Thursday's child has far to go - the need for nurturing

“Thursday’s child has far to go” ~ Monday’s Child Nursery Rhyme

               Whenever I hear about children adopted from the Romanian orphanages, it makes me think of my wonderful Romanian cousins. Back in 1990 and 1991, four of my aunts and one of my uncles, as well as a cousin, went to Romania and adopted two or three children each, adding 13 children to my extended family. They are now all young adults in the United States. But that is another story.

               Around 2002, there was a TV show that had taken Romanian-adopted American kids whose parents were unaware of the reason why their children were unable to learn in school and why they had problems bonding with them. 

               The educators and doctors did tests on the children, who were by this time older, some in their early teens.  They even did MRI s and brain scans, etc.  On TV they showed the X-rays or scan pictures and the results were black spots on the children’s brain matter, caused by severe neglect and lack of affection and touch in the orphanages.  They explained that there was no way to reverse the effects of the damage. According to Dr. Michael Merzenich, this is not true.

               If the parents who adopted from Romania had been taught the things to do to help their children before age five, the children could have been helped. There would have been a chance that they could give them stimulation and rebuild brain cells to reverse the damage. But there is a window of time for brain neuron-mapping that should have been utilized. On the show, there were angry parents who complained that they were never told that there was something that they could have done to stimulate their children's brains and reverse the damage already done.

               My aunts and uncles seemed to naturally know how to nurture their Romanian children, who fared much better, overall, than the average Romanian adoptees. We all come from a heritage that cherishes children and strives to give them a solid foundation in a loving home. I am grateful for my grandparents and great-grandparents who knew that children need comforting and being held, and not to "self-soothe," which is a terrible practice. I consider myself lucky to be born into the family I was, whose great examples of love and parenting have been passed on to each successive generation. Most of my Romanian cousins are leading successful lives, thanks to the love and care of my aunts.

               Have you ever wondered when the brain's neural foundations are "set" or permanent? Well, according to Dr. Michael Merzenich, neurosurgeon and founder of Scientific Learning, they never are. Even adult brains have plasticity, and he has proven it. More on this discussion later.

http://thegodfreymethod.com