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The first five years of a child’s life
Posted by: Dr. Drew Edwards
Tags:
child development, early childhood, nuturing children, parental steward, parenting young children, Trust
Posted date:
September 22, 2009 |
No comment
By Glenda Anderson
The first five years are critical in a child’s overall development. Within this time frame, a child can embrace one of two realities: he/she grows up experiencing love and security and trust in his parents or he/she is not held and nurtured… he/she is placed in the arms of strangers who are not connected to him/her… his/her family is torn apart by rancor, insecurity, turmoil, abuse, alcoholism, divorce… he/she lives with step-parents in whom he/she feels no bond and step-siblings whose presence threaten his/her place with his natural parent.
If seeds of love, security, and trust are planted early, the child’s inner spirit is literally welcomed into life, which can be seen in his/her face. He/she is a child who knows within the depth of his/her being that he/she is cherished and wanted. The other type of child; however, like many of those who come to the Paul Anderson Youth Home, grows up with an emotional vacuum or hole in his/her heart, and by the time he is a teenager, that vacuum is filled with rage. That hole will be filled with something. Often that something is drugs, or sex, or food, or anything, that will seemingly cover the emptiness, but without love, security, and trust, that emptiness will remain. To be a diligent parental steward, you must invest into your child’s life. If you do this during the first five years, you will reap the dividends of that investment as your child goes through the difficult teen years.
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About the author
Dr. Drew Edwards
Dr. Drew Edwards is a behavioral health researcher, author, counselor, and the youth culture expert and consultant for the nationally syndicated reality television programs Ultimate Choice, and Real Girls-Real Life. In 2006 he founded ENNOBLE, Inc., a non profit educational foundation created to rescue teens and empower parents through the creative expression of Christian principles. His website, www.drdrewedwards.org, is a product of that mission. He has been working with families for twenty years. Dr. Drew was formerly Clinical Assistant Professor in the department of psychiatry and health behavior at the Medical College of Georgia. Previously he served as Associate Director of Psychiatry at the University of Florida. His appointment included program development, clinical practice and clinical instruction for psychiatric residents and postdoctoral fellows in the division of addiction medicine. Dr. Drew has published numerous peer reviewed and popular articles on parenting, behavioral health, addictions, depression/chronic illness and youth culture, as well handbooks for parents on childhood depression and self-esteem in children. He speaks at conferences and presents seminars throughout the United States on parenting, youth culture, teen sex, pornography, addictive disease and eating disorders. He also provides weekly parenting advice on 88.1 FM, The Promise, in Jacksonville and northeast Florida. He joined the staff of the PAYH in 2008.
Dr. Drew Edwards is a behavioral health researcher, author, counselor, and the youth culture expert and consultant for the nationally syndicated reality television programs Ultimate Choice, and Real Girls-Real Life. In 2006 he founded ENNOBLE, Inc., a non profit educational foundation created to rescue teens and empower parents through the creative expression of Christian principles. His website, www.drdrewedwards.org, is a product of that mission. He has been working with families for twenty years. Dr. Drew was formerly Clinical Assistant Professor in the department of psychiatry and health behavior at the Medical College of Georgia. Previously he served as Associate Director of Psychiatry at the University of Florida. His appointment included program development, clinical practice and clinical instruction for psychiatric residents and postdoctoral fellows in the division of addiction medicine. Dr. Drew has published numerous peer reviewed and popular articles on parenting, behavioral health, addictions, depression/chronic illness and youth culture, as well handbooks for parents on childhood depression and self-esteem in children. He speaks at conferences and presents seminars throughout the United States on parenting, youth culture, teen sex, pornography, addictive disease and eating disorders. He also provides weekly parenting advice on 88.1 FM, The Promise, in Jacksonville and northeast Florida. He joined the staff of the PAYH in 2008.
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