There is much more to child development than provision of basic needs

In a survey conducted in Kenya by Parenting in Africa Network (PAN) and whose results are contained in a 2013 report titled, “Skillful parenting and Moulding behaviour at an early age”, play and a warm, loving and stable environment ranked lowly amongst the most essential needs for child development with only 1% and 13% of respondents respectively citing them as essential. Only 13% of the respondents actively played with their children. Most respondents cited balanced diet and medical care/immunization as the most essential needs for child development. The study concludes that there is need for parents to understand and appreciate all the aspects of child development if they are to ensure holistic development of their children.

Whereas the importance of provision of basic needs cannot be understated, the consequences of lack of play, a warm, loving and stable environment coupled with parental involvement can be dire to the development of a child. Play is an essential ingredient for the motor and social development of a child. On the other hand, a stable environment and direct parent involvement in the upbringing of a child are crucial for the development of a secure attachment in children below the age of three. Attachment which is a deep and enduring emotional bond that a child develops towards a primary and consistent caregiver greatly influences the psychosocial and cognitive development of a child.

Although the finding of this study can be mostly attributed to lack of knowledge on development requirements of children, one cannot rule out economic and societal strains of modern day life as factors influencing the prioritization of these requirements. Knowledge alone does not automatically influence behaviour. The knowledge has to interact with an enabling environment in order for it to result in actual positive behaviour. A middle income urban parent will have to trade off spending time with their children with working extra hours to provide for the family. However, it’s worth noting the needs of the family may be misplaced if knowledge of adequate parenting is lacking. The parent could be working hard to provide for non-essential aspects like a luxury home or a holiday abroad at the expense of spending quality time with the children.

As for the low income families, it’s not much about having misplaced priorities but a genuine need to balance between providing basic needs for the children and providing other non-tangible needs like quality time. Couple this with the very likely lack of knowledge on adequate parenting and the trade-off heavily favours provision of basic needs at any cost, including relinquishing of children to well-off relatives or friends. Indeed, it’s a common practice for well to do members of a family or community to take in children from poor families using the lure of provision of basic needs and/or education. Although this practice is largely well intentioned and seemingly beneficial to the child, it’s both unethical and detrimental to the overall wellbeing of the child.

The inability of a family to provide for the basic needs of a child should be viewed more as an indication of the need to support the family rather than a reason to take away a child from them. In this approach, the well to do members of the family and community should strive to help the poor parents take care of their children. On the same breadth, child care providers should endeavour to create outreach programs to take care of the children from their homes as opposed to putting them in residential care. 

This approach coupled with more awareness creation and education on skillful and adequate parenting will go a long way in ensuring holistic development of all our children.