“When you hold your baby in your arms for the first time and you think of all the things you can do and say to influence her or him, it is a tremendous responsibility. What you can do with the child can influence not only the child but everyone the child meets, not for a day, a month or a year, but for all time.”

Rose Kennedy, mother to some of the most influential men in American politics and finance.

While I don’t agree with the “all time” bit, she has a valid point that needs to be realized by every mother.

How you, family, friends, kindergarten and extended family treat your child determines its future as surely as genetics.

If we look back to history we find great men and women of both good and bad nature have been made that way by their parents, either through nurture or neglect.

Charles Manson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson corrupted girls of his mother’s age (18 to 24) to the extent of total obedience to him. They eventually committed the Sharon Tate and LaBianca murders and have spent their lives in prison. This was his revenge (maybe unconsciously) on his alcoholic, immoral mother who once sold him as a baby for a jug of beer. I wonder if she knew her parents or how they were treated.

Neglected childhoods are a regular feature of criminal’s lives and abusive parents invariably come from abusive homes themselves. Rose Kennedy was right about that.

So many parents are living with uncontrollable kids of their own making. This by no way means that every ‘bad apple’ had neglectful parents but it is the norm. Neglect can come by providing the material things but never spending time with the child. The inner needs of a child are much more important than the electronic baby sitters or status symbols. You are its parents and the child quickly learns who cares for it. If this isn’t you, the child won’t respect you when it needs help.

The child needs a sense of self respect, individuality and qualities that can only be given by someone the child loves. It’s a mistake to leave this education to anybody else.

A child without parental love and guidance is open prey to anyone who wants to show it a good time. They can find this with other misguided kids or adults who take advantage of their innocence. Without it many children will simmer in the belief that they are not worth knowing and end up in prostitution or self destructive mode via drugs and purposely anti-social behavior. Many actually want to suffer to punish their selves for being unlovable.

Aldous Huxley’s “Island” http://island.org/Huxley/ was published in 1962 but still has a following as a plan for the ideal family community. It describes an island where people share each others children to protect the children from the foibles and prejudices of their parents. It is controversial but we need to think more about alternatives if only to wake ourselves to the fact that they exist.

Surely you know of a family whose children could benefit from seeing a different family environment.

There is a danger that western society today is moving into a more insulated behavior pattern, cutting children off from interaction more than encouraging it. It is the wrong way to go. Understanding brings respect and love. Without interaction we can't understand.

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Last week, the 26/Jan/’07 issue of New Scientist featured an article about vaccination. In spite of the proven fact that being exposed to certain substances reduces the likelihood of various diseases, many people are still against vaccination.

The reasons seem to be from reading sensationalized reports of ill effects to outright conspiracy theories directed at emotions (children are involved) and political or religious enemies. Over-reactions are common where emotional content is involved and analyzing the facts has never been the forte of the general public.

The sensationalism of journalists compounds any viewpoint that will sell more publications and earn them a continued living. Lies are only a matter of transience as they feather their own nest.

Drops in immunization precede rises in illness. Surely that vindicates it. But scares about the amount of mercury in the preservative of many vaccines have proven to be baseless. It does not cause autism. (Does someone want to comment on that?) Even then, the preservative was replaced.

Remember the ‘evidence’ of false photos after the 9/11 attack? There are other falsehoods we all believe. I mentioned one concerning a blatant lie about the Koran in iqadult.blogspot.com but we don’t have the time to investigate everything. Most Christians wouldn't have a copy of the Koran so they accept it as truth.

A previous issue of the same magazine (12/Jan/ ’08) dealt with jobs and the types of ailments workers grew resistance to. Dairy farmers are less likely to get lung cancer. Cotton factory workers are less likely to get tumors of the lung or liver etc.

A way to get a greater amount of immunity is to expose your body to toughening agents or the ailment itself. This is what vaccination and immunology is all about. A spoonful of sugar may make the medicine go down but a dose of dirt may make it unnecessary.

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Autism was mentioned back there. Scientific American ran an article about it which you can check out here.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=navigating-the-genome-for-autism

It’s a bit technical but you will get the gist of the findings.

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All the best, Jay Ross.

© Tags autism, vaccination, children.