N
Nara
Guest
Folks, I want to share with all of you, especially couples with young children, the following interview of Canadian physician Dr. Gabor Mate by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.
Dr. Gabor Maté on ADHD, Bullying and the Destruction of American Childhood
I wish you will take the time to read the entire transcript, or even better, listen to the interview.
This is about latch-key kids that Shri Sangom was talking about sometime back. In our busy life and career, there is a tendency to overlook some basic and important concerns. What is happening in the west now is on its way to India in ever increasing speed. There was a time in the U.S. when divorce was as rare as it was in India a generation ago. Since then, the world has shrunk and it does not take very long for what is happening in the west to reach India. In as much as Brahmins are more educated on the average and are likely to be more forward looking, these changes are more likely to be experienced by them earlier than others. So, IMO, it is important to look at the research being reported in the west so that our own brothers and sisters can learn from the mistakes of the west. As they say, knowledge is power. Look at what the social scientists in the west are saying. It won't hurt you any, and if anything, will only help you.
Just a few excerpts to whet your interest.
Dr. Gabor Maté on ADHD, Bullying and the Destruction of American Childhood
I wish you will take the time to read the entire transcript, or even better, listen to the interview.
This is about latch-key kids that Shri Sangom was talking about sometime back. In our busy life and career, there is a tendency to overlook some basic and important concerns. What is happening in the west now is on its way to India in ever increasing speed. There was a time in the U.S. when divorce was as rare as it was in India a generation ago. Since then, the world has shrunk and it does not take very long for what is happening in the west to reach India. In as much as Brahmins are more educated on the average and are likely to be more forward looking, these changes are more likely to be experienced by them earlier than others. So, IMO, it is important to look at the research being reported in the west so that our own brothers and sisters can learn from the mistakes of the west. As they say, knowledge is power. Look at what the social scientists in the west are saying. It won't hurt you any, and if anything, will only help you.
Just a few excerpts to whet your interest.
- ...the way we raise our children today in this country is increasingly depriving them of practices that lead to well-being in the moral sense. What is really going on here now is that the development of conditions for healthy childhood- psychological and brain development- are less and less available.
- The child’s brain development depends on the presence of non-stress, emotionally available parents.
- ...it never used to be that children grew up and stressed, nuclear family- that wasn’t a normal basis for child development. The normal basis for child development has always been the clan, the tribe, the community, the neighborhood, the extended family.
- .... a massive problem of motivation because the dopamine is lacking in the brain. Now the stimulant medications elevate dopamine levels, and these kids are now more motivated. They can focus and pay attention. However, the assumption underneath giving these kids medications is that what we’re dealing with is a genetic disorder, and the only way to deal with it is pharmacologically. And if you actually look at how the dopamine levels in the brain develop- if you look at infant monkeys and measure their dopamine levels, and they are normal when they are with their mothers, and you separate them from their mothers, the dopamine levels go down within two or three days.
- normal human development demands- as normal mammalian development demands- the presence of nurturing parents. Even birds. Birds do not develop properly unless the mother and father bird are there.
- studies in the States have shown that children in the kindergartens have higher stress hormone levels than those kids at home. Except in those day cares where there is a decent adult-to-child relationship. Parents should not encourage sleep-overs and play-dates all the time. Kids have already spent all their time with together all week in the absence of the parents, because both parents have to work, especially in this economy.
- Then we have to learn how to teach kids discipline without punishing them. Because punishment drives the kid further away from the parent.
