Today’s investment in children promises best future returns

“We live on earth full of trials but by the grace of God, we remain standing like trees. Even if the leaves are falling, still there are new leaves of hope waiting. When we feel being poisoned by stress, pressure, pain, and failure the best antidote is to pray. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Time was when our needs were simple, so simple that nothing mattered to us but to live and die in peace. We simply faded away into oblivion to join the endless caravan of our departed forefathers who once upon a time lived a simple and frugal life.

But as the years went by, the good, old traditional Filipino values deteriorated. As a result we have ceased being clear about the standards we hold and the principles by which we judge. This led us to “a breakdown” in such values as love and respect for our family and our elders, integrity, honesty, hard work and loyalty; commitment to education, belief in peace and stability, and sense of obligation to the community.

It is very clear that society’s present ills are getting worse as they continue to plague our nation. It has to be contained before it is too late. We must be concerned not only with the present but with the future as well. All the measures enacted to fight them seem useless, ineffective. We impose harsher penalties, to no avail.

Since the root cause is traced to a “crisis of morality,” we have to redirect our vision into molding a new breed of Filipinos. Let us prevent the future generations from indulging in the same misdeeds.

The Filipino child is no longer just a mouth to feed or a soul to care for; he is also a mind to nurture. What we parents teach, do or say to them, whether right or wrong, is inculcated into their very tender and vulnerable minds and will have a lasting effect on their physical, spiritual and intellectual development.

Parental guidance is the key to proper child-rearing, but what can parents do if they are not provided with a guide? While there are several foundations teaching young children in daycare centers, they can only reach out to those who can attend classes. We cannot

fully attain our objectives without the collective efforts of every concerned citizen.

I authored a childcare book titled “Providing Proper Care To The Child Pinoy During The Formative Years” written in English/Tagalog with over 400 illustrations that provides the four essentials of child-rearing: health, care, safety, and education. I have also organized a movement called “Crusade For A Better Youth Of Tomorrow.” I am inviting concerned and civic-minded citizens to help raise a new breed of young Filipinos for them to become better children of God and upright citizens of tomorrow. The movement is anchored on the precept that when he grows old, he will not depart from it—a “Biblical Doctrine” that has withstood the test of time, place and events but unfortunately not given the importance and urgency it truly deserves.

Investing in children is definitely not a waste of time, effort and resources.

—NESTOR A. LACEDA SR., MD,

Feadco Bldg., 161-A Shaw Blvd.,

corner  JB Vargas Street, Mandaluyong City