Children

A daily scan through the newspapers and TV news gives the impression that the entire world is constantly invaded by new and horrible virus epidemics. Recently, headlines on avian flu and the SARS virus have dominated global reports, but the world is also exposed to horror scenarios about hepatitis C, AIDS, Ebola and BSE (mad cow disease).

Two years ago my eldest daughter gave birth to a baby boy (her third child). It was a classic home birth. She woke up just after 2am. in a pool of water — the waters had broken while she was asleep. She got up, made a cup of tea for herself and her sister, breathed through a few contractions, called the midwife, and then, about 3.15am, said, “I think I’ll go and have this baby now.”

As an independant midwife practitioner I support the biologically destined method of giving birth, natural vaginal birth. This is not to day that we don’t ask for medical help when a mother needs it. Caesarian sections are amazing life-saving operations. But when a mother is able and chooses to birth her baby normally I fully support her. Why is natural birth important?

Modern babies are held as little as 20% of the day due to parents having various gadgets to ‘help’ – we shift them from cot to pram to bouncer to swing-chair to car-seat. No need to take them from the car-seat, simply take it with!

One fact should not be in dispute: TV is violent! Guns, shootings, murders, hitting, punching, slapping, screaming, kicking, stabbing, explosions, car chases, car smashes, disasters and death are shown daily throughout TV programming. Most violence is not even in nightly news programs and most of the violence on television is fake. TV presents violent acts through acting—with fake guns and fake blood.

I was watching out of an upstairs window when I noticed that one of the horses in my neighbour’s paddock wasn’t there anymore. Instead of that mare, there was a new horse. The first question that popped into my mind was: how long is this horse going to last?

Could this be the catalyst for the major change that we are all so desperately seeking in our ailing education system?

The education of parents needs to go hand-in-hand with the education of their children.

As a teacher I was trained to provide children with correct and appropriate answers. And ironically it was not the children who were asking the questions in the first place. I was.

For nearly half a century Joseph Chilton Pearce has been probing the mysteries of the human mind. Author of The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, Magical Child, Evolution’s End and other books, one of his overriding passions remains the study of what he calls the unfolding of intelligence in children.

In the struggle to solve the environmental problems we have created, the most precious tool we have is imagination. If we seek to heal the wounds of this planet, this can only be done on the basis of an effort to understand the ecological realities in which we are embedded.

As with many things in life, it started rather innocently. I stumbled across an item in the German news magazine Der Spiegel about Feng Shui in the Classroom.

After having a baby in 2002, Vicki Penfold was shocked not only at the enormous cost involved in using disposable diapers, but also at the devastating environmental consequences. After nearly two years of testing, Vicki has developed a re-useable nappy which is friendly to baby, your budget and the environment.

A study of 100,000 pupils in 31 countries around the world has concluded that using computers makes kids dumb. Avoiding PCs in the classroom and at home improved the literacy and numeracy of the children studied.

Dr. Elaine Lee explores the crisis in our education system.

There has been a lot of talk about cloth nappies lately and I have heard many people refer to some research done in the UK by The Environmental Agency¹ saying washing cloth nappies has just as much impact on the environment as disposables.

ADD children — also called Indigo children — are very sensitive to environmental and electrical pollution, noise and poor nutrition. In our world of over-stimulation, they are totally stressed.

Not very long ago most of us were farmers, and our children helped in all aspects of farm work.

Saturday afternoon at the Wits Club in Jo’burg and Dr Shabeer Jeeva steps up to the microphone. The audience of 50-odd therapists, parents and educators perch attentively on their blue plastic chairs as he launches forth at a machine gun pace on the treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder/Hyperactivity (ADHD) in adults.

Breastfeeding beyond the first birthday is known as extended breastfeeding.

For the past 20 years, most mothers have unfortunately considered disposable nappies as essential.

By the time you reach the final page of this book you will understand its title and the fact that pediatric medicine is one of the worst things that ever happened in the world of babies and young children.