Of Love, Nurturing and Outliers…

Outlier by canardo
Outlier, a photo by canardo on Flickr.

In a culture where citizens and institutions emphasize work and accumulation of wealth, and where ascertaining the basic necessities of life cost a small fortune, all of us can easily descend into believing, and rather unconsciously, that lacking a trust fund in which to dip our fingers and secure these necessities, along with the various accoutrements society demands we provide our children–iphones, their own personal computer, ipads, ipods, televisions, designer shoes, etc–we lack what it takes to parent well.

And yet parents who possess tons of education and money to boot demonstrate no more adeptness at being emotionally and physically present than those with less of both factors.

Researchers at Brandeis University now link the experience of good health and mental well-being to the individual having received love and empathy from her or his parents during childhood.

The article, Mother’s Love Can Prevent Illness in Middle Age, displays psychologist and author of the study, Dr. Margie Lachman, concluding of their research that, “…poverty renders children more likely and at risk for developing poor health and various chronic illnesses, particularly during midlife.”

Simultaneous to uncovering this link, Dr. Lachman and others, also discovered adults who in mid-life, and despite the poverty that ruled their childhood, experience good physical and mental health.

A closer look at these outliers, if you will, brought Lachman and researchers to recognize the link between a mother’s love and expression of that love and how it affects the physical and mental health of the child experiencing this love.

Love and consistent nurturing underpins and forms the central foundation of all that a parent does and seeks to accomplish through interaction with her or his children.

What we do with our daughters, how we love and see them, reflections of the legacy of our and her ancestors, guardians of our immortality, conveys their sense importance and the value they bring to our lives.

And it is upon their recognition of importance and necessity in our lives that all our children, and especially our daughters can and will gain esteem, and develop a positive self-image that will sustain them through life’s hills and valleys, travails and joys, disappointments and triumphs.

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