  Bonding or Violence
An Introduction by
Michael Mendizza
A baby's developing
body and brain mirror and reflect, lifelong, the emotional-sensory environment provided by its first primary relationship,
that is with its mother.
The Origins of Love and Violence (please see below) take root in this 1st,
primary sensory environment. What we call,
or nurturing, or its absence - very early in life
- structures the developing brain to interpret the world and its relationships as:
depending on trust or anxiety experienced in this first relationship.
The biological processes involved in the
Origins of Love and Violence are no longer a mystery. During pregnancy a mother's body provides the sensory stimulation;
- the taste
- touch
- smell
- sight
- sound
and the pleasure or pain associated with these sensations
that shape her baby's brain.
The state of the mother's
own body, in relationship to her environment, safe and nurturing, or unsafe and anxious, is mirrored in the baby's developing brain and nervous system.
If mother feels
safe and is herself nurtured, her baby's brain, with its creative capacities, will reap the benefit. If mother feels unloved or unsupported, is threatened, anxious and fearful, nature will give greater emphasis to her baby's ancient core brain, with its defensive and survival systems, at the expense of evolution's newer creative capacities.
What begins in
pregnancy continues and expands at birth. And nature intends that direct intimate contact with mother's body will provide the pleasurable stimulation and emotional nurturing, the essential nutrients needed for her baby to develop a normal and healthy brain and nervous system.
During pregnancy, birth
and beyond, if not interfered with, nature locks the mother and baby's:
- biorhythms
- heart frequencies
- hormonal balances
- sleep patterns
- a thousand other living systems
into reciprocal bonded patterns.
The baby provides the precise
stimulus for mother to open and develop new capacities and mother does the same for her baby. Their language is non-verbal;
sensation and feeling.
Nature assumes this bond will
develop and places baby close to the mother's body and breast for just this reason and for an extended period of time. Interfering
with this close, intimate, skin-to-skin contact prevents a vital exchange of sensory experiences, nutrients and information required for normal and healthy brain development.
The absence (deprivation) of what we call bonding is neglect and abuse. Recently researchers at the McLean Hospital identified 4 types of permanent brain abnormalities caused by early childhood
abuse and neglect.
These and many other studies
confirm what James W. Prescott, Ph.D., and associates discovered in the 1960's and 1970's; that lack of affectionate, intimate contact between mothers & infants during the most sensitive periods of brain growth may result in permanent brain abnormalities
associated with juvenile and adult patterns of depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, aggression and violence.
Today the mirrored-reciprocal
relationship we call bonding is threatened. Mothers aren't valued, nurtured or supported by the culture. Drugs & technological birth
practices routinely separate mothers & babies during the most sensitive bonding period.
Single parent families,
an euphemism for single moms, without the support, mentoring & nurturing of extended families
& communities, routinely place the majority of infants & young children in institutional childcare for extended periods
of time, shortly after birth.
Lack of initial bonding, institutional childcare & social pressures, such as work schedules & welfare reform prevent most mothers from bonding with &
breast-feeding their babies.
Nothing can quite replace the loving touch & nurturing a mother provides for her baby & thru her touch she nurtures all of humanity. And what about fathers?
It's the primary role
of males to protect & support the women they love, so they can nurture all our children.
Maria Montessori claimed that humankind abandoned in this early formative period becomes the worst threat to its own survival.
To betray this essential need for nurturing which means loving, pleasurable touch & body contact, especially in males, who are biologically most vulnerable
early in life, results in increasing numbers of juvenile & adult males who:
females, the true source of the nurturing they need.
And this cycle of
violence spreads throughout society & the world.
What you'll find in
this section, Bonding & Violence, is the historical research, the politics, interviews, past publications &
copies of rare footage documenting how an absence of nurturing, affection, playful movement & breast feeding results in a variety of brain abnormalities associated with:
Some of the information is
highly technical, archived here for historical & research purposes. All is accessible & may be of interest to interested
parents, educators, health & child care professionals.
In 1952 John Steinbeck wrote
in East of Eden:
Dr. Prescott's pioneering
research found here explains the Origins of Love & Violence, dramatically, clearly. It's an honor to have his work represented here as part of Touch the Future.
Michael Mendizza
The body says what words cannot.
Martha Graham
Early History of The Origins of Love and Violence
James W. Prescott,
born in the depression years, was orphaned as a boy with his 3 brothers. These years of separation from his mother and family
left their lasting impression and provided the insight and drive to his life's work.
When he joined the newly formed
National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD), NIH he formed the Developmental Behavioral Biology Program
and became its Health Scientist Administrator from 1966-1980.
A major focus of this NICHD
research program was to understand why depression and violence results from maternal-infant / child separations.
Caspar Weinberger, then Secretary
of the Department of Health, Education & Welfare (renamed the Department of Health & Human
Services-DHHS), directed the NICHD to expand its studies to uncover the origins of child abuse and neglect and of violence in the home.
See: http://www.violence.de/history/coverup.html
As a developmental neuropsychologist
and cross-cultural psychologist, Dr. Prescott focused the NICHD program efforts on developing research programs to understand how loss of early maternal-infant bonding - as sensory deprivation of somatic maternal love and nurturing - affects the developing primate brain that accounts for the pathologies of depression and violence that results from such early maternal separations.
See http://www.violence.de
The Origins of Love & Violence: An Overview
by James W. Prescott, Ph.D.
28 March 2002
Introduction
This past century can be considered the Century of Violence where more humans have destroyed each
other than in any other time in human history.
This
new Century was shocked into its existence when 2 airplane bombs were crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Century
by Islamic religious extremists that destroyed those twin towers with the loss of over 3,000 lives and which left over 10,000
children without a mother or father.
The terrorism
of religious violence is unique to the human primate and came into existence with the birth of monotheism, as Gibbon
(1776-1788) noted in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The polytheistic cultures
of antiquity never went to war over religion, according to Gibbon.
Although, monotheistic
religious violence is a secondary factor in the genesis of human violence, it'll be shown how the monotheistic religious moral values of pain and pleasure in human relationships have shaped the developing brain of humanity
for depression, social alienation, anger/rage and violence.
The human primate is, without question, the most violent primate on
the planet who directs more violence against the female and offspring of its species than by any other primate species on
the planet. Why is our closest genetic relative the bonobo or pygmy chimpanzee the most peaceful and affectionate primate on the planet?
There's only
about 1% genetic difference (DNA) between these 2 species where this small genetic difference
can't possibly account for the extraordinary differences in peaceful and violent behaviors between these 2 primate species.
The explanation
for the pathological violence of the human primate lies elsewhere and recent studies reveal that the answer is to be found
in how the developing brain is encoded or programmed for peaceful or violent behaviors in the newborn / infant / child by how it's reared.
Sarah Hardy in Mother Nature
(1999) observed that "no wild monkey or ape mother has ever been observed to deliberately
harm her own baby."
Why does the human primate
harm its own offspring when no genes can be identified to account for this harm nor for the current epidemics of violence
that have grown over this past generation which precludes any changes in the human gene pool to account for this difference
(Prescott, 2001 ab).
The answer to this question
is to be found in the betrayal of millions of years of mammalian evolutionary biology by the human primate. This betrayal has 2 significant components:
a) how human infants/children
aren't nurtured which equates with the lack of affectional somatic bonding in the mother-infant/child relationship
b) suppression of the normal
development of sexual affectional bonds during the post puberty years that exists for all mammals except for the human mammal.
It'll be shown that it's the
impaired development of the pleasure systems of the brain that results from failed affectional bonding in the mother-infant / child relationship and in the failed sexual affectional bonding during the juvenile / adolescent stages of development, which have placed the
human primate on a life path for depression, social alienation and violence.
Tragically, the moral traditions
of the monotheistic religions have contributed significantly to this life path of self-destruction in homo sapiens where pain and suffering (biological avoidance) has become a virtue
and pleasure (biological attraction) has become a sin that must be avoided.
This moral theology has wrecked
havoc with the natural and normal integrative bio-psychological development of homo sapiens, which has resulted in the development
of the neurodissociative brain that mediates the neurodissociative behaviors of depression, alienation and violence.
The basic reciprocal inhibitory
relationship in the brain between pain and pleasure, between peace and violence must be recognized as fundamental neurobiological and neuropsychological processes that have been developed through millions of years of mammalian
evolutionary biology that regulate peaceful and violent behaviors.
Evolutionary Mammalian
Biology Betrayed
No mammal on this planet,
except the human mammal, separates the newborn from its mother at birth and during the crucial and formative postnatal period
of brain-behavioral development.
No mammal on this
planet, except the human mammal, refuses to breastfeed its newborn and during the crucial and formative periods
of breastfeeding for brain-behavioral development that varies with mammalian species.
The violation
of these two mammalian universals by the human primate-homo sapiens-has brought devastating consequences upon itself in terms
of damaged biological and emotional-social health that threatens the very existence of the species.
It is worth noting that the
bonobo chimpanzee, which is the most peaceful primate on the planet, breastfeed their young to about four years of age; the mother carries her offspring on her body through
early adolescence (particularly male offspring); and where multiple male/female
sexual relationships are commonplace which are characterized by the lack of aggression or violence (Diamond, 1992; De Waal and Lanting, 1997, Prescott, 2001).
Newman (1995) has summarized
the essential role of breastfeeding for healthy human development where WHO/UNICEF (1990) have recommended breastfeeding for
"two years of age or beyond" that, inexplicably, is not supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP, 1997).
Laudenslager, et al.
(1982) have documented impaired immune system development from mother-infant separations (includes
lack of breastfeeding). We shall see that breastfeeding of the human primate for 2.5 years or greater is essential
to optimize the health benefits (biological and psychosocial) of breastfeeding
for child and mother.
Bowlby/Montagu and Attachment v Watson/Holt
and non-Attachment.
There's a long
history of warnings from child and human development authorities on the dangers inherent in separating infants from their
mothers. Bowlby (1950), in a report on Maternal Care & Mental Health & in Child Care & the Growth of Love (1951)
to the World Health Organization (WHO) warned the world of the consequences of increasing mother-infant/child separations
associated with institutional child day care:
"Deprived children,
whether in their own homes or out of them, are the source of social infection as real and serious as are the carriers of diphtheria
and typhoid."
"The break-up of families and the shunting of illegitimates are accepted
without comment."
"One must beware of a vested
interest in the institutional care of children."
Renee Spitz (1946/1965) documented
that infants isolated in cribs with little or no physical contact and physical affection can die from an emotional wasting
away, which he called marasmus, even though medical and physical care were normal. Montagu (1971) has provided a history of
2 national historical sources that have opposed bonding in the mother-infant/child relationship and which established wrongful
child rearing practices in America for this past century and which continues to this day.
Watson (1928) in his book
Psychological Care of Infant and Child stated: "…a sensible way of treating children…Never hug and kiss them,
never let them sit on your lap. If you must, kiss them once on the forehead when they say good night."
Luther Emmett Holt (1894),
the leading pediatric authority of his day, stated in his textbook: "To induce sleep, rocking and all other habits of this
sort are useless and may be harmful"; and later in 1916 advised that the crib shouldn't rock in order that "the unnecessary
and vicious practice may not be carried on". Holt couldn't have been in greater error, as we now know that gentle rocking
(movement) of the infant/child is essential for normal brain-behavioral development and bonding. See http://www.violence.de/tv/rockabye.html, which was premiered at the 1970 White House Conference on Children.
Liedloff (1975) has documented
the importance of baby carrying and affectional bonding between mother and infant/child in her single culture study. Joseph
Chilton Pearce reinforced the significance of bonding in Magical Child (1977):
"Bonding is the issue, regardless
of age. Bonding is a psychological-biological state, a vital physical link that coordinates and unifies the entire biological
system. Bonding seals a primary knowing that is the basis for rational thought."
Cook (1996) has provided a
review of how infants and nations are placed at risk with early child institutional care that ensures lack of bonding. For
over a century we've been given wrongful and disastrous advice by "authorities" in pediatrics and psychology that continues
to this day. Ferber (1985), a pediatrician, states:
"If your child is like this,
you may be comforted to know that head banging, body rocking and head rolling are very common in early childhood and at least
at this age, are usually normal. If your child exhibits any of these behaviors there's little need for concern about emotional
difficulties or neurological illness" p.193; and "In the infant & young toddler, rhythmic patterns are of little significance
and you'll not need to intervene" (p.197).
Dr. Ferber couldn't be in
greater error and his statements indicate that it's imperative that all pediatricians be required to view the Time Life documentary,
"Rock a Bye Baby" and the other video documentaries which document the inherent pathology of body rocking and other stereotypical
behaviors consequent to the sensory deprivation of mother love (SSAD). These video documentaries
are available here.
Spock (1972), and Ferber (1985)
have advocated letting the infant/child engage in pathological chronic crying, e.g., crying itself to sleep, that has pathological
consequences of extreme adreno-cortical stress reactions that adversely affect brain-behavioral development (Selye, 1956;
Prescott, 2001).
Another commentary by Dr.
Ferber is so egregious that it also deserves reporting:
"A normal child will not injure
himself seriously while head banging, although he occasionally may bruise his forehead and very rarely, there may be a small
amount of bleeding. Concussions, fractured skull, or brain injuries just do not occur. The main damage is to furniture and
walls" (p.198).
It's beyond comprehension to understand how forces so great that
damages furniture & walls don't damage the immature developing brain. Microlesions of the brain that can't be detected
today can have long term developmental brain consequences years later, as the studies of Faro & Windle (1969) have demonstrated
on the effects of birth asphyxia upon the developing brain.
The award-winning Time-Life
documentary, Rock a Bye Baby, that was premiered at the 1970 White House Conference on Children, dramatizes NICHD supported
research findings of impaired brain-behavioral development with mother-infant separations and the necessity of body movement
and rocking of the newborn/infant for normal brain-behavioral development.
The classic studies by Mason
(1968) and Mason and Berkson (1975), which demonstrated that artificial movement by a swinging mother surrogate could prevent
depression & violence in the separated infant, is required viewing by all who have an interest in optimizing healthy development
of the newborn/infant/child and can be viewed at:
http://www.violence.de/tv/rockabye.html
It's well known that early
life experiences have a profound effect upon brain-behavioral development, which has been demonstrated from a rich variety
of both animal and human studies. The studies of Salk, et al (1985) found prenatal and perinatal stress factors in 81% of
teen suicides and the Jacobson group in Sweden (Jacobson, et al, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1998/2000) found increased risks for homicide,
suicide and drug addictions in adulthood - as a consequence of obstetrical medication (and other perinatal traumas) -which
were as high as 500% compared to control groups with no obstetrical medications.
These studies illustrate how
critical early life experiences effect life-long developmental consequences upon the brain and behavior and that true prevention
must begin before birth & during the formative postnatal periods of brain-behavioral development.
NICHD Studies Document Impaired Brain Development With Loss
of Mother Love
When Dr. Prescott
joined the newly formed National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD),
NIH he formed the Developmental Behavioral Biology Program and became its Health Scientist Administrator from 1966-1980.
A major focus
of this NICHD research program was to understand why depression and violence results from maternal-infant/child separations. Caspar Weinberger, then Secretary of the Dept. of Health, Education
and Welfare-DHEW (renamed the Dept. of Health & Human Services-DHHS),
directed the NICHD to expand its studies to uncover the origins of child abuse and neglect and of violence in the home.
As a developmental neuro-psychologist
and cross-cultural psychologist, Dr. Prescott focused the NICHD program efforts on developing research programs to understand
how loss of early maternal-infant bonding - as sensory deprivation of somatic maternal love and nurturing - affects
the developing primate brain that could account for the pathologies of depression and violence that results from such early separations.
In a number of NICHD supported
studies with other scientists, a number and variety of developmental brain disorders were found in pathologically violent
adult mother deprived monkeys who had a history of depression and psychotic behaviors. Dr.
Prescott formulated the S-SAD (Somato Sensory Affectional Deprivation)
theory of brain function that could account for these emotional-social behavioral disorders which included the limbic-fronto-cerebellar
complex in mediating peaceful and violent behaviors. A number of studies have confirmed the validity of this theory.
See http://www.violence.de
In a series of NICHD supported
cross-cultural studies, Dr. Prescott found that he could predict with 80% accuracy the peaceful or homicidal violent nature
of 49 tribal cultures from a single measure of bonding in the mother-infant relationship, namely, carrying of the infant throughout
the day on the body of mother/allomother through the first year of life.
The peaceful or violent nature
of the remaining 10 cultures could be accurately predicted from whether the culture permitted or punished youth sexual
affectional relationships.
In brief, these 2 variables
of physical affectional bonding could predict with 100% accuracy the peaceful or violent nature of these 49 tribal cultures
distributed throughout the world (Prescott,1975,1979,1996).
Crocker & Crocker (1994) have provided a detailed analysis of the vanishing matrilineal Canela tribe of the Brazil
Amazon that dramatizes the relationship of high infant/child nurturance and support of youth and adult sexual affectional
expression with non-violence.
In a series of subsequent
cross-cultural tribal studies, Dr. Prescott found that 77% of 26 tribal cultures whose weaning age was 2.5 years or longer
were rated low or absent in suicidal violence.
Further, he found significant
differences in suicidal behaviors between cultures with weaning age of 2.0 years or less v 2.5 years or greater. This finding
suggests that a critical period of brain development exists at this age to mediate this effect.
These and other data suggest
that breastfeeding for 2.5 years or longer is required to optimize the health benefits of breastfeeding for child and mother
(Zheng, 2000).
These breastfeeding effects
are undoubtedly mediated, in large part, by the rich presence of the amino acid tryptophan in breastmilk that is deficient
in infant formula milk and which is necessary for normal brain serotonin development.
See Table 2. Deficits in brain
serotonin are well recognized as a brain condition that mediates depression, impulse dyscontrol and the violence of suicide and homicide (Prescott, 1996,1997, 2001).
See:
http://www.violence.de/prescott/ttf/article.html
http://www.violence.de/coleman/article.html
http://www.ttfuture.org/pdf/Prescott-ALD.PDF
This issue of duration of
breastfeeding for optimal biological and mental-social health is particularly urgent when it's recognized that only 6.8%
of American mothers are breastfeeding at 12 months; 2.7% are breastfeeding at 24months; and only 1% at 30
months or more (Hediger, 2001; Prescott, 2001).
These statistics on breastfeeding
become even more alarming in the light of child and youth suicidal deaths which have doubled in the 5-14 year age group over
this past generation and has been the 3rd leading cause of death in the 15-24 year age group over this past generation.
Further, for the 5-14 year
age group the ratio of suicide rates to homicide rates have consistently increased over this past generation, as follows:
- 1979 - 36 %
- 1994 - 60%
- 1998 - 73%
It's also a sobering statistic
to note that more children and youth (5-24 year age group) have died from
suicidal death in the past 10 years (est 55,000) than combat lives lost
during the 10 year Vietnam War (47, 355). Yet, no memorial has been established
for these children of suicidal death.
It should be noted that the
American Academy of Pediatrics in its 1997 revision of its breastfeeding recommendations didn't acknowledge the research studies
that confirmed tryptophan deficits in infant formula milk which compromises normal brain development and places infants/children
at high risk for the development of:
- depression
- impulse dyscontrol
- drug abuse
- suicidal/ homicidal violence
Further & inexplicably,
the AAP didn't affirm the recommendations of WHO & UNICEF that breastfeeding should be for "2 years of age or beyond"
(AAP, 1997; WHO/UNICEF, 1990). What does WHO and UNICEF know that the AAP doesn't know?
These data demand studies
to evaluate the harmful effects of infant formula milk upon brain development and behavior compared to breastfeeding for "2
years of age or beyond" and to evaluate the history of duration of breastfeeding in child and youth suicides and those with
a history of depression and psychiatric medication. The NIH, inexplicably, refuses to conduct these studies.
NICHD Early Child Day
Care Study
The report of the NICHD (National
Institute of Child Health & Human Development) Study of Early Child Care (SECC)
found that infants and very young children who spend more than 30 hours a week in child care "are far more demanding, more
non-compliant and they're more aggressive" and "They scored higher on things like gets in lots of fights, cruelty, bullying,
meanness as well as talking too much, demands must be met immediately", according to Dr.Belsky, one of the principle investigators"
(Stolberg, New York Times, April 19, 2001) (emphasis
mine)
Dr. Sarah Friedman, NICHD
Scientific Project Officer was reported as saying ""We can't and shouldn't hide the findings but I don't want to create a
mass hysteria when I don't know what explains these results" (Stolberg, 2001).
Unfortunately, no measures
of biological stress disorders were incorporated into this study nor was there any awareness of the early NICHD studies in
the 1960s and 1970s, which documented these behaviors in the maternally deprived young.
It has yet to be recognized
that cruelty, bullying and meanness that terrorizes so many of our children and youth in our elementary schools and high schools
have their roots in the emotional trauma of mother-infant/child separations associated with institutionalized day care and
from other separations.
These collective emotional-social
traumas are sufficiently great to establish an unstable brain that combined with other stress experiences compels many students
to despair and the violent acts of homicide and suicide.
It's estimated that some 20%
of our nation's students have contemplated suicide at one time or another (Moran, 2000; Silverman,
et al 200l; Prescott, 2001). What's wrong with America and American families that drive so many of our youth to depression, despair and suicide?
Belsky
(2001), a member of the research team of the NICHD-SECC, has published his most recent findings
and conclusions regarding the damaging emotional-social effects of infant and early child day care.
Evidence
indicating that early, extensive and continuous non-maternal care is associated with less harmonious parent-child relations
and elevated levels of aggression and noncompliance suggest that concerns raised about early and extensive child care 15 years
ago remain valid and that alternative explanations of Belsky's originally-controversial conclusion don't account for seemingly
adverse effects of routine non-maternal care that continue to be reported in the literature. (Abstract)… Ultimately,
hard headed work is called for to gain insight into the developmental mechanisms that give rise to the aggressive and non-compliant
behavior so often found to be related to early, extensive and continuous non-maternal child care. For sure the road doesn't
end with the NICHD-SECC (p.35, ms, emphasis mine).
Unfortunately, the road that
gained insight into the developmental mechanisms that mediate the aggressive, non-compliant and other disordered emotional-social
behaviors, e.g. depression and suicide consequent to mother-infant/child separations - which was illuminated by the Time Life
documentary "Rock a Bye Baby"- was blocked and terminated by the NICHD in the late 1970s.
The NICHD unlawfully abandoned
its agency responsibility to continue to support research on the causes and consequences of violence against children and
failed to recommend implementation of national health programs for the prevention of this violence.
These unlawful NICHD/NIH actions
hasn't only set-back scientific advances in this field for over a quarter of a century but more importantly has resulted in
the epidemics of depression, drug abuse, psychiatric medications and violence that characterizes this nation today with a substantial loss of child and
youth life due to suicidal and homicidal deaths that are mostly preventable.
See http://www.violence.de/history/coverup.html
Past Is Prologue - Report
to the President. 1970 White House Conference on Children
Never has this
White House Conference come at a time of greater national questioning…The Conference can and will define problems, seek
new knowledge, evaluate past successes and failures and outline alternative courses of action.
President Richard M. Nixon, December 5, 1969
Minority Report of Forum 15. Chairman,
Urie Bronfenbrenner.
I take issue with the accompanying document on
2 major counts.
First, the report,
in my judgment fails to convey the urgency and severity of the problem confronting the nation's families and their children.
Second,
the document underestimates and consequently fails to alert the reader to the critical role played by business and industry
- both private and public - in determining the life style of the American family and the manner in which parent and children
are treated in American society.
I shall speak to each
of these points in turn…. (and) America's families & their children, are in trouble, trouble so deep &
pervasive as to threaten the future of our nation. The source of the trouble is nothing less than a national neglect of children
& those primarily engaged in their care - America's parents. (and) The Editorial Committee objected to this statement
on the grounds that it applied only to a minority of the nation's children & that, therefore, no note of urgency was justified.
I strongly disagree (p. 252) (Hess, 1970)
It's transparent that the
1970 White House Conference on Children was a failure, as the prescient words of Professor Urie Bronfenbrenner attest.
The children, youth and families
of America are worse off today - by any health statistic - than they were in 1970 - over 30 years ago. This massive
failure of America can be laid at the doorsteps of the Congress and its political parties; The White House; the National Institutes
of Health & the Dept.of Health & Human Services, which over this past generation have failed to support mothers being
nurturing mothers and which continues to this day.
America has truly lost it's
dream of "…Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". The disintegration of America from within is well on its way.
Summary, Conclusions
& Recommendations
The realization of peaceful and harmonious behaviors at
the individual and cultural level can only be obtained with a neuro-integrative brain and not with a neuro-dissociative
brain.
These two brains
are formed through the developmental sensory processes of pleasure stimulation or pleasure deprivation that's mediated first through the mother-infant/child pleasure bonding relationship
or its absence.
Sexual affectional
bonding relationships during puberty / post-pubertal development builds upon this first foundation of love in the mother-infant
/ child relationship that also promotes peaceful, harmonious and egalitarian relationships.
Integrated pleasure
but not dissociative pleasure inhibits depression and violence. Dissociative pleasure leads to sexual exploitation and
violence, particularly child and teen sexual abuse.
It would be a
rare event to find any rapist or other sex offender, murderer or drug addict that has been breast fed for 2.5 years or longer
in any culture and who have realized youth sexual affectional relationships.
A radical transformation is
needed of the philosophical dualistic and theistic theologies of "Western Civilization" that have mandated and supported gender
inequality with the subversion and violation of millions of years of mammalian evolutionary biology concerning the role of
pain and pleasure in mammalian relationships, particularly human primate relationships.
The 4 primary life changes that are required to transform the individual & culture from one of authoritarianism & violence to one of
egalitarian & peaceful relationships are:
1. Society must support mothers being
nurturing mothers that includes breastfeeding for 2.5 years or greater.
2. Society must support mothers (& fathers) in being nurturing parents by supporting the continuous
carrying of the infant on the body of mother / father throughout the day during the first year of life.
3. All forms of intentional infliction of physical / emotional pain & punishment must be eliminated from the life of the infant / child that begins
in many infants with circumcision.
4. Society must support the emerging
sexuality of children & youth & support them in the natural expression of their inherent
sexuality that is free from exploitation & punishment.
Implementation of the Ten
Principles would provide a greater comprehensive structure for the assurance of peaceful individuals & cultures (Table
1).
In light of the above &
other evidence, it's difficult to comprehend that maternal-infant bonding is considered
a fiction (Eyre, 1992) & that mother nurture is of lesser importance than peer groups
for child & human development (Harris, 1998).
It's with some alarm to note
than none of the above NICHD/NIH history of research studies & scientific breakthroughs made in the 1960's & 1970's
have been referenced in the report of the National Research Council, Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences,
From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (Shonkoff &
Phillips, 2000).
See also this click here. (Prescott, 1993)
nor in the "Report of the Panel on NIH Research on Antisocial, Aggressive & Violence-Related Behaviors & their Consequences",
Panel Meetings in June & September 1993, published April 1994 at - click here.
It's inexplicable that the
scientific reports from the offices of the DHHS Surgeon General; National Institute of Mental Health; National Institute of
Child Health & Human Development & National Academy of Sciences are silent on this rich NICHD developmental scientific
data that are relevant to the prevention of the brain -behavioral disorders induced by child abuse & neglect (S-SAD) & which contribute to later suicidal & homicidal behaviors. (NIH, 1994; Overpeck,
et al, 1998; Surgeon General Satcher, 1999ab, 2000; NRC, 1993ab).
Further,
it's again emphasized that the failure of the American Academy of Pediatrics to note in its revised statement on breastfeeding (AAP,
1997) the many studies that document deficiencies of the essential amino acid tryptophan in infant formula milk that
compromises normal brain serotonin development & which induces depression, impulse dyscontrol & violence is also inexplicable (Prescott, 1996, 2001).
See Table 2 & click here to read.
It's also extremely doubtful, given the documented deficiencies of tryptophan in infant formula milk, that such a commercial preparation meets the magnitude
of requirements of the other essential amino acids for infants that have been established by WHO.
Table 2 lists the infant requirements
for the essential amino acids compared to adult requirements (Merck Manual 1987). The damaging
effects of such nutritional deficiencies in infant formula milk upon the developing brain, specifically brain neurotransmitters,
have yet to be evaluated.
The recent authorization by
the FDA to provide the nutritional additives of two fatty acids, DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid)
& AA (Arachidonic Acid) - essential nutrients for brain development - to infant formula
milk attests to the additional recognition that infant formula milk is malnutrition for normal brain development (Cunnane, et.at, 2000; Brody,
2001).
Clearly, life has deteriorated
for America's children & youth since the 1970 White House Conference on Children. A radical reconstruction of American
Society is needed that must give support to mothers being nurturing mothers which includes support
of breastfeeding for 2.5 years or longer that's in accordance with the recommendations of WHO & UNICEF.
Duration of breastfeeding for 2.5
years or greater appears to be necessary to optimize brain development & the health benefits of breastfeeding,
if a life path of depression, alienation, drug abuse & the violence of suicidal & homicidal deaths of our children & youth are to be significantly
reduced & prevented.
It's imperative that national
legislation, which interferes with mother-infant / child bonding, is abolished & those nursing mothers are exempt from
the 1996 Welfare Reform Act which prevents breastfeeding & bonding
between mother & infant / child. Infant & early institutional child day care should be abolished where the public
funds utilized to support these commercial enterprises are used to support mothers being nurturing mothers.
The
greatest terror a child can have is that he is not loved, and rejection is the hell he fears. I think everyone in the world
to a large or small extent has felt rejection. And with rejection comes anger, and with anger some kind of crime in revenge
for the rejection, and with the crime guilt--and there is the story of mankind.
John,
Steinbeck--East of Eden, 1952
THE CHILD IS THE FATHER OF THE MAN
THE CHILD IS THE MOTHER OF CULTURE
THE CHILD
IS THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY
TABLE 1
10 Principles of Mother-Infant Bonding
for Health, Happiness & Harmony
I. Every Pregnancy Is A Wanted
Pregnancy. Every Child Is A Wanted Child. Unwanted children are typically unloved, abused & neglected who become the next generation of delinquents, violent offenders & alcohol / drug abusers & addicts.
II. Every Pregnancy Has Proper
Nutrition & Prenatal Care -medical & psychological - & is free from alcohol, drugs, tobacco & other
harmful agents of stress.
III. Natural Birthing
- avoid wherever possible obstetrical medications, forceps & induced labor with no episiotomy nor premature cutting
of umbilical cord. Mother controls birthing position with no separation of newborn from mother. Newborn maintains intimate
body contact with mother for breastfeeding & nurturance.
IV. No Circumcision of newborn.
The traumatic pain of newborn circumcision adversely affects normal brain development, impairs affectional bonding with mother
& has long lasting effects upon how pain & pleasure are experienced in life.
V. Breastfeeding On Demand
by newborn / infant / child & for "2 years or beyond," as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) &
UNICEF. Failure to breastfeed results in positive harm to normal brain development & to the immunological health of the
newborn, infant & child. Encoding the developing brain with the smell of mother's body thru breastfeeding is essential
for the later development of intimate sexuality.
VI. Intimate Body Contact
is maintained between mother & newborn / infant by being carried continuously on the body of the mother for the first
year of life. Such continuous gentle body movement stimulation of the newborn / infant promotes optimal brain development
& "Basic Trust" for peaceful / happy behaviors. Mother-infant co-sleeping is encouraged for "2 years or beyond." Mother-infant / child body contact can
also be optimized with daily infant / child massage. The Father must also learn to affectionately bond with his infant &
child by being an additional source of physical affection.
VII. Immediate Comforting
is given to infants & children who are crying. No infant / child should ever be permitted to cry itself to sleep.
VIII. Infants & Children
Are For Hugging & should never be physically hit for any reason. Merging childhood parental love with parental
violent pain helps create adult violent love.
IX. Infants & Children
Are Honored & should never be humiliated nor emotionally abused for any reason. The emerging sexuality of every child is respected.
X. Mothers Must
Be Honored & not replaced by Institutional Day Care which emotionally harms children before 3 years of age. Mother-Infant
/ Child Community Development Centers must replace Institutionalized Day Care.
TABLE 2
ESTIMATED DAILY REQUIREMENTS (MG/KG)
OF THE ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS
FOR INFANT, CHILD & ADULT
|
Amino Acid |
Adult |
Infant |
%Adult |
Child |
|
Histidine |
16 |
26 |
163 |
19 |
|
Isoleucine |
13 |
46 |
354 |
28 |
|
Leucine |
19 |
93 |
489 |
44 |
|
Lycine |
16 |
66 |
247 |
44 |
|
Methionine/Cystine |
17 |
42 |
235 |
22 |
|
Phenylalanine & Tyrosine |
19 |
72 |
379 |
22 |
|
Threonine |
09 |
43 |
478 |
28 |
|
Tryptophan |
05 |
17 |
340 |
09 |
|
Valine |
13 |
56 |
431 |
25 |
FROM: The Merck Manual. Nutritional & Metabolic Disorders.
P. 920. Fifteenth Edition.1987. Merck & Co., Inc. Rathway, NJ Infant percent value of adult requirements were calculated
& added to Table.
Modified from Energy & Protein Requirements. Report of a Joint FAO/WHO Ad Hoc Expert
Committee. WHO Technical Report Series No. 724. Copyright 1985 by FAO & WHO
Fazzolari-Nesci, A., Domianello, D., Sotera, V. & Raiha, N.C. (1992). Tryptophan fortification
of adapted formula increases plasma tryptophan concentrations to levels not different from those found in breast-fed infants.
J. Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition. May. 14(4): 456-459.
Hanning, R.M., Paes, B., Atkinson, S.A. (1992). Protein metabolism & growth of term
infants in response to a reduced-protein, 40:60 whey: casein formula with added tryptophan.
Amer. J. Clinical Nutrition. December 56(6):1004-11.
Kamimura, S., Eguchi, K., Sekiba, K. (1991). Tryptophan & its metabolite concentrations
in human plasma & breast milk during the perinatal period. Acta Medica Okayama. April 45(2):101-106.
Lanting, D.I., Fidler, V. Huisman, M., Touwen, B.C., Boersma, E.R. (1994). Neurological
differences between 9-year old children fed breast-milk or formula-milk as babies. (1994).
Lancet.
Nov 12 344(8933):1319-22.
Neuringer, M. (1993). Cerebral cortex docosahexaenoic acid is lower in formula-fed than
in breast-fed infants. Nutrition Reviews. August 51(8):238-41.
Newman, J. (1995). How Breast Milk Protects Newborns. Scientific American. December.
Kids Need Moms
Florence Crane Women’s
Correctional Facility, 38 Fourth Street, Coldwater, MI 49036, (517) 279-9165
More than 80% of incarcerated
women have a child who is left motherless. The emotional turmoil caused by incarceration is inconceivable. Usually, the child
is left with a caretaker outside of their home. The sense of loss & instability goes unaddressed by the system.
We established the Kids Need Moms program to meet the needs of the children with incarcerated mothers. Monthly visits stabilize the relationship between mother & child. The bond
between them is enhanced. Visits provide the mother an opportunity to involve herself in her child’s life on a consistent
& structured basis. Program activities teach the mother skills to creatively & productively engage & utilize time
with her child. The goal of the Kids Need Moms program is to provide the incarcerated mother an opportunity to maintain her parental responsibilities. We teach the mother skills that will help her reintegrate into her family.
"Sometimes I feel like a motherless child……"
A child deprived of a mother loses all sense of direction, security & love. It's almost impossible to imagine the emotional scarring which takes place or the possible ramifications. It doesn't matter
whether the loss is permanent or temporary – the result is the same.
When mothers are incarcerated,
the children serve a harsher sentence. Their world of stability & security is shattered, leaving them angry & afraid.
The Kids
Need Moms program helps children thru this traumatic experience with a program designed to develop
& enhance the mother-child relationship.
"KNM is implementing a plan that will enable these children to spend quality time with their mothers…"
A survey conducted at Florence
Crane Women’s Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Michigan, indicates that at least 500 children have mothers incarcerated
there.
Of those children, 45% have never been able to visit their mothers. KNM is implementing a plan that will enable these children
to spend "quality time" with their mothers, thus retaining a sense of family unity.
It's been suggested that prisoner
mothers experience their children as a primary motivation to self-rehabilitation. Outside studies have further shown that
most juvenile delinquents have at least one parent who is, or has been, an inmate with the correctional system.
Child development classes,
family counseling & structured visits form the nucleus of the program.
KNM is an impressive & unique group of individuals united behind a common goal of helping children
who feel motherless. Our goal is to develop an all-encompassing community support system that allows everyone to be an integral part of making KNM a success.
"Children need hugging, kissing & other physical expressions of love"
The playroom provides the therapeutic center
for constructive, non-threatening interaction between mother & child. Structured "playtime" helps children express feelings, learn decision-making processes, develop appropriate social skills & strengthen the family bond.
Children need hugging, kissing & other physical expressions of love to develop their self worth & security. Such affectionate interaction will be fostered in the environment.
All of the services by KNM come
together in the PLAYROOM, enabling mother & child to maintain family continuity.
When you're sad, know this need not be. Depression comes from a sense of being deprived of something you want & do not have. Remember
that you're deprived of nothing except by your own decisions & then decide otherwise.
A Course In Miracles Ch4-IV
Nurturing Touch: Keep It In Your
Life ! By Barnaby B. Barratt, PhD, DHS, ABPP, FAPA.
Martha's story is sad, but not uncommon: "Some days I feel so lonely, I look forward to going to the salon to have my hair done. I like the attention, the conversation & it's wonderful to
feel some physical contact with another human being."
As one expert wrote, "Without touch, a baby dies, the human heart aches & the soul withers." Science & common
sense both teach us that we all need to be touched for our physical welfare, our emotional vitality & our spiritual health. Studies have shown how babies fail to survive if they aren't touched & they fail to thrive unless they're nurtured by regular tactile communication. Infants need touch for their neurological development & this basic human fail to survive doesn't disappear as we grow older.
Yet in this day & age, so many of us are touch-deprived & this is especially true of seniors,
many of whom don't have partners to give & receive this basic need. So we live out our lives in conditions of loneliness & a yearning to be touched. Surely, there are ways this sadness could be avoided, ways to enrich the lives of those around us by giving & receiving the healthy delights of nurturing touch?
Bill, a radiant retiree now in his seventies, was determined to find a solution. "I loved my wife very dearly," he reports, "& I never strayed from our marital commitment. But our sexual life was never very enriching & after she died, 12 years ago, I became open to new experiences. I have had several wonderful relationships with women my own age, as well as 20 years younger. And life
is very joyful."
Bill continues, "I've found that my needs for nurturing touch were greater than anything that could be fulfilled by dating. So last year, I started a "touch group." It's a circle of about 8 friends, 5 women & 3 men from their 30's
into their 70's. We meet regularly on Wednesdays at a nearby home.
First, we spend a few minutes
each sharing from our hearts what's happening in our lives. Then, we undress, turn on some gentle music & each person has 10 to 15 minutes receiving the group's touch in any way that he or she requests. I love the opportunity to be giving, as much as I love receiving the soothing caress of as many as 7 pairs of hands gently stroking my body.
Genitals aren't the focus;
the whole experience is sensual & spiritual, rather than sexual per se. Of course, we set up the group carefully, with
clear discussion & explicit understandings about our purposes. Frankly, I feel that this sort of "touch group" gives me an experience that is holy... I always come
away from the group feeling more loving & loved, more centered & more ready to face the challenges of my life with joy in my heart."
Bill's experiences aren't common. But why not? We know that touch is both pleasurable & essential to our wellbeing,
so why is it so difficult to find ways to nurture others & to receive from them what we yearn for so much?
Scientific research has shown that affectional touch is highly beneficial so long as it is experienced as "appropriate" to the situation & doesn't impose greater intimacy than is desired, or isn't part of some interpersonal "power play." Touching should neither be coercive nor manipulative. It should be purely giving & never used as a means to an ends, i.e., as a maneuver to get someone into unwanted sexual relations.
Several studies have demonstrated that, when touching is affectional & consensual, it reduces depression, anxiety & physical pain. Nurturing touch promotes emotional health, physical wellbeing, spiritual centering & even longevity.
Here are some suggestions about giving & receiving more touch in your life:
- Talk with your friends about the need for touch. Show them this article, if you think it would help, or use some of the resources listed at the end.
- If starting a "touch group" like Bill's seems too big a step
to begin with, find 1 or 2 "touch buddies" & talk with them about what you'd like to do to nurture them & how you
might like to feel nurtured by them.
- Remember that, to promote health, healing & happiness, touch doesn't have to be all over the body – agreeing to gently caress someone's hands, lovingly stroke their face, massage their feet, or brush their hair, can be a lovely gift that enriches life.
- Always have explicit verbal agreements about what you're
going to do & how long it's going to last; i.e., you might say to your friend: "Would you like your hands stroked for
a few minutes?" or "I'd really like to caress your face while this music is playing, would that be okay with you?"
- Always express your feelings & give your "touch buddies" feedback, both truthfully & appreciatively. If you've had enough, say "That was very sweet, but I'd like you to stop for the time being." If your buddy's touch doesn't
feel good, say "That feels a little uncomfortable, could you try stroking a little lighter" or "I don't usually like my face to be touched, but I'd love it if you'd stroke my hands." And when the time is over, thank your buddy for the touch you've received, or for the opportunity
to give him or her your nurturing touch.
Joanna, an energetic businesswoman in her 60's, is clear about her needs. "I would love to have a partner in my life," she says, "but until then, I know that humans are meant to be playful – when it comes
to being touched, I like to give myself pleasure frequently, but I also like to be physically close to the warmth of friends & hey, I'm too old & too wise to waste my life being afraid to ask for what I want."
Here are some resources to help you get more "in touch" with your life!
- Take a look at 2 books: Ashley Montagu's Touching (Harper Trade, 3rd edition, 1994) & Phyllis Davis' The Power of Touch (Hay House, 1999). They offer many thought-provoking ideas & some suggestions for enriching your life with touch.
- Contact the Midwest Institute of Sexology. We have a "Touchability Program" which helps seniors & others to
find ways to bring more consensual touch into their lives. Telephone us at 248-737-5740. or email Dr. Barratt
Take a look at Arlene Q. Allen's web site at www.touchability.com, where a philosophy & practice that promotes consensual non-genital touch is presented by an expert on this
topic.
The Angry Child by Luleen S. Anderson PH.D.
Description
This popular article includes
practical strategies for dealing with anger in children.
Handling children's anger can be puzzling, draining & distressing for adults. One of the major problems in dealing with anger in children is the angry feelings that are often stirred up in us. We need to remind ourselves that we weren't always taught how to deal with anger as a fact of life during our own childhood. We were led to believe that to be angry was to be bad & we were often made to feel guilty for expressing anger.
It'll be easier to deal with children's anger if we get rid of this notion. Our goal isn't to repress or destroy angry feelings in children or in ourselves but rather to accept the feelings & to help channel & direct them to constructive ends.
Parents & teachers must allow children to feel all their feelings. Adult skills can then be directed toward showing children acceptable ways of expressing their feelings. Strong feelings can't be denied & angry outbursts shouldn't always be viewed as a sign of serious problems; they should be recognized & treated with respect.
To respond effectively to overly aggressive behavior in children we need to have some ideas about what may have triggered an outburst. Anger may be a defense to avoid painful feelings; it may be associated with failure, low self-esteem & feelings of isolation; or it may be related to anxiety about situations over which the child has no control.
Angry defiance may also be associated with feelings of dependency & anger may be associated with sadness & depression. In childhood, anger & sadness are very close to one another & it's important to remember that much of what an adult experiences as sadness is expressed by a child as anger.
Important Points
Several points are important before we go any further:
- Anger & aggression are different. Anger is a temporary emotional state caused by frustration; aggression is often an attempt to hurt a person or to destroy property.
- Anger & aggression don't have to be dirty words. We must be careful to tell the difference between behavior
that indicates emotional problems & behavior that's normal.
When with angry children, our actions should be motivated by the need to protect & to reach, not by a desire to punish. Show the child that you accept his or her feelings, while suggesting other ways to express the feelings. An adult might say, i.e., "Let me tell you what some children would do in a situation like this" It isn't enough to tell
children what behaviors we find unacceptable.
We must teach them acceptable ways of coping. Also, ways must be found to communicate what we expect of them. Contrary to popular opinion, punishment isn't the most effective way to communicate to children what we expect of them.
Responding to the Angry Child
Some of the following suggestions for dealing with the angry child were taken from The Aggressive Child by Fritz Redl and David Wineman.
Promote good behavior
- Catch the child
being good. Tell the child what behaviors please you. Respond to positive efforts & reinforce good behavior. An observing & sensitive parent will find countless opportunities during the day to make such comments as
- "I like the way you come in for dinner without being reminded"
- "I appreciate your hanging up your clothes even though you were in a hurry to get out to play"
- "You were really patient while I was on the phone"
- "I'm glad you shared your snack with your sister"
- "I like the way you're able to think of others"
- "Thank you for telling the truth about what really happened."
Similarly,
teachers can positively reinforce good behavior with statements like:
- Deliberately
ignore inappropriate behavior that can be tolerated. This doesn't mean that you should
ignore the child, just the behavior. The "ignoring" has to be planned & consistent. Even though this behavior may be tolerated, the child must recognize that it's inappropriate.
- Provide physical
outlets & other alternatives. It's important for children to have opportunities for physical exercise & movement, both at home & at school.
- Teach children
to express themselves verbally. Talking helps a child have control & thus reduces acting out behavior. Encourage the child to say; i.e., "I don't like your taking my pencil. I don't feel like sharing just now."
- Encourage children to see their strengths as well as their weaknesses. Help them to
see that they can reach their goals.
- Build a
positive self-image. Encourage children to see themselves as valued & valuable people.
- Model appropriate
behavior. Parents & teachers need to be aware of the powerful influence of their actions on a child's or group's behavior.
Adjust the climate
- Manipulate the surroundings. Aggressive behavior can be encouraged by placing children in tough, tempting situations. We need to try to plan the surroundings so that certain things are less apt to happen. Stop a "problem" activity & substitute,
temporarily, a more desirable one. Sometimes rules & regulations, as well as physical space, may be too confining.
- Use closeness & touching. Move physically closer to the child to curb his or her angry impulse. Young children are often calmed by having an adult come close by & express interest in the child's activities. Children naturally try to involve adults
in what they're doing & the adult is often annoyed at being bothered.
Very young children (& children who are emotionally deprived) seem to need much more adult involvement in their interests.
- A child about
to use a toy or tool in a destructive way is sometimes easily stopped by an adult who expresses interest in having it shown
to him. An outburst from an older child struggling with a difficult reading selection can be prevented by a caring adult who moves near the child to say, "Show me which words are giving you trouble."
- Be ready to show
affection. Sometimes all that's needed for any angry child to regain control is a sudden hug or other impulsive show of affection. Children with serious emotional problems, however, may have trouble accepting affection.
- Ease tension thru
humor. Kidding the child out of a temper tantrum or outburst offers the child an opportunity to "save face."
However, it's important to distinguish between face-saving humor & sarcasm, teasing, or ridicule.
- Appeal directly
to the child. Tell him or her how you feel & ask for consideration; i.e., a parent or a teacher may gain a child's cooperation by saying, "I know that noise you're making doesn't usually bother
me, but today I've got a headache, so could you find something else you'd enjoy doing?"
- Explain situations.
Help the child understand the cause of a stressed situation. We often fail to realize how easily young children can begin to react properly once they understand the cause
of their frustration.
Set limits
- Use physical restraint. Occasionally a
child may lose control so completely that he has to be physically restrained or removed from the scene to prevent him from hurting himself or others. This may also "save face" for the child. Physical restraint or removal from the scene shouldn't be viewed
by the child as punishment but as a means of saying, "You can't do that." In such situations, an adult can't afford to lose
his or her temper & unfriendly remarks by other children shouldn't be tolerated.
- Use promises & rewards. Promises of
future pleasure can be used both to start & to stop behavior. This approach shouldn't be compared with bribery. We must
know what the child likes - what brings him pleasure - & we must deliver on our promises.
- Say "NO!" Limits should be clearly explained & enforced. Children should be free to function within those limits.
- Tell the child that you accept his or her angry feelings, but offer other suggestions for expressing them. Teach children to put their angry feelings into words, rather than fists.
- Use punishment cautiously. There's a fine line between punishment that's hostile toward a child & punishment that's educational.
The Role of Discipline
Good discipline includes creating an atmosphere of quiet firmness, clarity & conscientiousness, while using reasoning. Bad discipline involves punishment which is unduly harsh & inappropriate
& it's often associated with verbal ridicule & attacks on the child's integrity.
As one 4th grade teacher put it: "One of the most important goals we strive for as parents, educators & mental health professionals is to help children develop respect for themselves & others." While arriving at this goal takes years of patient practice, it's a vital process in which parents, teachers & all caring adults can play a crucial & exciting role. In order to accomplish this, we must see children as worthy human beings & be sincere
in dealing with them.
When You're Deprived of Senses
by Ron Kurtus (7 October 2000)
We need our senses to know what's happening in the world around us. The loss of even one sense can be devastating and greatly effect a person's life. But many people who've lost a sense learn to cope and even excel. They appreciate what remaining senses they have.
If you're thinking about this, you may have such questions as:
- What happens if you're deprived of your senses?
- How do blind people cope?
- How should we think of our own senses?
Deprivation of senses can
be punishment
If we're deprived of even one of our senses, we lose much of the experience of life. That's why the
worst punishment that can be given to prisoners isn't physical punishment, rather it's temporarily depriving the
person of communication with others and the outside world. This is usually done thru solitary confinement.
Loss of senses make others
more sensitive
When someone loses one of their senses, the remaining senses often become more sensitive. This may be to compensate for the loss. It also is because the
person must concentrate more one what senses remain.
Blind or deaf people become more sensitive to their remaining senses. Often a blind person can hear things a normal
person can't. Their sense of touch is also more acute.
Helen Keller
Helen Keller was both deaf & blind, but her mental capacity and strong will made up for her handicaps. Amazingly,
she was able to learn to speak, read and write, despite being unable to see or hear. She was truly challenged in her life and she met the challenge like a champion.
Appreciate your senses
Too often people become complacent about their senses, such that they take them for granted. They no longer notice the sweet smell of flowers,
the beautiful colors around them, pleasant sounds, the smell and taste of good food, the pleasure of warmth on a cold night
or the sensation of touching the soft fur of a pet.
In conclusion
Losing a sense or being deprived of communicating with the outside world can be devastating to a person. People who've lost a sense learn to compensate with their remaining senses. We need to appreciate what we have, especially if all our senses are working properly.
|
 |
|
deprived of survival needs
Do We Really Need to Sleep? And Why?
by Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 21, 2002; Page HE01
Randy Gardner decided not to sleep for 11 straight days in 1964: He was 17, a high school senior and desperately wanted to win the San Diego Science Fair.
He'd recently heard that a disc jockey had gone 260
hours, a shade under 11 days, without sleeping. "I could do that," Gardner told himself.
"I wanted to prove that bad things didn't happen if
you went without sleep, that you wouldn't go insane," said Gardner, now 56, retired and still in San Diego. "I thought, 'I can break that record and I don't think it would be a negative experience.'"
With the help of 2 friends who took turns keeping him
awake, marathon pinball sessions and a growing circus of television reporters, Gardner stayed awake
264 hours and achieved his record.
In doing so, he raised 2 seductively simple questions
that continue to linger: How much sleep do people really need? And - a matter of special interest for overworked Washingtonians - are there ways to cheat sleep?
Those questions have taken on new urgency in recent
months, as researchers have begun evaluating whether a medicine approved to treat sleepiness associated with narcolepsy can
also keep healthy people awake.
Military scientists in the US and France have begun
pushing the limits of the drug modafinil - one study found that people who haven't slept for 2 straight nights
still function well while using it. A variety of studies are evaluating whether the medicine can help truck drivers and night-shift
workers, since sleepy people are especially prone to traffic and industrial accidents.
While drugs like modafinil and caffeine keep people
awake, no chemical is actually known to replace the restorative power of sleep. Animals deprived of sleep for long periods lose the ability to retain heat and die. But can people get by with an hour or
2 less every night? Does the fact that most people seem able to sleep 8 or more hours every night mean they need to sleep that long?
Researchers - who
agree that a core amount of sleep is needed for survival - disagree on whether people can reduce their sleep somewhat and still function well and remain healthy.
"There's no simple answer" to
how much sleep people need, said Col. Gregory Belenky, director of neuropsychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
in Silver Spring, who has conducted extensive research into the effects of sleep deprivation: "Individual by individual, there's a lot of variability."
A very small number of people appear to need 4 hours of sleep or less a night. Some experiments in the United Kingdom suggest that people can be trained to get all the rest they
need in about 6 1/2 hours, without the use of stimulants.
Advocacy groups like the National Sleep Foundation recommend that
Americans get more sleep, preferably 7 to 9 hours a night. Experts at the foundation warn that Americans have been steadily cutting back on their
sleep and point out that significant numbers of traffic and industrial accidents are caused by sleep deprivation and fatigue.
Most adult Americans curtail their sleep: The National Coffee Association says 100 million drinkers of caffeinated coffee consume more
than 3 cups each per day, the equivalent of 400 milligrams of caffeine.
The Need for Z's
Among the difficulties in finding definitive data about how much sleep people need is that the central purpose of sleep is shrouded in mystery and paradox:
i.e., if sleep is physically restorative, why do the inactive need as much as athletes? If the primary benefit of sleep is to the brain, as most scientists believe, why do dullards need it as much as chess grandmasters?
Moreover, why does the
brain remain active during sleep? In fact, some "restful" parts of sleep occur during periods of heightened brain activity.
Researchers have theorized that sleep may restore some chemicals that are drained during periods of wakefulness. Scientists have isolated chemicals that fluctuate
during sleep, like adenosine, which affects metabolism and fatigue - but no one has pinned down a definitive chemical explanation for
sleep.
Some experts have speculated that sleep may be an evolutionary mechanism to conserve energy. Still others say sleep may give the brain an opportunity to process experiences or even to exercise neural pathways that have lain dormant during
the day.
Whatever the explanation, sleep is so important that animal brains "remember" the amount and quality of sleep they get and compensate for sleep deprivation by falling asleep faster and staying asleep longer. Jerry Siegel,
a UCLA & Veterans Administration sleep researcher, said the drive for sleep is so powerful among mammals that when dolphins, whose brains sleep one hemisphere at a time, are deprived
of sleep, the hemispheres independently keep track of how much sleep they have lost & build up separate accounts of their "sleep debt."
Seemingly contradictory results from a variety of studies may also suggest that different
amounts of sleep are necessary for day-to-day performance, highly creative tasks and for long-term health.
People who are sleep-deprived react more slowly and in less creative ways. After prolonged sleep deprivation, most people forget words and become unable to come up with "out-of-the-box" solutions to complex problems, experiments have found.
Sleep-deprived people also take longer to accomplish tasks, making it doubtful that reducing the need for sleep would actually make people more productive.
Researcher Eve Van Cauter at the University of Chicago has also found physical consequences:
Volunteers restricted to 4 hours of sleep a night show hormonal changes that make them show signs of pre-diabetes.
Van Cauter is exploring the idea that insufficient sleep may be partly behind the obesity epidemic in the US.
Animals deprived of sleep at crucial stages of development can lose cognitive abilities like depth perception, said Thomas Scammell, a neurologist
at Harvard Medical School. Sleep, he said, may be important for memory and learning and affect cognition in subtle ways.
Deprived and Alive
Simultaneously,
however, according to a study conducted by Nancy Wesensten and others at the Walter Reed institute, volunteers deprived of sleep for 2 straight nights can maintain performance when given high doses
of modafinil or caffeine.
Psychophysiologist
Jim Horne at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom has found he can train people
to sleep less without negative effects by gradually reducing the amount they sleep - 20 minutes less every 3 to 4 nights - apparently forcing the volunteers to sleep more "efficiently." Restricting sleep among some people with depression has also been found to lift their moods, he said.
And in February,
a controversial study conducted at the University of California, San Diego, found that people who sleep 6 or 7 hours a night actually live longer than people who sleep 8 or more.
Daniel
Kripke, the lead investigator for this study, said the results don't mean that sleep is dangerous. He said the findings only underscore that scientists don't really know whether humans need some fixed amount of sleep. People, he said, should avoid routinely using drugs either to sleep more or sleep less.
"We don't advise long sleepers to do
anything at the current time, because we haven't proven if they cut back their sleep it'll benefit them," he said. "We certainly wouldn't recommend stimulants."
Horne said
the rationale for wanting less sleep could influence its consequences: "Someone who says they have so many pressures they have to cut into their sleep is being foolish."
"If you're
restricting your sleep for pleasure, by all means do so," he said. "But if you're restricting your sleep because you're overwhelmed and can't cope, then sleep is your buffer."
11 Days Awake
That distinction is perhaps best illustrated by Randy Gardner himself, who found his record-setting
experience difficult but also exhilarating: The first few days, he recalled, were relatively easy. Gardner visited the jail
and the airport, took long walks on the beach with two "research assistants" and played lots of basketball. He ate normally
and used no stimulants.
After the first 4 or 5 days, reporters
began showing up. William Dement, a Stanford University sleep researcher, came down to San Diego help monitor the experiment.
By the 6th or 7th day, Gardner's eyes
began to give him "a sandpaper feeling" around sunrise. Other side effects, he noted, were "slurred words, memory wasn't working
so great. Nothing was very pronounced or long-lasting. I was pretty grumpy - I'd tell people to shut up."
One night after 3 a.m., Dement played
100 games against Gardner on a baseball machine in a penny arcade. The professor lost every one: The teenager was still in
good physical shape.
As the 11th day
loomed, media attention turned into a circus, the phone rang off the hook and throngs of supporters helped Gardner
fight off sleep. There was a brief news conference afterward: Gardner declared that mastering sleep was a question of "mind over matter." He felt he could go another day or two, but the experiment was being conducted over
his Christmas holidays and he had to get back to school.
Researchers whisked him away to a sleep lab and hooked EEG monitors to his head. It took him 3 seconds to fall asleep. He slept for about 14 hours, woke up and said
he felt fine.
Gardner's experiment revealed that missing
80 to 90 hours of sleep clearly left him with sleep debt, but he didn't need to sleep 80 hours right away. Gardner also showed that sleep debt isn't paid back uniformly: There were times during his experiment when he could easily stay awake and other times when
it was nearly impossible.
Sleep Rhythms
Superimposed over the buildup of sleep debt, in other words, people have a circadian rhythm, with crests and troughs. This cycle is closely related to light and the change of seasons.
Evolutionarily,
humans appear to be programmed to feel alert and sleepy at different times of the day. The greatest risk for fatal traffic
accidents caused by sleepiness is in the early hours of the morning, when people's circadian rhythm is at a trough. Afternoon
brings on another trough, while the late morning and early evenings appear to be peaks of alertness.
"Most theories suggest
[the need for] sleep is homeostatic - which is, it accumulates during the day and the longer you're awake the more sleepy you become," said Peretz
Lavie, a researcher at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. "We showed this is true, but not for the evening period.
You become sleepier [in the afternoon]. Then you reach 8 or 9 o'clock and paradoxically you become alert."
Lavie has
subjected volunteers to ultra-short sleep cycles - 7 minutes in bed & 13 minutes awake - for up to 48 hours. After 2 days
of irregular sleep, Lavie found that people couldn't be paid to fall asleep during periods of the circadian peak and couldn't be paid to stay
awake during the trough.
While sleep deprivation experiments have taught scientists
a lot about how much sleep people need, one researcher approached the question from the opposite direction. When Thomas Wehr at the National Institute of Mental
Health had 15 people sign up for a month-long experiment, the psychiatrist placed them in the dark for 14 hours a day.
Wehr's volunteers first slept an average
of 12 hours a night - a sign that they (like
most people) were probably quite sleep-deprived.
After 3 weeks, they gradually
reduced their sleep to about 8 hours. But another interesting thing happened. Instead of sleeping in one period during the night, the volunteers
began sleeping in two distinct periods.
They'd fall asleep around 8 in the evening
and wake up around midnight. They'd then fall asleep again around 2 a.m. and sleep another 4 hours.
"Maybe our ancestors used to sleep this way" before artificial light became cheaply available, said Wehr. "If any of us sleeps like this, we would call it a sleep disorder - but maybe it's normal sleep."
A historian later told Wehr that before
artificial light began to "shorten the night," people did indeed sleep in two cycles - which they sometimes called "first sleep" and "morning sleep." The period in between was called "watch."
Between the sleep periods, Wehr's volunteers were neither anxious nor restless. They were also neither completely awake nor asleep, but in a quiescent period of rest.
The anxiety most people feel about waking up and not being able to go back to sleep in the middle of the night apparently is based on believing that they need to pack all their rest into one 7 to 8 hour burst, said Wehr. He speculated that quiescent rest, which is "extinct" in modern
life, may explain why some people may benefit from meditation, a similarly restful state.
Wehr started the study to find out if people deprived of light would get more depressed, as some people report feeling during the winter. As it turned out, his volunteers
felt better. "They felt
so rested," he said.
When asked what his research said about people who wanted to cheat
sleep, Wehr said, "That's kind of a Faustian wish, isn't it? Someone asked the Texas billionaire how much is enough money? He said,
'A little more.' That's how we feel about being awake."
Sleep Deprivation & Your Health
By David Neubauer, M.D
"The amount of sleep required by the average person is about 5 minutes more."
That's one of my favorite
quotes from American raconteur Wilson Mizner (1876 - 1933). Even in his day, people weren't
getting enough sleep. Along with the national debt, our society's sleep debt has grown dramatically over the past century. Our ancestors 100 years ago averaged
well over an hour more sleep per night. We suffer many consequences from not getting enough sleep.
Each autumn we have the chance
to enjoy an extra hour of sleep as we turn the clocks back from daylight savings to standard time. (Although this year
is the first time the switch is occurring so late.)
Unfortunately, many people
give time for sleeping a very low priority, & as a culture, we tend not to value sleep. In the evenings, we seem to keep busy with work projects or leisure activities well past the time when our brains would
have allowed us to fall asleep. Work schedules definitely are part of the problem, but lifestyle
choices are equally to blame.
Patients sometimes come to
our Sleep Disorders Center thinking that some disease must be causing them to be sleepy all day. They worry about their drowsy
driving or their nodding off during meetings or lectures. In many cases, a quick review of their schedule reveals the answer
- insufficient sleep. They get to bed too late & get up too early.
Often, when I convince these
patients to add just 30 to 60 minutes to their nightly sleep time for just 2 weeks, they're pleasantly surprised at the results. When they realize the cause of their problem & experience
the benefits of a little extra shut-eye, they usually make the right choice in giving sleep a higher priority.
I hope you took advantage
of that free hour Saturday night & Sunday morning & enjoyed being a little more alert the next day. Adjust your schedule
so you can get some more sleep every night. Your brain will appreciate it.
source: click here
read the latest news over at healthscout.com
concerning sleep deprivation!
Sleep-Deprived Teens
Pose Safety Hazard:
Half have driven while drowsy, survey finds
Without water, the body will shut down its need to ingest food
A new study identifies sensors in the gastrointestinal
tract that signals the body that food ingestion is no longer required
(December 17, 2002) Bethesda, MD – According to
the United Nations, 14 African countries now face water scarcity or water stress. By the year 2025, experts agree that 11
more countries will join the list & half the world will live with water stress.
The consequences of water drought can be terrible – a loss
of livestock & crops can lead to overall starvation of a nation's population. International relief agencies may respond
w/necessary food supplies. But their largesse in offering food may be for naught, for a new study suggests that without water,
the body's physiology will cause the body to involuntarily reduce feeding, leading to dehydration
or anorexia.
The findings suggest that deprivation is mediated by a sensor located in either the gastrointestinal
tract or in the mesenteric veins draining the gut. In the absence of drinking water, signals from this sensor provoke the
early termination of a meal.
Tof the American Journal of Physiology – The authors of the study, "Reduced Feeding During Water Deprivation Depends on Hydration of the Gut," are Guus
H. M. Schoorlemmer & Mark D. Evered, both in the Dept. of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan,
Saskatoon, Canada. Their findings are published in the November 2002 edition Regulatory, Integrative
& Comparative Physiology, a publication of the American Physiological Society (APS).
Background
Humans join rats, dogs,
cows, camels & other mammals in reducing food intake during water deprivation. This inhibition
of eating assists body fluid regulation in two ways. First, there is normally a large volume of osmotically sequestered water
in the gut. Inhibition of feeding allows absorption of this water. Second, the reduced solute load or dissolution of food
reduces urinary water loss.
There are several ways
in which water deprivation might inhibit food intake. First, drinking is normally associated with eating
& disrupting that pattern might inhibit food intake.
Second, water deprivation causes a dry mouth, making eating more difficult, especially when the period of water deprivation
is long & the food is dry.
Third, osmoreceptors (a receptor in the central nervous system that receives stimulus
from the blood) or other detectors of body fluid status
in the brain, circulation, or gut may be involved. In the rat, various stimuli known to cause thirst & antidiuresis also
inhibit feeding, including injection of hypertonic solutions into the gastrointestinal tract or peritoneal cavity, injection
of hyperoncotic colloid under the skin & injection of angiotensin in the brain.
The research team designed
a series of experiments to investigate how reducing water consumption reduces food intake. The first step was to measure the
effect of short periods of water deprivation on food intake & eating pattern.
To investigate the role
of plasma tonicity in feeding during water
deprivation, they compared changes in plasma tonicity
caused by ingestion of food in the presence & absence of drinking water.
They then investigated
the effect of changes in plasma tonicity, induced by intravenous infusion of hypertonic & hypotonic solutions, on feeding
in the absence of drinking water. To examine whether drinking fluids is necessary for normal food intake, the team deprived rats of drinking water overnight while slowly infusing the water these rats normally drank into the stomach.
Methodology
In freely feeding Long-Evans rats,
meals were separated by intervals of one hour during the dark period & 4 hours during the light period. To obtain the
meal pattern during water deprivation, they measured food intake every 15 minutes by briefly removing the
food hopper, weighing it & returning it to the cage.
Rats were anesthetized
& given a postoperative subcutaneous injection of the analgesic buprenorphine-hydrochloride. Tubes were inserted in the
vena cava, portal vein, gastric cavity & intestine, all in a single session.
Rats were allowed
at least 10 days to recover. Experiments began only after rats had regained preoperative body weight.
Infusions were done in
the rat's home cage unless specified differently. The polyethylene infusion tubing was connected to the elbow on the rat's
back & led thru the top of the cage. Sterile distilled water or 0.3 M NaCl solution was infused with a disposable syringe
mounted in a calibrated pump.
For long infusions,
the tubing was protected with a metal spring & was connected thru a low-friction watertight fluid swivel.
5 experiments were then conducted as
follows:
Experiment 1: Analysis
of feeding during water deprivation.
Food intake was measured
in 11 rats for 7.5 hours, starting at the beginning of the dark period, because rats normally do most of their eating during
the dark period.
Every 15 minutes the food
hopper was removed from the cage, weighed & returned to the cage. Drinking water wasn't available during the test period
in 6 rats, but the other rats were allowed to drink. Two days later the experiment was repeated, but the treatments were reversed.
Experiment 2: Effect of
the presence of drinking water on changes in plasma tonicity & blood volume induced by eating.
Because it's difficult
to take blood samples in spontaneously feeding rats without interrupting feeding, especially in the dark, we took blood samples
from rats that had been food deprived & allowed the rats to eat a normal-sized meal.
Experiment 3: Effect of
rapid intravenous infusion of water or 0.3 M NaCl on food intake.
8 rats with a cannula in
the thoracic vena cava were tested for the sensitivity of feeding to changes in plasma tonicity. To measure sensitivity of
feeding to a fall in plasma tonicity, these rats were deprived of drinking water for 18 hours.
Then food was removed,
cannulas were connected & sterile water was infused into the vena cava at a rate of 1.1 ml/min. Food (but not drinking water) was returned 6 minutes after the end of the infusion.
Experiment 4: Effect of
slow infusions of water in the stomach of rats not allowed to drink.
To determine whether the
act of drinking is necessary for normal food intake, 8 rats with gastric cannulas were deprived of water. During this period, water was infused intragastrically.
Experiment 5: Effect of
infusion of water in various body locations on food intake of rats not allowed to drink.
Water was infused in various
locations throughout the body to locate the sensors that mediate the effect of hydration on feeding.
Results
The researchers found that:
Water deprivation reduced meal size,
including the first meal.
Intravenous infusions of 0.3 M NaCl that increased plasma tonicity & sodium concentration to levels greater than
those seen after eating caused little or no reduction in food intake.
Feeding in rats not allowed to drink was restored when amounts of water similar to that normally drunk were
infused slowly into the stomach, jejunum or cecum but not when the water was infused into the vena cava or portal vein.
Conclusions
The findings show that sensors responsive to hypertonicity of the gastrointestinal
tract can inhibit feeding. The researchers believe that sensors specifically responsible for the reduction in food intake during water deprivation to be
a subpopulation of these located in the proximal gut, because this is the region most likely to be affected by the ingestion
of normal size drinks.
These sensors are probably in the stomach, in the first part of the small
intestine, or in the vasculature that drains these areas, before the liver. In the absence of drinking water, signals from
these sensors provoke an early termination of the meal.
These findings are consistent with the view that postingestive, preabsorptive,
negative-feedback information from the gut has a primary & direct role in the control of feeding.
They suggest that hydration of the gastrointestinal tract is one of the
important variables monitored by the gut mucosal receptors and that the information is carried by afferent fibers to the caudal
brain stem rather than through changes in the tonicity of the circulation monitored by forebrain or other nonsplanchinic sites.
Information from splanchnic sensors monitoring gut hydration
may also play a role in the control of drinking, release of vasopressin and oxytocin, salt excretion and gastric emptying.
Throughout the remainder of this century, the world's
population will be plagued by global warming and continuous drought. Ensuring that the population of the affected countries
isn't subject to starvation will be a top priority for the international community.
These findings will contribute to the development of
an effective strategy.
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were you aware of these facts?
Why Children Need Music at a Very Young Age By Pam Mathews (as appeared
in the Oct./Nov., 1999 issue of Frederick's Child)
Have you ever heard an adult say, "I can't even carry a tune in a bucket"
or "I enjoy listening to music, but I'm not very musical?" Maybe you even have been heard stating these or similar remarks. Many adults who fall
into the category of limited or no musical ability didn't have any early childhood musical experiences other than possibly listening to recorded music. No longer should we think that only a few chosen people are musically talented because it is now known that all of us are born with an aptitude for
music and that music aptitude, like intelligence, is normally distributed. We also know that music
aptitude diminishes if it isn't nurtured in the first 9 years of life by appropriate, repeated experiences.
Recently, there has been
significant national attention surrounding children's educational and developmental issues. Current research shows that music
facilitates brain development, enhances spatial reasoning and motor skill development and contributes to the emotional, social
and cognitive growth of children.
Only 15 years ago, neuroscientists
assumed that by the time babies were born the structure of their brains was genetically determined. They didn't recognize that the experiences that fill a baby's first months and years have such a decisive impact on the architecture of their brains
or on the extent of their adult capacities.
At birth an infant's brain
contains hundreds of billions of neurons which need to be organized into connected systems of perceiving, thinking, talking and remembering. As these neurons respond to stimuli seen, heard, felt, or tasted, they fire off messages that build
new connections to neighboring cells, linking them into efficient relay systems.
The brain also eliminates
connections that are seldom or never used. A child's brain suffers if it is deprived of a stimulating
environment. Every response to sights, sounds, feelings, smells and tastes makes more connections and the more work the brain does, the more it becomes capable of doing. Rich early childhood experiences really do produce rich brains.
All children are born with
in innate music aptitude and the ability to fulfill a person's musical potential is determined by this innate aptitude and the quality of early music experiences. Music is learned
in the same way that language is learned.
According to the discoveries
of Dr. Alfred Tomatis using fiber optic cameras, it has been discovered that a 5 month-old fetus is capable of hearing and responding to the sounds of language. Since most children don't begin to speak until near the end of their
first year, it's correct to conclude that infants are totally bathed in the sounds and rhythms of their language for more
than a full year before actually being expected to speak.
Language and music
are acquired when the children have a strong aural foundation comprised of sensory experiences which have an emotional component.
As valuable as recorded music
is for a child, live music-making provides the child with a much richer sensory and emotional experience than recorded music.
An infant's experience lying in a crib listening only to recorded music can't compare to the emotional charge of a parent singing and dancing with their child.
An infant who is sung to
by parents not only hears their song but feels the vibration of the parent's voice as the baby's head rests on the parent's
chest, smells the familiar scent of the parent, all the while his/her vestibular system is being stimulated by the rocking,
dancing, or bouncing movements.
In our present society,
families seldom participate in music-making and less often gather with other families to make music together as a community.
An early childhood music class can give children the opportunity to explore various musical instruments, freely move to music and play with the potential of their singing voices without the pressure to perform.
All of this happens
in a joyful setting of active music-making experienced by parents and children together creating a musical community. Through this sense of freedom, children develop their singing range and ability. When music and singing are experienced with others, it becomes valued
for both its pleasure and its value as a form of human expression and communication.
Rossini, a 19th
century composer most known for his operas, stated, "The language of music is common to all generations and nations; it is
understood by everybody, since it is understood with the heart."
As we approach the 21st century,
children are living rich musical lives in a world with exceeding musical diversity. There is an ever-widening musical world
for children to know and is the responsibility of the parents, music teachers and child care providers to widen this musical world by introducing the little ones in their
care to a wide diversity of musical sounds and styles from many lands and cultures.
Where there are people,
there is music. All over the world and throughout history, music has been sung, played, composed, danced to and listened to. Children deserve every opportunity to know a variety of musical colors and styles for they possess the capacity to perceive
and process music, to make music and to express their thoughts and feelings through music!
Pam Mathews is the music director at Middletown United Methodist Church & is owner & instructor
of Mathews' Music offering Kindermusik classes.
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