The continuum concept...

During these days in India I have seen so many indians holding little children in their arms, and bringing them around with them. Many fathers as well, and this is the most interesting point. We don't see so many father hanging around with children in Europe. Actually we don't see children be carried by arms by their parents. Normally they are left home, or they are put in a box with a yawning baby sitter that watches the television, while their parents work or go out.

I have been reading this book called "The Continuum Concept" by  Jean Liedloff. This is quite an old book, from 1977, but still, there's a point in it.

According to Jean Liedloff, the continuum concept is the idea that in order to achieve optimal physical, mental and emotional development, human beings — especially babies — require the kind of experience to which our species adapted during the long process of our evolution. We have to remember that, in spite of our "rational mind", we are not so different to the monkeys that I have seen around the temples of Mamalapuram:

 

The writer claims that for an infant is important to experience:

• a constant physical contact with his mother from birth; 
• the possibilty to breastfeeding  in response to his own body's signals;
• being constantly carried in arms or otherwise in contact with someone, and allowed to observe while the person carrying him goes about his or her business_;

• having caregivers immediately respond to his signals (squirming, crying, etc.), without judgment, displeasure, or invalidation of his needs, yet showing no concern nor making him the constant center of attention;

In this way the child can feel that he is innately social and cooperative and that he is welcome and worthy.

From what I was able to see, this is the way Indians are still rising their child, in a way that is much more instinctual then the Western is:
 

In contrast, a baby subjected to modern Western childbirth and child-care practices often experiences:

• traumatic separation from his mother at birth due to medical intervention and placement in maternity wards, in physical isolation;
• at home, sleeping alone and isolated, often after "crying himself to sleep";
• scheduled feeding, with his natural nursing impulses often ignored or "pacified";
• being excluded and separated from normal adult activities, relegated for hours on end to a nursery, or playpen where he is inadequately stimulated by toys and other inanimate objects;
• caregivers often ignoring, discouraging or even punishing him when he cries or otherwise signals his needs; or else responding with excessive concern and anxiety, making him the center of attention.

The writer claims that evolution has not prepared the human infant for this kind of experience. The child cannot comprehend why his desperate cries for the fulfillment of his innate expectations go unanswered, and he develops a sense of wrongness and shame about himself and his desires.
If, however, his "continuum " expectations are fulfilled, he will exhibit a natural state of self-assuredness, well-being and joy. According to the book, infants whose continuum needs are fulfilled during the early, in-arms phase grow up to have greater self-esteem and become more independent than those whose cries go unanswered for fear of "spoiling" them or making them too dependent on the parents.

We have to remember that the child is, indeed, dependent on the parents for his first years, and to treat him as he was not is un-natural and cruel.
I am really thankful with my mother for having "spoiled" me, giving me food when I needed it, and carrying me around all the time on her arms when I was little.

This book was as much inspiring as it was seeing the eyes of this  courious little monkey, not scared at all for my presence, being safe in the arm of his mother.