A baby from the time he arrives into the world from his mother’s womb, he keeps striving for a rhythm all his life. Whether it is breathing, walking, eating, writing, cycling, playing different games, speaking and the list goes on. Trying to strike a balance is what we all keep working towards to only live in imbalance all our life! Research has shown positive associations between rhythmic abilities and cognitive abilities such as language, motor, and executive functions.

When a baby trying to walk would fall and look up to his father or mother, he would be looking for a cue about how he is feeling: “Am I ok? Am I hurt? Should I start weeping?” As a preschooler, most children always have temper tantrums every morning & have to be taught how to figure out their body is hungry. Invariably the mother would press his stomach and tell him it’s still soft, and this regular checking in between meals led to him asking himself when he started eating on his own. “Mumma please check my tummy if it’s still empty or I can have another pizza slice!”  As the child starts going to school, whenever he would yell at his dad or his mom, when he gets home from school or from the playground, all he needs is some help in sorting out his feelings about being excluded on the playground or maybe outcasted by his friends in the classroom. We should realize very early that as he would turn into a juvenile and if allowed to stay up too late watching YouTube videos, he would not be listening to his sleep rhythm, which is essential for a night of deep and peaceful sleep and in developing a long-term healthy sleeping pattern.

You would remember your child crying and he would just not stop and that is where the biggest learning was about creating predictable rhythms for him and tapping or singing a rhythmic jingle which has mostly been successful in calming a child. The only way children can move from a state of high anxiety and activation to a calmer state is through rhythm & hence the importance of creating a predictable rhythm in children’s lives which we all consciously or even unknowingly keep creating as the child grows. As children are naturally drawn to rhythm, we can effectively cultivate relationships, environments, and activities that will facilitate regulation and resilience. A few of these activities could be tapping, walking, running, or making him pray for everyone’s well-being just before he sleeps. In this case, the mother would invariably make the child do “OM” chanting and “Thank you god for giving me good health, happiness, trees, happy family ….” prayer just before he slept, and the practice continues.

For an observant father, nothing can be more enchanting than chronicling his child’s journey through the teenage years as he starts off once again when his son has just turned 6.

He has just hit a six and has turned out to be a right-handed tennis amateur in the last one year. Tennis has not managed to interest him as he struggles to make eye contact with the ball and hit it with his racket. As soon as the coordination happens, one can be sure that he will start enjoying the game. Having left behind the fear of being in the water, his regularity at school has only gone up. His curiosity has become all the more insatiable and he wants to know just everything and capture every sight through reality or imagination, both with open and closed eyes. One wonders how he has picked up various movements while observing his family members, teachers, and other children at school & in his colony, one of them being whirling which he starts doing on his own whenever he feels like. A child’s natural interest in his body has been an area of intensive study in child psychology. When his Naani (maternal grandmother) bought him a plastic binocular, he wanted to view his Pippi (penis) through it to know how far or near it gets! It’s hilarious how kids manage to design these games and that is where the mystery lies. Let us accept that our childhood was no different. This is the epitome of innocence of these unconditioned and uncensored minds.

About the Author

A graduate of the highly prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce; Jeevesh Gupta gave up his corporate career after working with top-notch companies like Reliance, Aircel, and GMR to venture into writing and social entrepreneurship. He debuted as an author with ‘White Skin Brown Mind’; a book about the interplay between Indians and foreigners coming to India. From being instrumental in bringing Extinction Rebellion to India to saving the 15000+ trees in the heart of Delhi, he managed to lead 3000+ youth to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He has spent 15+ years of his life with the visually impaired in India and abroad and working on saving planet Earth from climate change. He has recently co-authored a book on climate change titled: ‘A Green Day – Embracing Climate Action’ along with Prof. Anandajit Goswami & Mr. Chittranjan Dubey which has been published by Hachette India.