's
failure to thrive' to the ac-
tual causes: A child's bone
age' as compared to his
chronological age can vary
greatly: indicating that
bone age has been retarded.
The unbelieveable aspect
of Deprivation Syndrome is
it's ability to be counteract-
ed. A child subsequently
held, cuddled and talked to
will almost certainly recov-
er--and the bone age comes
back to normal.
Babies victimized by the
crack cocaine addiction of
their mothers--even those
seriously damaged--show
dramatic improvement
when they are held,
touched and loved over a
period of time.
Babies born prematurely
and subjected to the stress-
es of hospitalization recover
more quickly when stroked,
messaged and talked to.
They gain weight faster
and become more healthy-
looking and alert. These
strategies along with sooth-
ing music have been proven
to have a direct impact up-
on the recovery of critically
ill children.
As more and more evi-
dence points to the physical
and emotional well-being of
children being greatly influ-
enced by their ability to feel
loved and accepted by their
parental figures, new issues
continue to surface.
Are most parents aware
of their tremendous poten-
tial to influence the physi-
cal and emotional health of
their children?
When, then, is it too late
to turn negative effects
around?
To what degree can 'at-
risk' children be helped by
working with ‘at-risk’ par-
ents?
Further research also in-
dicates that at every age
and social level children
show a much greater de-
pendence upon peers than
they did even a decade ago.
The reason appears to be
directly linked to the break-
down of the family unit.
Ultimately, when children
are denied the necessary
support structure at home,
they will seek to develop
substitute relationships
elsewhere - a frightening
revelation when you consid- -
er some of the alternatives
they may encounter in to-
day's society.
Most concerned parents
are all too familiar with the
outside temptations and
peer pressures their chil-
dren may be subjected to.
Often parents will excuse
the behavior by placing
blame upon the teen's irre-
sponsible attitudes’ or ‘open
rebellion to parental au-
thority.’
Unfortunately, it's impos-
sible to wait until a child is
a young adult to set limits
and exert authority.
The teen-age years are,
instead, proving grounds.
He will choose to respect
the limits you have set out
of respect for you and him-
self, or he will -- once out-
side the realm of parental
authority --cease to respect
parental authority alto-
gether.
Either way, the stage has
been set years earlier and
over an extended period of
time.
If he is a product of love,
respect, decency and con-
See Love, Page 5
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