Natural Laws of Development - A Note

                       Nature has its own arrangement for all living things. All we need to do is to follow nature’s trail. If nature is altered or tampered with, we have to face serious consequences. Great philosophers have researched that other educational systems do not abide by the laws of natural growth, which result in indolent, exhausted and fed up children. We should neither be stern nor be compassionate in handling children. We just need to practice a new approach towards child education, which paves way for “Natural growth or development “. This can be seen in plants, animals as well as humans.

                   Plants have their own strategy for development. For example, we shall consider a single germ cell growing into a huge tree without depending upon the mother tree. We can also think about a beautiful flower blooming from a small bud, which later becomes a fruit and ripens fit to be consumed. We are now persuaded by this example that an organism develops under our eyes at a programmed period of time.

                   Talking about animals, they too have natural plans for their evolution and development. Let us now regard the development of a chick from the hen’s egg. The mother hen lays eggs in a sheltered and secure place. It makes sure to provide safety and warmth for the eggs by sitting on them and watching it. The embryo inside is only the miracle worker, which develops slowly under the mother’s warmth. The love and care of the mother hen for three full weeks enables the eggs to hatch. Out comes the tiny chick with already fully developed legs walk and bright little eyes to look around.

                   Yet the motherly duty of the hen is not entirely over. She protects her chicks under her wing and teaches them other survival activities. Here, we can see that the mother’s job was only to lay the eggs and help the eggs to hatch. But she cannot claim that she has made the legs or eyes or the softness of the skin which were formed inside the eggshell itself. It is now obvious that it is an apparent task of Self-Activity of the organism, or the chick in this case.

                   Now, it is beyond doubt that growth and development through self-activity is an exact miracle of nature.

                   Let us see about the development of the baby now. A child has great rational and productive energy as he was incapable to move or speak during birth and later on he absorbed the characteristics of his surroundings and shaped himself into an ideal human.

                   A child is undoubtedly blessed or showered with abundant powers, which guide him, and the extraordinary psychic force inside him helps in the development of his intelligence. We need to consent with Dr Maria Montessori, where she quoted “ A Child is the Father of Man “. The power, intelligence and the knowledge, which an adult possesses, is not made by his Parents but by the Infant who transforms him into a Man. Here the Infant’s task was nothing – but to grow.

          A mother cannot say that she had designed or created the parts of her child’s body. In fact, the child has evolved himself. The mother’s part lies only in giving birth and the child utilize his own potentialities to grow himself to reach the capability of an adult.

                   Considering all the above facts, we can summarize that every organism follows nature’s allotted part of self-development and growth, as to what should be done, when and how. Also, we agree that during this period, it is highly impossible to interfere in nature’s force. For example, when a child is in the course of walking stage of development, he overcomes all obstacles that prevent him from walking. Just imagine a child who is busily trying to climb the stairs with great endeavour  If we stop him by carrying him back to his nursery, he makes grave constant efforts to climb again. He does not feel exhausted or bored. If we put a chair to block the stairs, he finds a way by either climbing upon the chair or crawling underneath it to reach his goal.

                   So, we should never obstruct a child’s pursuit for Self-activity. He should be given enough sovereignty to develop WITHIN THE LAWS OF NATURAL DEVELOPMENT.