RACE FOR PUBERTY - The irreversible phenomenon
Woman: Girls now seem to be maturing really early. They seem to be getting their first periods in class five and six.
Man: How does that happen?
Woman: I don’t really know. Usually it happens around class seven and eight. Even some of my friends had it in class six. I was so scared when it happened first. But I don’t really know what has changed.
The man contemplates…
HERE IS WHAT MIGHT HAVE CHANGED:
1. Large -> Small families. Earlier we had the concept of larger families. Children almost always had other children to play with. Houses had pets, families had cattle. Children could go around embracing the young goat or stroking the calf. They found the concept of a ‘child’, ‘young one’, ‘infancy’ meaningful when it was reinforced in the environment.
A few definitions that have changed to deprive the a child from his MEANING-
Joint Family -> Nuclear Family
Pets/Cattle -> Inanimate Toys
Our legendary Krishna is a parable of healthy childhood and if you can recall his infant picture with calves.
2. Expectations from parents to grow up ASAP. Parents now want their children to be responsible early in life. The West and East are close at heels. I remember my father bragging time and again about a double promotion he got as a kid, in his school. Why did he at all celebrate his double promotions? Who set the expectations?
The trend in India might have started around early fifties (or even earlier), with the first generation of kids growing up after independence. With a massive catching-up to be done to be at par with the industrialized nations, the vision of education fit in. Nehru set up the CSIRs, IITs and laid a system of education of future that could only become better. However, the need for education also ate into model childhood. The process had already started a few centuries back. Paris in 18th century already seemed to have established itself as noble gentry and hence the race for early adulthood (‘Old Goirot’, Honore de Balzac) and so had Petersburg and London etc. Three centuries later it’s a common thread across all cities over the globe. What remains are patches of suburbs and countryside and still in their backyard they talk about opportunities over a cup of kahwa. The thread has gotten sticky. A little social awareness and a young man from the villages catapults his way into the city life.
A child is taught to pick his heroes and role models by the profession he might want to choose in his life. That’s an early conditioning towards ‘START GROWING UP’ set of instructions. Parents even seem to correct the child if his role model doesn’t find parental approval.
A few years back I played ‘Mama’ (maternal uncle) to a new born in a custom where the infant feeds on rice for the first time and he is off suckling (called ‘Mukhebhaat’ in Bengali). I held the infant. A plate was brought carrying money, a bright yellow and red color pen, a toy, grains and other knick knacks (the child is picking up his future). The pen however was kept most accessibly and the infant did pick the pen up. No wonder the infant picked it up and the parents rejoiced at the prospects of child picking education over other things in life. That’s expectation being set right from day 1.
Conclusion: Children are only complying by maturing early. Puberty shall herald as the first time phenomenon shifting earlier and earlier until the hormones brought on are unmanageable for our children. He/She will act bitter and confused, not yet ready to handle it. As we witness the window of euphoric childhood reduced to the size and worth of a five rupee coin and children trading existence with their parents early in their lives, I think the dial needs to be turned a little backwards.
· More schools are needed for education for parents and children together (since we no longer have it at home)
· Plenty of pets are required around children
· Grandparents instead of a crèche*
· A reassurance – ‘Sweet heart, take as much time as you want.’
(*refer Desmond Morris, ‘The Human Animal’)
December 20th, 2009 at 4:11 am
I totally agree on the conclusion!
I guess the so called modern parents today,must realize how important it is to educate their children about sex,so that the kids do not get into doing things at the younger age. Right things at the right age!
Also,having grand parents around is such a wonderful experience. You feel much more secured with them being around even if your parents are busy with other work.This is something,which I have experienced and since I was very close to my grand parents I know how important it is to have them around.
December 20th, 2009 at 9:24 am
whilst i agree with your theory i wonder if cause and effect can happen so fast… would it not take generations? i do believe you have a point about the ‘missing out on childhood’, here in zambia i see it from a different angle (almost in reverse) the black girls (and boys for that matter) here develop physically (breasts, periods etc) much earlier than the white girls and i believe this has something to do with their background… the girls in the rural villages really have no childhood, they work in the fields as soon as they are big enough to hold a hoe, they have baby siblings to look after from an early age (Usually tied on their backs from age 5) and they usually are physically developed and having periods from the age of 11 or 12, sexually active from 13 or 14, married from 15 or16 and their own kids shortly afterwards. whereas the white kids have come from a background of more leisure and the girls usually only start to develop about 14 or15, so what i am seeing here is kind of what you are saying but in reverse. as the africans have left the villages and started leading ‘easier’ lives they start developing later. the black girls i see at school develop later than their counter parts in the village, but still earlier than the white girls who have had the ‘easier’ life for generations. what i am saying in a nutshell is that i agree with your theory but think it may take more time than a generation??
December 20th, 2009 at 9:46 am
I remember seeing an episode on NatGeo, somewhere in Africa. The mother of a ten year old girl-child administered hot iron to her breasts every day so they are contained from growing and beats puberty. The motive: keeping the girl safe from any sexual assault from the boys in the community. If puberty is so undesirable then what could be reasons for such an early puberty? Our biological clocks don’t change their gong timings without reason. Since you are around Zambia, can you think of a reason how it fits in their life (as in the village life?). Would you call such a community too primitive? What could the purpose be?
You also say that the black girls grow up much faster than their white counterparts…why are they required to grow up so fast? Why do they need to be carrying a small kid on their backs when they should actually be playing? What makes them play the role of an early mother and play it well indeed?
I. Brute life -> II. Evolved Awareness of Existence –> III. Urge for a quick climb up the social ladder
It might take more than a few generations to slow down…however , an ‘easier’ life is a must to ‘RESET’ ourselves. There you have answered it again. An ‘easier’ life is the key. The target could be, how do I have an easier life? Though the irony is that everybody (in III) is striving for the same WORD, with different definition for ‘ease’. In II, the definitions are not that misleading, III makes the interpretations wantonly chimerical. How do we agree?
December 20th, 2009 at 10:44 am
I believe that the reason for earlier physical devlopment here in rural africa is a direct result of both ‘hardship’ and ‘life expectancy’.
The average life expectancy of a rural woman here is 42 (and a rural man 40), so there is a ‘need’ to procreate earlier (especially as the average rural village woman here has to ‘fit in’ approx 6 children).
It is also out of necessity that there is seemingly no childhood for the average village child - life is hard out there in the village - no education, poor diets, limited health system, hard manual labour - there simply is no time for ‘fun’ with mouths to feed and so much work to be done. It is not uncommon for me to see an 8 year old girl, with a 2 year old strapped to her back, walking 2km to the nearest water point with a 25lt plastic container on her head; and you know when she has finished task, she will be sent to the field to hand weed an acre of crops! (I hasten to add it is the girls who shoulder the bulk of the manual labour here, it is far more common to see the boys and men sitting under a mango tree drinking!)
Re your comment on the mother trying to prevent the impending maturity of her daughter - I don’t blame her! sexual abuse is rife here. Unfortunately in a country with such a high HIV/AIDS problem there is a phalacy that sex with a virgin will cure a man of HIV, and so as to be sure that his ‘victim’ is a virgin, some men are going for younger and younger targets - I recently treated a two year old girl with gonorreah as a result of sexual abuse by her paternal uncle.
I can see no immediate and sustainable way to give these girls (and boys)an ‘easier life’, perhaps education is the answer? but from what you are saying in India education can perhaps be pushed to hard on a child… where I think education could give african children a childhood; perhaps ‘too much to soon’ on the education front in India could be denying those children their childhood - an unanswerable dilema?? - a balance must be found!
December 20th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Thanks Sarah…your response infact throws so much light on what happens in another part of the world that is far behind the developing nations. Indians take a note of the developed nations (and so do the other developing nations) but a nation hardly looks back at other nations trailing behind (that’s how life should be, ain’t it?). However in midst of questions lies indicators to what might be a social dilemma, like the unanswerable dilemma that you have hit. Who is to find the balance? A few days back I questioned Dr. Robert Epstein (drrobertepstein.com) if he thought there existed any education system in the world that he would classify as MODEL…and sadly he confirmed that there are none. Then I am forced to think that MODEL has so much of a local connotation attached. A two year old kid mauled sexually…a virgin cures AIDS…that’s their definition of education. We come back to the primordial question…how do we bring people in Zambia to realize that they are ALIVE?
December 20th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
dear shubham, education is the answer here in zambia, but not solely children’s education, we must educate all… men and women of all ages. but at the same time we must not be patronizing, we also have a lot to learn from the strength and endurance that can be witnessed in the people around us. when we speak of education we must also remember that it is not just ‘book learning’ that we must teach our children, it is ‘life skills’ and values - and these can not be found in books.
February 28th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I’m a little late in joining the conversation, but I’d like to point out that a physiological change like puberty is unlikely to be influenced by parent’s expectations.
The biggest cause of earlier puberty may just be improved nutrition (because people need to have a minimum % of body fat to be able to menstruate). A child growing up in today’s cities is simply more likely to eat 3 meals a day, and eat nutritionally dense food. Compare that to their grandparents who were more likely to be undernourished.
Some studies have also indicated that an early puberty in girls could be linked to chemicals in the environment. BPA (Bisphenol A) in plastics mimics estrogens, and estrogen drives puberty. Also, if cows are injected with hormones to increase milk production, these hormones could get passed on to humans.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puberty#Variations)
March 1st, 2010 at 7:53 am
Thanks Clech… and Milk is a primary source of nutrition…