Dear Editor,
I want to respond to an article that appeared in the FAMILY
SECTION some weeks ago by Rabbi Zobin, "The Feat of Walking"
(P' Truma). In it, it was claimed that not crawling can cause
difficulties in learning to read.
As the grandmother of a ten-month-old child who stands but
never crawled, as well as a teacher of English in a school
for Special Education, I took a special interest in this
article.
I spoke to many women, some whose children didn't crawl. Some
also said, "I never crawled." No one agreed with the idea
expressed in the article, and I can say with authority that
most children who arrive in Special Ed. classes unable to
read either in Hebrew or English simply haven't been taught
properly.
We are all familiar with R' Preida's experience in teaching a
student 400 times till he mastered the subject. And then
there is Mishlei: "Educate the youth according to his
way." And finally, from R' E. Tauber's Tape #1457, his
admonishment to keep secular thinking out of our midst, for
even one drop is poison.
I cannot imagine that Jewish mothers for thousands of years
went into a panic if their child didn't crawl, and I see no
reason to put fear into young mothers today because this, by
itself, will hurt their children's development.
Marjorie Ahuvi, Bat Yam
YOUR EDITOR REPLIES:
It was not R' Zobin who stated the above, but myself, who
added the editorial comment in brackets, from a reliable
source. Having raised a brood ba'h, I dutifully went
to Tipat Chalav child health centers and was very impressed
by most of what I heard by the professionals. Not all. A
physiotherapist by the name of Dorit Gil, I believe, told me
this, and she has since, become a major authority on child
development to the point that her book has become a manual on
the subject.
According to her, and documented others, a child who does not
crawl will not necessarily develop difficulty with
reading, but certainly is missing out on a very important
stage in hand-eye coordination development, while one who
does have difficulty reading MAY, in all likelihood, have
missed out on it since there is a definite, proven
correlation.
So one must not panic if the baby is not crawling, but on the
other hand, one must not encourage a baby to sit and stand
when he is not ready for it! To wit: infant `walkers' which
were once so popular are now anathema.
If you will recall the period when `patterning' was
considered the cure-all for brain damaged children, it was
then believed that creating the pattern of crawling in these
children's brain would provide the needed transitional step
for them to progress onward in every area, since it was so
vital.
I have been a spectator of therapeutic exercise classes (Uri
Michaeli) for learning disabled children and have seen the
instructor very often have the children simply CRAWL,
backwards and forwards, to create these vital brain
patterns.
RE: ARTICLE ON KIDS AT WEDDINGS (P' Behar)
From D. Shain:
From my experience with a large family and many blessed
simchas, boruch Hashem, I'd like to add some tips:
Our grandchildren were simply thrilled to get their
peckele, long before the adults actually sat down to
eat. It consisted of rolls with cold cuts, sometimes actually
prepared at the event (usually a bris). Add a bag of
potato chips and a drink -- mammash heaven. In our
case, we informed the parents in advance, as well as the
caterer, that children up to ten would not be getting a place
setting, and this saved considerable money.
LEFTOVERS
At each catered event, we had the hostess stipulate in
advance that the leftover food be packed to be taken. The
caterer does not usually mind doing this, but there should be
someone on hand - preferably not the hostess herself, who has
more important things to do - to see to this towards the end
and to ascertain that there are containers for the food.
There is usually some macher in the family perfectly
suited for this supervisory kind of job. Leftovers can come
in very handy for sheva brochos, for the young couple
itself to have in their fridge, for subsequent festive meals
for the bar mitzva family, like the seuda with the
boy's friends etc. and for easier meals later on.
PLACE CARDS
We found it very appreciated by the various groups who found
table cards ready for them. Abroad, it is customary for each
person to be assigned a table. In Israel, seating is
completely informal, which, as Mrs. Hall pointed out, has its
pros and cons.
However, if you have family and friends coming from out of
town, they will certainly appreciate finding a table marked:
Haifa, or Tzefat etc. If the mother is part of a staff, or
volunteers in some organization, her colleagues will be happy
to sit at a table marked: YATED STAFF, TEACHERS AND STAFF,
BIKUR CHOLIM ORGANIZATION or FRIENDS OF THE KALLA, COUSINS
FROM THE COHEN/LEVI SIDE etc.
Someone from the family suited for the job can supervise
politely, from time to time, that these designations are
being honored. Of course, someone will have to prepare these
TABLE SIGNS in advance. They can even be hand made on white
cardboard or bristol etc., folded in half to stand, and have
a cute designation like "YELADUDES - COHEN" for a children's
table, and a picture. It might be a good idea to bring some
blank ones with a magic marker for impromptu table signs, as
the need arises!
