The child is father of the man...

In yesterday's posting, I mused about the preschool childhood years and how today's parents might want -- for their child's sake -- to spend more time with their preschooler instead of packing him or her off to one enrichment class after another.

A letter from a TODAY reader, Ng Woon Yang ("Childen under pressure...", 21 Oct, page 24), shares a similar concern about overwhelming the young child:

"Almost every child I know up to the age of 10 is attending some form of enrichment lessons or training, in addition to the usual school commitments. Instead of attending kindergarten from the age of five, as in the past, children as young as six months are being exposed to enrichment programmes.

"This is an additional financial burden for parents. But what becomes of those who are unable to afford such additional education? What becomes of those who choose not to send their children for such activities?

"It makes me wonder if our mainstream education system is no longer capable of nurturing our children. Do those parents realise they are creating a vicious circle of even more parents trying to ensure that their children beat the system?

"Children today are growing up at a breakneck pace. I see this with my nieces and my friends' children. They have no chance to explore, to play in an uninhibited way or to develop their own inclinations for arts, sports and so on.

"They are not allowed to experience failure. How then do they learn to recover from one, when it is no longer just a paper chase? Did past generations of Singaporeans grow up in such a way? This phenomenon is deterring me from having a child of my own."

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I guess it would be easy to tell this letter writer to go ahead, have your child, and just don't follow the crowd. But that would be insensitive on my part.

But the letter led me to recall the idiom, "The child is father to the man". Essentially, this is the belief that the adult person's personality and attitude to others and to life generally are to a great extent shaped by his or her childhood experiences. This idiom is from a short poem by William Wordsworth. Here's a link:

http://proverbhunter.com/the-child-is-father-of-the-man/

"My heart leaps up when I behold", by William Wordsworth
My heart leaps up when I behold
              A rainbow in the sky:
          So was it when my life began;
          So is it now I am a man;
          So be it when I shall grow old,
              Or let me die!
          The Child is father of the Man;
              I could wish my days to be
          Bound each to each by natural piety.