A Call to Conscious Evolution:

NURTURING EDUCATION: Our children should be nurtured by compassionate, understanding, non-judgmental individuals whom are inspired by teaching and whom are paid well to do so! The BIGGEST problem we have today (as I see it) is that parents and grandparents and other close family do not play the same role in raising children as they once did, and raising a child has been replaced with babysitting. "It takes a tribe to raise a child" is true, if you want the job done right. Day-care centers, nannies and babysitters are a terrible substitute. At very least these facilities should be nurturing and intellectually stimulating, yet they are typically just meant to keep children "entertained" in the easiest way possible. Children are spending most of their waking hours with little more than babysitters - they are not properly nurtured, their abilities are not embraced and little interest is paid to who they are or what their talents are. Children are graded on regurgitation and how well they can mimic, so they are being trained just to do what is told and repeat what others do. Any brilliance they have is their own responsibility to recognize, embrace and nurture, and this is far too large of a responsibility for most children, who are easily discouraged by insults and neglect. Interacting with, embracing and raising our children needs to become our constant and permanent top-priority. The period of development is the most critical age to sculpting a child's potential and to solidifying a balanced emotional and mental state of being - I believe that the rapid increase in serious childhood mental and health conditions is almost entirely a result of the way that we live our modern lives - from processed food to babysitter public schools. It is the children who are most critical. All of us know that childhood is the most sensitive time to shaping personality and intelligence and competence and every other important aspect of development. By the time we stop babysitting children - keeping them entertained so that parents can work - nearly all of their vital aspects, from personality and emotional disposition to all of their abilities - have solidified and will be far less subject to change for the rest of their lives. Any nurturing we can give to children of ANY age: to feel proud of themselves, to get out and enjoy nature, to learn about science or history in a way that is entertaining and engaging, to dabble in art and music, or to explore their natural interests will come back to the world with a multiplying factor too large to even try to quantify. I also feel that the positive effect of this nurturing is likely to have the greatest impact with lower-middle income families and below. It seems to me that there is often a correlation between how much income a family makes and the amount of nurturing interaction the children will receive. Families where parents have to work multiple jobs and single-parent families are probably most in need of nurturing support for their children. As a small side note, there are also probably many parents out there who are completely uninformed about proper parenting techniques and could REALLY use some instruction (e.g.: Brintey Spears who put her baby on her lap in the car when she was driving). It seems to me that perhaps the most cost effective way to reach the most incompetent parents would be to have a parenting channel on TV. Yes, it is sad that it would come to this, but it's already there. Whether it was funded by advertising like regular TV or publicly funded (the former is probably better) - it would help disseminate important knowledge on parenting like "hitting or biting your child back is NOT a good way to show them not to hit or bite" I hope my thoughts help. -MCRH