JOURNEY OF LIFE
Early Years & Childhood
Nurture during the formative years
Learn what the Sikh Dharam teaches about the early years of life
A spark of the Divine
In Sikh teaching, the birth of any girl or boy, from whatever background, is a precious event. We are all born with equal dignity as sparks of the Divine. The Mool Mantar, or root prayer, describes the source of this spark as God – a creative power and timeless wisdom that is without fear and hate. A newborn reminds us of this same potential that lies within us.
Every unique baby has a biological heritage that goes back thousands of years, through its DNA. He or she also carries imprints from the experiences of our travelling soul, from across lifetimes. As they welcome a newborn, Sikhs are conscious that the new arrival is also mysteriously an ‘old soul’.
Entering the world, with a fresh and profound capacity for learning, children observe, interpret, and learn patterns and reactions from people around them. By doing so they can take on the traits and values of the surrounding world. If we are receptive, we can enable them to express the latent qualities and virtues that stem from the Divine light within
The first three years
The first three years are an intense period of growth in a baby’s brain. In this time the networking of the brain’s synapses is nearly complete, making it a unique and precious opportunity for parents and caregivers to provide stimulation and exposure to meet the baby’s innate desire to learn and be loved, and to lay the foundation for enhanced future learning. Since infants prefer the human face, voice, touch and smell they benefit immensely from close human interaction and communication over toys, to enhance curiosity, attentiveness, concentration and love of learning.
To stimulate learning, parents and caregivers can do a number of things. They can provide plenty of unconditional love and be responsive to the infant in many different ways. They can actively talk, read, sing and play music, interacting through touch and encouraging playful imitation. They can also let the infant experience different surroundings and safely explore different textures and temperatures. Since babies were massaged in the womb due to the mother’s general movements, during pregnancy, they thrive when they continue to receive massage once born.
For their own wellbeing, mother’s should look out for the ‘baby blues’ or postnatal depression due to chemical changes in the body. Whether you choose to breastfeed or bottle feed your baby, the goal is good nourishment. At six months, the baby can be introduced to solids.
A spiritual blossoming
In Sikh teaching, the purpose of childhood is linked to the purpose of human life. It helps us to spiritually blossom, with the world as our classroom. If ‘Sikh’ means learner, the ‘Guru’ brings illuminating wisdom. For Sikhs, the Guru is the light of the ten Gurus who founded their faith, the ‘shabad Guru’ or message of the teachings, and also ‘ Waheguru’, the formless source of wisdom, deep within us and beyond us – our infinite Creator.
As a child, Guru Nanak would observe the world of adults with fresh eyes, noticing how school, working and religious life could become spiritually hollow and shallow. Without awareness of Naam, the resonance of eternal wisdom, even the learned elite remained limited in their thinking and easily fed by arrogance. Travelling far and wide, Guru Nanak saw how hypocrisy and greed led to many daily injustices, much suffering and a lack of hope. He established a way of life to empower ordinary people with wisdom and virtue, by inspiring ways to creatively, hopefully, lovingly, courageously embrace the gift of life, in a spirit of human kinship.
By using playful imagery, metaphors and practical humour, Guru Nanak made people think deeply and differently about shaping the world for the better. In Sikh teaching, a mother’s hope and prayer is that a child may grow to be ever-conscious of the Divine, to love wise company and lead a life of devotion and commitment to joyfully flourish in this world
A complete education
Humans have a remarkably long childhood compared to other animals. This extended time allows for exploration and learning and establishes the architecture of the brain for future years. As adults, we also grow by learning to associate and provide for children.
Childhood education has been designed around equipping pupils for the future – be it to work and study, to be par t of society. By seeing each child as unique, a good education can also help them discover and develop their gifts. It is also a means to transmit culture. The Education Act states that all maintained schools must promote the ‘spiritual, moral, social and cultural’ development of their pupils. This recognises that, beyond knowledge and skills, education vitally fosters values and attitudes that can be regarded as precious and sacred for human beings to collectively flourish.
Studies have shown that learning happens best when a child is free of stress, anxiety and fear. Such emotions interact with the limbic system and impede learning. Other factors that contribute to good learning include: social interaction, opportunities to teach others, making mistakes, avoiding information overload and having novel experiences.
A sacred parental duty
Many religious traditions recognise the parental role as a sacred duty, to raise and educate the life gifted to them. In African education philosophy, the wider family and community also play a role in forming the ‘village’, as a base to provide love, care, safety for the child, as well as inspiration and instruction. ‘Ubuntu’ means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. It makes us conscious of our humanity to others.
In Islamic teaching, to provide children with love, kindness and respect reflects God’s merciful nature. Alongside a worldly education, scriptural learning and moral discernment are emphasised, through understanding the consequences of our actions and accountability for our behaviour. Because young children are seen as pure, they cannot be unduly scolded and regard should be given to the role-modelling and the environment around them.
In Sikh teachings, parents are described as the first Gurus, or teachers, for the child. As such, the education they provide, both formally and informally, should be thoughtfully considered.