Mirrors and the Mirror Stage *Different ways to see from the child’s viewpoint
There are many theories when a child develops their own autonomy away from the mother and other members of their network.
A long while ago I studied art and theories of how people interact with the life and art created. Basically it can be summed up in two parts.
The first is by Jacques Lacan the philosophy of the mirror stage. The theory is that the child sees everyone as being a part of themselves and distinguishes no one as being apart from them. Once that a child identifies their selves in a mirror is the moment that they see everyone as being separate from their selves, and from that they see their image and develop a definitive persona. This is a part of brain development that brought us to these modern times, there is a theory that before the use of mirrors people saw each other as one.
Secondly I decided to try out the Mirror Stage on Gracie and I wanted her to have a good relationship with her reflection like I had with my Grandma Gertrude she was the only one in my family who ‘got’ me. So Gracie aged 1 and half I used to stop by the mirror at the top of her Mummy’s house and pointing at my reflection I would say “who’s that?” She would then say “Auntie LaLa” I would say “Good girl” and then pointing at her I would ask her “who’s that?” She would say “Gracie” I really wanted her to say ‘me’ but she didn’t and I gave her chance to each time but she didn’t and I took that as her being polite. I realised that this precious little human being was beginning to realise her value to herself as much as anyone. I would then say to her “Gracie you are beautiful! Aren’t you?” And she would be very tentative but I would say “I think you are beautiful, we are all beautiful expressions of life” (Louise L. Hay quote) and I would love seeing her feel loved and valued that was always at bedtime.
Gifting your child the self esteem and appreciation of who they are is a gift so if parenting or babysitting just realise that these are the times that you too can release those restricting self-blocks to realise the love in the world and the innocence of being human.