Each of us dreads when a doctor or school staff will talk about our child’s health or academic performance in this way: “Nothing is possible now. However, if you’d come a year or two ago, we would have been able to tell you what you could do to prevent this outcome.” To avoid that moment in the future, let’s try to understand just one step today, which can help our children and us. Before that, however, it is important to listen to the story of a living legend from South Asia, Kishore Mahbubani.
Kishore Mahbubani’s family migrated from Sindh to India at the time of partition and then to Singapore, where Mahbubani was born. He is a renowned scholar of human development and international diplomacy. In diplomacy, Mahbubani represented Singapore as a career diplomat for 33 years. In a world dominated by European and American influence on global development, he champions the contribution of Asia and is frequently invited to speak on this topic by the world’s top universities.
Kishore Mahbubani has written several books on the role of Asian countries in international development. In 2005, he was included in Foreign Policy’s leading 100 public intellectuals in the world and, in 2009, among the 50 individuals enlisted by Financial Times who would shape the discourse on the future of capitalism.
In his childhood, Kishore Mahbubani was similar to the forty percent of Pakistani children—weak and malnourished. Lucky for him, when he went to school at six (Singapore was still a poor and developing country then), he was weighed on a machine before being sent to the classroom. His weight was low for his age. So, he was sent to a room where all the weak children were given milk. Every day, Kishore was fed milk and then sent to the classroom. This feeding continued until the boy’s weight became equal to that of a normal child.
The seemingly simple move of feeding before education has two benefits. First, it makes the body healthy, which is essential for mental strength. Second, it provides psychological support to the child both in and outside the home environment, maintaining an air of love and affection. If regularly done, especially in the early years, the brain cells absorb nutrients and grow. Not only do they grow in size, but they also feel a positive energy within themselves. This energy enables the brain cells – also called neurons – to reach out to other neurons, make connections, and have conversations. In the real world, we call this conversational process of neurons the “intelligence” of a person.
So, if you are the parent of a young, pre-school, or school-going child (especially a girl), then first, you must ascertain that your child’s growth is age-appropriate. Don’t just go by guesswork, as estimates of children’s weight and height can be inaccurate. Weigh them on the machine and check with the child’s doctor whether the weight is appropriate according to the age and weight chart. This chart is available at any clinic or hospital, both private and public, and it is essential to weigh the child at appropriate intervals and compare it with the chart. Weighing and insisting the doctor or nurse about the chart may seem a hassle, but it is the most important duty of a parent and the best expression of their love.
After checking the weight, the next step is to take care of the child’s diet according to age, along with ensuring a loving and disciplined environment. If the child’s health and weight are good and appropriate for their age, continue with the same diet. If the weight is low, change the diet according to age and a health worker’s advice. The two actions, i.e., taking care of a healthy diet and expressing love while also following discipline, makes the child aware that the people love and care about them—enough for a child to keep moving on a positive trajectory.
If you don’t have young children in your home, you may find them in the extended family. Also, look around for your employees’ children and the servants working in your home or office. You can make a great contribution if you can identify and support even a single child deprived of food and parental attention. Find a child who can come to your house, have a glass of milk, and some opportunity to play, and you have DONE it.
In political speeches and party manifestos, when we hear that 40 percent of children are malnourished, the problem turns into a number that we easily forget. If we look around, we find the human face of this problem— in the form of a boy serving at a tea stall or a pale-looking young girl peeking from the lap of a working maid. For such children, small but sustained actions are required. It is these small actions that will make our future beautiful. And if we don’t do this, we will keep listening to the same statement of forty percent of children being malnourished. The number may grow further with every successive generation.
With a glass of milk, Singapore – a developing country like Pakistan in the 1950s – is one of the world’s most developed and prosperous countries today. The mortality rate of children is close to zero, and the average age of men and women is 84 years. World’s fastest internet and lowest corruption is in this country. It ranks among the highest in the world in terms of education, health facilities and quality of life and is consistently among the top five regarding individual and collective prosperity.
Small steps in the right direction, continued with persistence, change the destiny of individuals and nations.
