The capacity of parents and good environmental conditions will allow a child to grow and develop optimallyJakarta (ANTARA) - Children’s mental and emotional states are among important indicators of the success of parental efforts toward their growth and development, the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) has said.
"The capacity of parents and good environmental conditions will allow a child to grow and develop optimally," the program officer for programs and activities of the stunting reduction expedition secretariat at the agency, Lucy Widasari, said on Wednesday.
The first environment a child knows intimately is the smallest unit of society, which is that of a family, she added. Afterward, they gain lots of additional life experiences through school and playmates, but they are less intense in comparison.
"The family is the main place for a child to (get) education, improve the child's (traits) and establish their (standpoint) through (good) quality care," she said.
The measures taken by parents impact their psyche, she pointed out. Wrong parenting methods have often been identified in Indonesian families, for example, the practice of forcing children to eat by issuing threats.
This could frighten and force a child to obey. However, in truth, parents' attention during mealtimes should serve as a way to improve intimate relations with a child.
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Another parenting mistake is to only talk about a healthy and balanced diet. It dismisses the most important thing from eating: the right amount of nutritional intake for children, Widasari said.
The emotional closeness built by a mother with her baby through exclusive breastfeeding for six months also affects the baby's social intelligence later in life, she added.
"Breastfeeding as in (actual) breastfeeding. This is different from giving pumped breast milk because there is a bonding or emotional closeness created between mother and baby, and, of course, it affects the social intelligence of the baby. Then, there are hormones (produced) through skin-to-skin contact, which affect the mother's parenting behavior," she remarked.
Through exclusive breastfeeding, strong maternal empathy can be instilled, babies become calm and feel safe, they form immunity through exposure to good bacteria found in the mother's skin, and it also helps prevent stunting in children in the first 1,000 days of life.
"We also know that in the latest (findings), the first contact with the mother's microbiota--whether from the vagina, breast milk, mouth, or skin--also determines the maturity of the baby's intestines, and, of course, this affects health, both in the short and long term," she added.
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Translator: Hreeloita D S, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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