Hugs for a Better Future

In lieu of recieving a newsletter from ZERO TO THREE, I spent a little more time digging on their website. I found something that resonated with the course readings this week. An article entitled "Why Hugging Your Baby is Good for the Economy". The article begins by once again addressing the importance of strong, supportive loving bonds in a child's life as the basis for health development. The author, Patricia Cole, discusses the protective benefits of a secure bond with a parent or caregiver, along with the advantages this bond has in later schooling. Cole also talks about stress and it's impact on a child's relationships with parents/caregivers. Citing Dr Edward Tronick's "Still Face Experiment", Cole reports that children faced with unresponsive or depressed parents/caregivers experience distress, and over time in a heighten state of distress, will emotionally shut down. (If you want a truly harrowing experience of what parental abuse and toxic stress at home can do check out "A Child of Rage".)

Here's the link to economy:
"The link should be clear: children in stressful environments whose close relationships don’t buffer hardships; to children without the social-emotional foundations of learning; to children falling behind in school; to adults with lower earnings power and greater health problems; to a workforce that can’t compete in the global economy." (Cole, 2012)

Cole goes on to explore options for supporting children's early relationships, and therefore their later workplace success and productivity, including: paid family leave; home visiting programs; high quality early care and learning programs; expanding Medicaid; mental health programs for infants and young children; and policies and practices that support maltreated children.

I have to admit that it breaks my heart a little that we can't do better by our youth for the simple sake of doing better by them. We are a nation (and perhaps a world) motivated by dollar signs. Nothing seems to be more important than the almighty dollar; the wealth it brings and the wealth it takes away. So having to set my altruistic side aside and 'chase the dollar' in terms of giving kids what they need for a happy and healthy start in life turns me a little green in the gills. But is seems that there's support for everyone here: humanitarians and economists (not that they are mutually exclusive). No matter how you look at it, giving kids their best start --at home and in EC programs-- is what's actually best. Best for the child, best for the economy, and (maybe) best for the world.