by Anthony Megna

Created on: May 12, 2008   Last Updated: November 25, 2011

Let's go all the way back to the beginning...

When a newborn baby leaves the birth canal a whole new experience opens up. The security the baby felt is now gone, and a wide open world awaits. The first impulse is to resist. The baby begins to cry. The baby does not begin to think how it can do evil to anyone and everyone around!

I have to believe that the innocence of the baby exists. One of the first instincts is to protect itself. The newborn really has no idea how to do this, except to scrunch up and cry. How can this be bad?

Does the newborn look for a gun or another tool to inflict damage on someone?  I think not. As the baby grows, it becomes more used to it's surroundings. Say that a favorite toy or blanket is taken away, again, the response is to cry. The babe does not start plotting revenge on that person for taking the favorite item.

Another issue is trust. The baby is very trusting to just about anyone or anything it encounters. When that trust is broken, crying usually is the result. As you can see, a lot of crying takes place in the first few years of life. This never happened in the womb! Trying to understand why all these complications happen keeps the baby's mind occupied for a good portion of the day. Why me?

We love the innocence of the child. Who could not? We were all born this way. Being curious is a sign of intelligence, and curiosity is normal for all babies. This is not bad, this is good.

A baby is not born thinking how it is going to grow up and rob a bank or commit crimes. Just because a baby will take what it wants, because the concept of money is alien, this is not inherently bad. It is there, so I will take it. The baby does not really think of the consequences of it's actions, that comes with learning and growth.

The parent is responsible for guiding the baby on a straight and true path as it grows. Bad parenting is going to warp the child into a beast that just doesn't care who he or she hurts. Bad parenting is responsible for most of the damage in society. It is a parent's duty to impart the difference between right and wrong to the child. To try and get the child to understand the consequences of it's actions is probably the most important thing a parent can do for proper growth.  This is where the concept of good and bad begins. If a child feels that getting what is wants by doing bad is not corrected by the parent, it will keep on doing that action.

Parenting is most important for what happens in this world. To teach the young good and evil, and to impart understanding is key for the child.

I wish every parent took more time and care for the child, and this world would be a much better place to live.

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