This past week I spent 3 days at Casa Shalom spending time with children and learning about orphans and how they tick. I want to share with you what impacted me the most this week; brain development of a healthy child vs. a neglected child. Look at these images comparing a “normal” brain vs. a neglected brain of two three year old children.
Read more about the effects of neglect HERE where I copied this picture from.
Think about all the ways you interact with a baby; holding them, rocking them, playing with their fingers, toes, hair, looking them in the eye, feeding them, talking to them. Most, if not all of the children that walk into the gates of Casa Shalom have experienced neglect. They don’t even really know what “normal” is.
I’ve been processing this picture of science for a couple days now. It’s so crazy to me that you can see physical evidence of neglect. Even a baby being deprived of eye contact can change their brain structure. This fact has compelled me more to love harder. If that’s even possible. To look each child I come across in the eyes. To have more patience with the little ones who don’t know what a healthy relationship feels like.
We were able to watch 10 1-2 year olds and a new baby on Thursday so the house moms could take a class on how to care for their children. There were 6 of us and 10 crawling, crying, screaming children running around. They all wanted our attention. I wanted to love all of them. I wanted to look each of them in the eye. I wanted to tell them all how special they were in what ever kind of Spanish I could muster up. Instead I worked at making one girl comfortable. She was emotionless after the house moms left. I sat and gave her attention, talked to her in broken Spanish, rubbed her back, and eventually got her to rest her head on my shoulder as she sat on my lap.
After learning all of this science it allowed me to understand a little bit of what they might be feeling. It made me want to love them even more. It compelled me to love.
Hold your little one a closer today, don’t take for granted the eye contact you get. It’s a treasure. It’s normal for your child to get sad when you leave them. Keep on loving.
