The Child's Emotional Nourishment

This is a new series of psychological studies of the child, begun by Miss Mayy Salman, a graduate of Beirut College for Women, who offers the readers of The Woman's Voice the cream of her knowledge in a fertile field whose researches widen in new directions every day. Miss Salman says in her introduction:

"I grew up with an inclination toward psychological subjects and social fields, especially those that treat of the mission of mothers in this East. Prompted by this desire, I directed my studies toward specialization in the subjects of psychology, particularly the stages of childhood. And it gives me pleasure now, in all modesty, to offer readers a first outline of the most important psychological observations that have caught my attention."

Psychologists say that the child's experiences in the first days, weeks, and months of his life are of the greatest importance in forming his emotional makeup, his physiological and social growth, and the building of his personality, so that he may become an active and responsible member of society.

Mothers in the East, and in some parts of the world, consider the stage of childhood less important than the other stages of a human life, because the child, in their view, is not capable of thought — and therefore it does not matter how we treat him or deal with him! Yet though the child is but a lump of flesh, he has his psychological, or emotional, needs as well as his nutritional needs. He needs love, tenderness, the feeling of inner security, and the sense that he forms part of the family and possesses an independent personality with its own place and its own respect.

If the parents work to satisfy the child's psychological and emotional needs, they smooth the way for him to grow naturally and securely, accompanied by a regard of respect and love toward his parents and his family and toward the world. But if the child's emotional needs are not satisfied, he soon feels the loss of this nourishment and perceives that the environment into which he has come is anxious, painful, and uncomfortable, and his hopes are disappointed. This disappointment shows itself in a violent reaction and abnormal behavior toward his parents, or toward food and drink — he will no longer take it of his own will, or will deliberately vomit it up after taking it, and so on through other contrary and abnormal acts — all to prove to his parents his unwillingness to go along with them.

Most mothers do not truly know that the child also has varied nutritional needs according to the stages of his growth and the measure of his want of them: such as his need of orange juice in the first or second month of his life, and his need to be given mashed fruits in the third or fourth month, and so forth. He needs all the basic nutritional elements that a human being needs at any other stage of his life — protein, vitamins, starches, minerals, and the rest — but in relatively different quantities; and the manner in which foods are given, their form, and the fitting time are of the greatest importance if the child is to obtain from them the desired result. They also have a potent effect upon his inner life, and leave deep impressions in the forming of his future eating habits.

It is the duty of mothers to make mealtime a time of pleasure. Eating is not merely a mechanical motion by which the child is given his required food. It has been proved that there is a firm bond between the child's emotional needs and his nutritional needs. Giving is not of full benefit unless heart and hand join together in offering it to the darlings of our hearts.