Site
Summary
Our web site contains hundreds of inspired articles, publications,
interviews and research papers on child and human development.
Knowing where to look for these treasures will help you take
advantage of and apply this archive to your life and the lives
of the children you love.
Organization
- technical information about the organization, mission and
goals, nonprofit status, frequently asked questions, profiles
of board of directors and advisors, an online contribution center
and links to other sites.
People
- personal interviews with leading authors, educators, scientists
and researchers. Rich and varied topics such as pregnancy, birth,
bonding, brain development, television, consumerism, competition,
violence, play, and many others.
Classroom
- the gateway to our Distant Learning Center. Provides online
classes for parents, childcare providers, preschool, and Head
Start teachers.
Store
- we produce, publish and offer a wide range of books, videotapes,
CD-ROMs and other publications. Order them online at our store.
News
- current events, a personal interview with a leading author,
educator or researcher, a printable copy of our most recent
newsletter, and an archive of past newsletters. For years people
all across the nation and world have collected these newsletters.
You will find each one a source of information and inspiration.
Forum – coming soon, an online bulletin
board. Connect with others to dialogue, exchange ideas or resources.
Projects
- describes some of the major projects we are developing, who
will be served by these efforts and why we believe this focus
is critical.
Members
- membership has its privileges. Find ways to enrich your learning
experience and help support Touch the Future along the way.
Magical
Parent - a section devoted to Magical Parent-Magical
Child, The Optimum Learning Relationship, a book co-authored
by Touch the Future founder Michael Mendizza with Joseph Chilton
Pearce. The book presents a revolutionary model for optimizing
the adult-child relationship, reducing conflict and increasing
learning and performance at any age, in any field.
Joseph
Chilton Pearce - devoted to the collected works of Joseph
Chilton Pearce and includes his biography, an in-depth interview,
Joe’s speaking schedule, contact information, and links
to his books and videotapes.
Bonding
- a vast collection of articles and research papers on the impact
of bonding or its absence on the developing brain.
Play - coming soon; the works of O. Fred Donaldson,
PhD., and Stuart Brown, MD., will soon be featured here, along
with articles and resources on the intelligence of play.
Athletics
- forty million moms, dads and children are involved in amateur
athletics. This section provides information and resources to
make this the best possible experience.
Contact
us - ask questions, seek information and suggest collaborative
opportunities here. |
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Philosophy
The future of humanity is being defined today, as the
developing human brain meets and is sculpted by the environment/culture.
We call the period when this interaction is most obvious childhood.
For millions of years human development emerged in harmony with
the natural environment. Today human artifacts, beliefs and
behaviors, what we call culture, shape the developing brain.
Neuroscientists call this reciprocal-dynamic between body and
environment cultural biology.
Inherent within each child is the entire evolution of life on
this planet. This vast history, with its limitless potential,
senses the environment and expresses only those capacities needed
to adapt. Nature, including the human brain, is profoundly creative
and lazy. Innate potential clearly plays its role; it is, however,
the model-environment that predetermines to an indeterminable
extent what kind of adults will emerge from childhood. Adults,
being shaped by the model-environment, become that model-environment
and impose their limited set of skills on children, a cycle
that repeats generation after generation. Being distracted by
cultural constructs, comparison, contests, competition and entertainment,
this conditioning unfolds and habituates seamlessly beneath
the child’s and adult’s awareness.
Human development has reached a turning point. Mounting evidence
from a wide range of fields demonstrates that the culture-environment
now shaping the human brain is not developing the specific capacities
needed by future generations to solve the contradictions inherent
in the current model. More of the same, at home, in school,
in business and in government, will only compound our problems.
The challenge is for individual adults, who are themselves the
result of this cultural conditioning, to perceive and model
in their daily lives a quality of awareness and creative intelligence
that lies outside the habitual model, and to do so in relationship
with children. Only in this way will the next generation evolve
the worldview and capacities needed to meet and solve the challenges
we have placed before them. The next generation can’t
do this without our example and we can’t survive the mess
we have created without their help. This is what we mean by
Touch the Future. All of our efforts are designed to awaken
and support this alert awareness and creative intelligence in
adults, and by implication, to transform all of childhood.
Michael Mendizza
Executive director
October 26, 2003
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