Reach Out and Touch

Pearl For Life; Family Yoga
Pearl For Life; Family Yoga

Years ago, while we were living in Eastern Europe, my husband took a trip with a friend to visit an orphanage in Bucharest, Romania. It was run by a few American women who felt compelled to love and raise just a few of the thousands of abandoned children whose parents couldn’t afford to take care of them.

My husband said that the eeriest part of his time at the orphanage was the silence. Absolute silence. The babies were silent, the toddlers too. Why? They had sadly been conditioned not to expect human touch. There were so many orphans and so few helpers that each child rarely got to be held for long periods of time, regardless if they cried for it. After awhile of living there, the babies got used to the reality that whether they cried of not, they would not likely be held.

They were fed, clothed and loved as much as was humanly possible by a few generous souls, but what they craved most was touch. They were emotionally stunted without it.

We are all emotionally stunted without touch.

Whether we realize it or not, we need human contact.  At Pearls For Life; Family Yoga we know how important it is to not only interact with your child, but to touch them. Yes we “touch” our kids all day when changing diapers, nursing, cooking while balancing them on our hips, loading and unloading them from the car seat, but do we truly touch them? The difference is that that touch is simply an everyday action in the midst of chores and confusion. That child is more than likely not all you’re attending to at the moment.

Through our baby yoga classes, moms/dads/caregivers are able to interact with their child or charge through touch, sight and sound. Family yoga provides moments or quiet and calm without the distractions of everyday life. With the soothing music, eye-to-eye focus, gentle movements and touch, you can truly connect with your child.

Connect and touch your child. Hold them in your arms in silence. Let them gaze at you without distractions. Build into their fiber the importance of touch and connection and then meet it, heart first.

Photo: www.deltadentalidblog.com