Travel enlightens you and awakens you to the differences there are among us. When you travel your friends will call you "lucky". But as you are becoming aware of the bigger world around you and as you share your vision, you may hope that your friends will move forward with their own dreams. But the reality is that:
Some will hear, but not listen.
Some will listen, but not understand.
And some will understand, but not act.

Paul Simon wrote these words below and he and Art Garfunkel sang it to us in 1964, and today we still need to heed the words in this song.

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams, I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools," said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"

And whispered in the sounds of silence

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Child development and music

Some interesting ideas on child development and music, written by Robert Sylwester should be of interest to parents and grandparents of toddlers.

Stamm and her collaborators in the book, Bright From the Start demystify the scientific base of early brain development and the effect of currently available computerized gadgets and programs. They place personal parental contact into the center of the early developmental period. Their major point is that direct constant parental care is the most important need of a birth to age three child.

The book is organized around Stamm's ABC's of parenting: Attention, Bonding, and Communication. The chapters provide relevant non-technical information on the underlying science of each of the three concepts and its related elements, and a wealth of practical advice on how to enhance the development of the relevant biological systems. This includes information on useful resources, and helpful critiques of various (often-computerized) commercial parenting aids.

Attention is a requisite for any receptive or responsive behavior, and so much of our attention system is innate. Parents and other caregivers thus need to understand how attention functions, how to enhance it. Enhancing attention is defined by the authors, in terms of time span, distractions, and vacillations between active and passive attention. Many parents are currently concerned about the effects of electronic media on a child's attention capabilities.

Bonding is the strong emotional attachment that humans develop for selected others. Our species' survival requires innate and immediate bonding between infants and their parents, but the book also suggests deliberate tactile and other interactive activities that enhance the process. Many parents who work outside the home are concerned about the bonding issues implicit in the selection of an appropriate day care program.

Communication is the natural adjunct of bonding. The emergence of speech through the music of parents has been a delightful experience for parents throughout human history, and the joyful fascination we all have in observing language emerge in a child enhances the process. The discovery of mirror neurons provides us with an enhanced understanding and appreciation of the importance of modeling behavior in the early life of a child.

Communication and collaboration are essential in a social species. Humans use two basic forms of communication, (1) a personal intimate form called grooming or caressing that uses touch and body language to establish and maintain bonding and hierarchical relationships within the group, and (2) a more complex auditory signaling system that alerts others in the group to the nature, location, and importance of potential dangers and opportunities.

Human language appears to be the most extensive and complex of all these communication systems. Mastering one's native oral and written language is an extended major childhood task, and current school standards and assessment programs focus principally on the development of such skills. Unfortunately, we've narrowed our definition of language.

For example, most K-12 schools currently focus on mastering the sequence of letters that constitute a word but not also on the sequence of tones that constitute a melody, on the grammatical structure of language but not also on the structure of musical forms, on the ability to use writing and typing tools but not also on the ability to play a musical instrument.

It's not that music isn't ubiquitous in our culture—but it's become a one-sided message that emanates from stages, loudspeakers, and personal portable pods. We tend to listen to the music of others rather than create our own.

Music is important to children in all cultures and we need to embrace and celebrate the music in our lives and teach them music and a young age.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Nursery Rhymes - Lyrics, Origins & History!

As my grandson becomes older, I think back to when my son and daughter were young and the Nursery rhymes we used to read to them every night. As I thought about the rhymes I wondered if nursery rhymes were alive and well in the digital age. I found this site, which I thought was a great starting point for parents and grandparents to understand the lyrics, origins and history of the rhymes. I always found it more interesting to share this information with my children along with the poems. The site is Nursery Rhymes Lyrics, Origins and History and it is from the UK.

This is the introduction to the site:

The history and origins of most nursery rhymes reflect events in history and where available we have included both the meanings, history and origins of everyone's favourite nursery rhymes. Two examples of these types of nursery rhymes history and origins are 'Ring a Ring o Rosies' which refers to the Bubonic plague and 'Remember Remember' nursery rhymes which allude to Guy Fawkes' foiled attempt to blow up the English Houses of Parliament! Many of the words and nursery rhymes lyrics were used to parody the royal and political events of the day, direct dissent would often be punishable by death! Strange how these events in history are still portrayed through children's nursery rhymes, when for most of us the historical events relationship to the nursery rhymes themselves are long forgotten! Help us to maintain our history and heritage through the words and lyrics of old Nursery Rhymes online.

Saturday, July 23, 2022

Vancouver Town

Friday, March 15, 2019

Hello darkness my old friend

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Child development and music

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Nursery Rhymes - Lyrics, Origins & History!

This is the introduction to the site:

Boomer

My Time

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