Why Play Catch Up With Lost Growth In Children | Opinion

Parenting is the toughest job on this planet. I am saying this not as a parent myself but after observing all my school and college friends go through this phase of their lives right now in front of my eyes (Yup,I am the last surviving singleton in my BFF group :D). The anxiety of 'What are we doing? Is this all right? What else am I supposed to do? Where do I stand in comparison with all other parents?' day in and day out is enough to drive anyone crazy. Now why am I talking about parenting all of a sudden? Because just last weekend I met one of my school best friends who has a cute 3 year old daughter and obviously our conversation turned towards her. She is a fussy eater, I mean, really fussy even for a kid. In that sense she is actually a lot like her own mother, my bestie of 15 years. But now my bestie is getting really worried since her daughter is turning out to be really skinny and seems to be lagging behind in attaining the right height & weight for her age. 

A little bit of probing around leads me to something called lost growth in children. The phenomena of them not developing well enough at the right time, and it is not an isolated incident, rather it is happening everywhere, right now! This made me think. We are thankfully living in an area with unprecedented technological advancements,including those in the field of health. Every single day our newspapers are filled with all sorts of health & medical related articles,advice columns, research results and so on. People are more health conscious than ever. Yet, we are also living in times where we seem to be most out of whack with natural system of living! More people are now burdened with lifestyle diseases than ever and guess what,most of it is starting right out in childhood! We have more children besieged with obesity as well as malnutrition right now than ever before in the history of mankind. All sorts of nutritional deficiencies are rearing up their heads, and all this because we are not focusing at the root cause of the problem.

Early childhood development is perhaps one of the most criminally neglected aspects of our social spectrum. Children need special nutritional focus to ensure physical as well as psychological well-being in years to come and there is so less chatter about it. They need more proteins, amino acids, proper proportion of vitamins, minerals to boost their immunity, just the right amount of calcium to strengthen the skeletal system and so on. But most of the parents I know (and this is a mistake I myself am prone to making) think that giving 2 glasses of milk a day to their child is enough for all their growth needs! Ah, how untrue. Of course, this is supplemented by our lifestyles where kids are hardly encouraged to go out and play like we did in our childhood and are rather spotted junking around in front of TV or playstations or glued to their ipads skyping their hearts out. But at the end of the day,it is us, the adults, the wise ones, who have to take up the cudgels to rectify this problem.

How can we forget that it is the nutrition that we receive in our childhood that preps our biological system in and out to withstand anything that life throws at us? How can we replace the importance of every extra nutrient that equips us to physically not burn out, keeps our cell regeneration speed at optimum levels and psychologically creates a safety net to withstand any emotional shock? More importantly,how can we neglect to pay heed to the fact that a child who does not develop right enough is always made the cornerstone of jokes & ridicule at the hand of constant social bullies found in our schools, our neighborhoods and our playgrounds? Remember all the laughter ringing out at 'dwarf boy' and 'stick girl' in those children's movies about mean school kids? It is a reality for so many children everywhere! 

These are just some of the reasons why catching up on lost growth becomes vital. After all, at the end of the day, we just want our kids to grow up to be strong inside & out, be the best versions of themselves, be healthy & smart all the way through, isn't it? And it all starts in childhood. Children ought to play, fall down and get up without getting scared of breaking all their bones, they ought to run for a mile without puncturing their lungs, they need to be able to get through a sports/gym class without being the center of attention among their peers for all the wrong reasons, they have to be able to sit through 6 hours of lectures without losing focus or feeling doozy (might be difficult for some lectures,I am looking at you Mrs. Chatterjee from my boring Geography lectures :P) etc. etc... you get the drift. This is the magical time to be enjoyed in all possible ways for both children as well as parents without either of them getting sleepless nights about the height & weight ratio at a particular age!

That is why I was happy when I called a call from my bestie yesterday that she has got a solution for her problem - Horlicks Growth+ which is a specialized nutrition product designed by international pediatric experts for children in age group of 3-9 years who are lagging behind in height and weight. It contains high quality whey protein with added nutrients that are known to enable children to catch up on lost growth. It has been clinically proven for visible growth in children in 6 months. Well, Horlicks is a brand we all have a personal connection with, I am glad that they have decided to venture forth in this area and take care of severe anxieties a lot of parents suffer when it comes to the strange case of 'lost growth'. I am looking forward to hearing about her personal experience in a couple of months and bookmarking it for when I become a parent myself. After all, it IS the toughest job in the world and I am going to need all the help I can get :)

Source for all images : Horlicks Growth Plus