"Bayi Kamu Terlalu DIMANJA!"

Si ndutku sukanya digendong sejak lahir. Kalo menurut tetua di keluarga, dia 'bau tangan'. Weekend adalah saat-saat dia nemplok sama saya, bahkan milih enen daripada makan. Kalau saya 'ngilang' bentaar aja, dia langsung gogoakan panik. Ketika usianya sekitar 6 bulan, dia pun mulai nangis-nangis kalau digendong sama orang yang nggak biasa gendong dia. Kalau kemauannya nggak dituruti, pasti dia merengek. Beberapa orang pun mulai mencap anakku 'terlalu dimanja'. So what? *gaya pongah menantang*

Dari parents.com:

This phenomenon of being so attached to one person that a baby mistrusts all others is called separation anxiety. Most babies suffer from it in varying degrees between 7 and 9 months, even if they were chortling in the arms of any stranger just a month ago.
Don't worry, though. "Separation anxiety is a sign that your baby is emotionally attached to someone and that's a very positive development," says Robin Adair, MD. Some evidence suggests that the onset of this powerful attachment to the most important people in their lives is associated with a spurt in brain development between 6 and 12 months. Studies also support the idea that your baby's earliest emotional bonds are the foundation for healthy relationships later on.

Tuh kan. Separation anxiety tuh normal, toh kita pun sedari dini tetap berusaha ngajarin si kecil buat sopan sama orang lain. Anakku tetap ramah kalau ketemu tetangga, kasir supermarket, dan tukang sayur langganan karena rutin setiap hari ketemu. Sekarang ini setiap saya berangkat kerja, pasti saya pamitan dan si kecil dibawa neneknya mengantar saya sampai depan rumah, dengan harapan dia ngerti kalau mamanya pergi untuk kembali *kiss bye dari Om Ello dudududududuuu*. Kalau dia ketemu kerabat atau teman kami pun, pasti kami kenalkan 'ini temen papa mama, ayo kenalan'. Ke depannya semoga dia juga belajar bersosialisasi lebih baik.   

PS: Jujur, saya lebih suka si kecil pilih-pilih digendong siapa, karena males aja kalo dia digendong-gendong orang nggak dikenal. Mending kalo bersih. Beberapa orang bisa maen cipak-cipok towal-towel anak orang, nggak mikir tangannya penuh bakteri, atau mulut dan bajunya bekas asap rokok. Hiiiihhh!

From NATGEO:

The researchers found that children who received more attention and nurturing at home tended to have higher IQs. Children who were more cognitively stimulated performed better on language tasks, and those nurtured more warmly did better on memory tasks.
They found a strong link between nurturing at age four and the size of the hippocampus — a part of the brain associated with memory — but found no correlation between nurturing at age eight and the hippocampus. The results demonstrated just how critically important an emotionally supportive environment is at a very young age.
Exposing children to more words would seem simple enough. But language delivered by television, audio book, Internet, or smartphone, no matter how educational, doesn't appear to do the job. That's what researchers led by Patricia Kuhl, a neuroscientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, learned from a study of nine-month-old children.

TUUUHHH! Yah sebenernya despite of seberapa tinggi nantinya kecerdasan si anak (yang nggak saya targetin gimana-gimana juga kok), saya teramat sangat menikmati bonding sama si kecil. Nggak selamanya dia bisa digendong ke mana-mana *enak toh? asik toh?* dan nggak selamanya dia mau dipeluk cium terus-terusan *nyiapin mental denger kalimat 'aku udah gede, Mama, malu ah'*. Selagi bisa, saya mau puas-puasin nempel sama si kecil. 

Kok anaknya nangis merengek melulu kalau jauh dari orang tua dan neneknya? Ya wajar dong, dia kan belum bisa manggil dan belum bisa nyamperin. Mau gimana lagi kalau bukan nangis? Nantinya kalau dia udah bisa bicara juga, nggak mungkin kami biarkan dia sedikit-sedikit nangis. Pasti kami ajari buat menyampaikan maksudnya tanpa rengekan (bahkan sekarang pun sudah sering kami nasehati demikian; diasumsikan anaknya ngerti).

Jadi... emang kenapa kalo anakku dimanja? She's a baby; dia berhak buat bermanja-manja. Kedisiplinan bisa saya perkenalkan melalui rutinitas membersihkan diri, makan dan tidur teratur. Ketika dia sudah menginjak usia toddler nanti, saya yakin dia akan sibuk minta mengerjakan semuanya sendiri. Sekarang masih waktunya buat kami yang memenuhi permintaannya. Melihat dia sering nangis merengek kalau minta dipeluk dan digendong, silakan saja mencap anakku manja. It's my privilege to spoil my baby in a healthy way.

Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is the atmosphere in which all good affections grow.
~ Thomas Bray