A “Special Report,” Fertile Minds, was published by Time Magazine in 1997. It echoed to the public of the time the shocking results of the 1995 multimillion-dollar Carnegie Commission study. “The first three years of life,” the report said, “lay the foundation for all that follows,” and “ideally this learning time should be spent with adults who offer nurturing love, protection, guidance, stimulation and support.” What happens to children in their first three years, the research emphasized, is extremely critical to their later life success.
The dramatic pronouncement at the end of this article was the call to action, “If parents and policymakers don’t pay attention to the conditions under which this delicate process (of child development) takes place (from birth to age three), we will all suffer the consequences — starting around the year 2010.”
Hmm, the year 2010 came and went relatively unnoticed. However, wait, just two years late r— oh my gosh! On December 14, 2012, one 20-year-old young adult (born in 1994) approached Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and randomly killed 26 people (staff and children). Sadly, this occurrence was one of the first of many mass shootings to follow.
Being deprived of basics and living in substandard conditions during the birth to three years are the true culprits. Abuse and neglect and variations of them wreak havoc across classes. All mothers mean well, but all need the same kind of support and guidance.
What can wipe out mass murders and other acts of violence? A parent program to guide all mothers of all children from newborn to age three. Research tells us that prepared mothers full of support and information are the key to well-developed teens and adults. Imagine, prevention, and not intervention, is the cure.
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