I should have maybe waited for 9.5 months for this blog. But I will accept this post as a premature baby :-P. Though involuntarily the seeds for this blog may have been laid when I saw the movie "Look who's talking", development of our brain has drawn my interest for long. But, what does a bachelor got to do with kids? Hmmm.. In an era when it is actually ok for a 'bachelor' to 'have' kids, I think, I can take some liberty writing about them!
Different studies have been done on how babies learn and a lot of research has been done, as google will show, and I can be sure that this will never be complete. Creation is a 'limit point' for the research 'sequence', an irrational concept (number) for rationals (numbers), the horizon for a voyager. We can only get closer and closer but will never 'reach there'. So, here is a peek at my own experiences and observations.
I have always enjoyed being around babies/kids. To me they represent purity amidst wickedness, calmness amidst commotion, clarity in confusion. Ever asked a kid a very intricate or complicated question? It will blurt out an immediate answer, nonsense/profound truth it may be. But, it is so obvious for the child. It needs no second opinion, no reservations, no approvals. For the kid, the answer is correct and it will resume/continue to do what it was doing. Yet the roles may reverse too - 'wickedness' in the face of purity (snatching its toy back from a younger one and letting it cry), commotion (that brutal, throat clearing, glass breaking cry) and confusion (why is it that mom has a biiiig piece of cake while I am thrown a morsel? Fair?). Because they constantly learn, they are constantly shaped by the environment. (I don't want to get into the argument of nature vs nurture. I believe it is a mix).
It is amazing to even try getting into the thought process of a baby. The first time it manages to hold and lift something, the first time it is able to squeeze something. We ignore these discoveries. We concentrate on the bigger and grander things, like its first few steps on its own, the baby beginning to flip over and hold its head. But the smaller things are too obvious for us. What will be our feeling when for the first time we are able to hold and lift something? We draw a blank. Joy? Yes, but how much? A baby for sure might question why is it able to move certain objects while moving some are impossible for it and it alone (for the 'others' around it are able to move). Why is it that I am so small while the others are so biiiigggg. Maybe if I climb over a stool I grow taller? A million questions. But none of them bothers them. They just keep moving with their life.
Many of you might not know that a baby's visual zone spans only a few cms. That is, it cannot see beyond a few inches. Must be boring you think. But, it spends days and hours awake entertaining itself in this small zone. Moving, flapping its hands, legs. What exactly must it be thinking? About its career path? Next meal? Next outing? Quite puzzling, isn't it? And if there is some intrusion in its visual zone, say your face for instance, it might draw a smile/giggle if your face is good enough or funny ,or a wail/cry if otherwise. Fortunately I have drawn more smiles and giggles than wails and cries. The trick is not to get too close to it :-D
Their cry is triggered by the drop of your hat or even somebody's hat. They cry when they are hungry or too full, sleepy or as they get up from sleep, miss something, want something, their own inability, for this and for that. Fair enough. The only way they can communicate is by crying. So, fair enough. But what I don't always understand is when they cry without shedding tears. In other words, they mimic the crying without actually crying. They are intelligent enough to realize that crying accomplishes things and you don't have to cry to actually cry! And above all, they start crying if they see or hear somebody cry. If yawning is contagious to us, as we tend to yawn if we see somebody yawn or hear a yawn or even read the word 'yawn' (chances are that you might be yawning now :P), crying is contagious to babies! But, why? I think a sense of competition comes to them. Kids always try to attract attention and they have been trained that crying is the best tool for it. So, they never mind using it.
How difficult is it to catch a child's attention? What does it want/expect? If it is a baby, is it just a funny expression or rather a weird expression? I think babies start giggling when they see something that they don't normally expect to see. But, once they see it and giggle, they expect a repetition and are conditioned. Peekaboo, maybe is effective for this reason.Beyond all, I think even as we grow, we retain these basic attributes. Like, trying to attract others' attention and many many more. Perhaps, there is always a baby/child in us (think Parent-Adult-Child or Sigmund Freud). I am sure a lot of research is being done on how we carry over experiences as we 'grow up', though many don't grow up actually :).
But let me accept. Children, kids or babies can be extremely entertaining in short bursts but can also be extremely frustrating over long periods as every mother would realize. We always tend to see the former and enjoy. Only a 'mother' sees both sides of their gift. So, the next time you interact with a baby/kid try to 'get into its diapers' a little (for they don't always wear shoes :-P). And spare a thought for the mother of 'Dennis'!
Different studies have been done on how babies learn and a lot of research has been done, as google will show, and I can be sure that this will never be complete. Creation is a 'limit point' for the research 'sequence', an irrational concept (number) for rationals (numbers), the horizon for a voyager. We can only get closer and closer but will never 'reach there'. So, here is a peek at my own experiences and observations.
I have always enjoyed being around babies/kids. To me they represent purity amidst wickedness, calmness amidst commotion, clarity in confusion. Ever asked a kid a very intricate or complicated question? It will blurt out an immediate answer, nonsense/profound truth it may be. But, it is so obvious for the child. It needs no second opinion, no reservations, no approvals. For the kid, the answer is correct and it will resume/continue to do what it was doing. Yet the roles may reverse too - 'wickedness' in the face of purity (snatching its toy back from a younger one and letting it cry), commotion (that brutal, throat clearing, glass breaking cry) and confusion (why is it that mom has a biiiig piece of cake while I am thrown a morsel? Fair?). Because they constantly learn, they are constantly shaped by the environment. (I don't want to get into the argument of nature vs nurture. I believe it is a mix).
It is amazing to even try getting into the thought process of a baby. The first time it manages to hold and lift something, the first time it is able to squeeze something. We ignore these discoveries. We concentrate on the bigger and grander things, like its first few steps on its own, the baby beginning to flip over and hold its head. But the smaller things are too obvious for us. What will be our feeling when for the first time we are able to hold and lift something? We draw a blank. Joy? Yes, but how much? A baby for sure might question why is it able to move certain objects while moving some are impossible for it and it alone (for the 'others' around it are able to move). Why is it that I am so small while the others are so biiiigggg. Maybe if I climb over a stool I grow taller? A million questions. But none of them bothers them. They just keep moving with their life.
Many of you might not know that a baby's visual zone spans only a few cms. That is, it cannot see beyond a few inches. Must be boring you think. But, it spends days and hours awake entertaining itself in this small zone. Moving, flapping its hands, legs. What exactly must it be thinking? About its career path? Next meal? Next outing? Quite puzzling, isn't it? And if there is some intrusion in its visual zone, say your face for instance, it might draw a smile/giggle if your face is good enough or funny ,or a wail/cry if otherwise. Fortunately I have drawn more smiles and giggles than wails and cries. The trick is not to get too close to it :-D
Their cry is triggered by the drop of your hat or even somebody's hat. They cry when they are hungry or too full, sleepy or as they get up from sleep, miss something, want something, their own inability, for this and for that. Fair enough. The only way they can communicate is by crying. So, fair enough. But what I don't always understand is when they cry without shedding tears. In other words, they mimic the crying without actually crying. They are intelligent enough to realize that crying accomplishes things and you don't have to cry to actually cry! And above all, they start crying if they see or hear somebody cry. If yawning is contagious to us, as we tend to yawn if we see somebody yawn or hear a yawn or even read the word 'yawn' (chances are that you might be yawning now :P), crying is contagious to babies! But, why? I think a sense of competition comes to them. Kids always try to attract attention and they have been trained that crying is the best tool for it. So, they never mind using it.
How difficult is it to catch a child's attention? What does it want/expect? If it is a baby, is it just a funny expression or rather a weird expression? I think babies start giggling when they see something that they don't normally expect to see. But, once they see it and giggle, they expect a repetition and are conditioned. Peekaboo, maybe is effective for this reason.Beyond all, I think even as we grow, we retain these basic attributes. Like, trying to attract others' attention and many many more. Perhaps, there is always a baby/child in us (think Parent-Adult-Child or Sigmund Freud). I am sure a lot of research is being done on how we carry over experiences as we 'grow up', though many don't grow up actually :).
But let me accept. Children, kids or babies can be extremely entertaining in short bursts but can also be extremely frustrating over long periods as every mother would realize. We always tend to see the former and enjoy. Only a 'mother' sees both sides of their gift. So, the next time you interact with a baby/kid try to 'get into its diapers' a little (for they don't always wear shoes :-P). And spare a thought for the mother of 'Dennis'!
