HYDERABAD: The Covid-19 pandemic has been a rude shock for each one of us, from every walk of life. Healthcare workers, businesspersons, the service class and mainly mothers, it has forced every human being walking this planet to pause and look inwards. Although many would say that this was long due, the journey of knowing the inner self has taken an unpleasant route.
While mankind struggles to stay on track through this journey and grapples with the unfathomable degrees of stress that comes with it, the most affected have undeniably been children. Children and the youth have simply been living life one day at a time feeling restless and extremely vulnerable.
This is a major concern across the globe — how to care for the kids of today who hold the key to the future. This very thought gave Dr Pari Plavi Mokkapati sleepless nights till about six months ago. “If you are aware of something, you automatically feel responsible. Everyone is suffering because of Covid-19. There’s so much stress, so much family dysfunction, and children are the most vulnerable amid this. In India, about 65-70% of the population is in the productive group, which means that they are all either about to have or already have children of different ages. That’s why there’s a dire need to educate parents on parenting,” says the former head of the Anatomy Department at the Osmania Medical College.
That’s how Dr Mokkapati rolled out the Parenting Educational Programme in May for Hyderabad-based The Heartfulness Institute — an organisation of volunteers that teaches people ways to de-stress through meditation and emotional detox. The programme comprises three components — medical, counselling and personal environment. It starts with addressing the basics of nutrition for the mother and child and delves into the higher values of life such as controlling thoughts and emotions to ensure a safe and lovable environment right from the foetus stage.
“There’s a lot that happens during pregnancy which we are not aware of. We think that it’s all about the baby’s weight, sleeping patterns and diet. That’s not all, it has other needs too. The mother’s fears, thoughts and emotions are constantly being transmitted to the baby. That’s why it is important for the mother to be relaxed, comfortable and healthy,” says Dr Mokkapati, who is also one of the directors of the Genome Foundation.
The programme, which also has doctors from the Pediatric Academy of Telangana on board, talks about how planning for pregnancy begins with choosing a partner. It teaches the youth how to take care of their body, mind and emotional status. All this is critical in the first two years, which is called ‘The First 1,000 Days’ (a WHO model on child development) — 270 days of pregnancy and 365+365 days up to the second birthday.
“This information has to be taken to the grassroots level. A rupee worth of input at this stage will get us returns worth crores. Any measures not taken now would cost us millions in terms of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and mental health problems. The entire fabric of the society will be damaged. As a family unit, community and nation we cannot afford to sleep over it. This programme is a step towards ensuring that we don’t bring crippled, unhealthy children into this world,” says Dr Mokkapati.
According to her, inside every child is a prospective parent. All the education on parenting should start off from the early stages; it’s a cycle. “Apart from what the child sees in their home, we want to give valuable inputs through this programme. This is all basic health education,” she explains.
Under the volunteer-driven initiative, doctors, nurses, counsellors and other Heartfulness volunteers have been holding sessions for high school and college students, apart from parents and grandparents, about general parenting guidelines. These sessions discuss genetic testing, ways of conscious parenting, how to have a joyful pregnancy, the importance of breast-feeding and gearing up for newborn care, among other topics. The idea is to make the youth understand that the body’s reproductive function comes with great responsibility. It is important to make them aware of this at that young age because that’s when they are forming relationships and their reproductive mechanisms are at the peak.
Dr Sairam Reddy, the co-founder of UrbanKisaan and director of The Heartfulness Institute, believes that meditation should be taught and practised from the preconception stage itself. “This helps the mother and the rest of the family to prepare mentally and spiritually. The mother’s mental situation, especially, is important because different thoughts and emotions release different hormones. Maintaining the hormonal balance in the body is crucial, which can be achieved by meditation and detox techniques,” he says.
Dr Reddy also stresses the need to avoid pushing kids into a competitive environment as this would only make them feel isolated. “Kids have their own world of innocence and it would be incorrect for parents to enforce their fears on them. Instead of forcing them to excel in the classroom, they should encourage them to compete with themselves,” he says. In conclusion, a child is the most precious gift of nature.It hurts to see one go off-track, says Dr Mokkapati.