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Catching them too young?

Should kids be forced to perform record-breaking feats?

WONDERKID Budhia Singh

Four-and-a-half-year-old Budhia Singh hit the headlines when he ran from Puri Jagannath Temple to the CRPF stadium in Bhubaneswar, covering 65 km in 7.02 hours. Budhia had been in the news much before this record-creating effort.

Sandeep Sahu of BBC News had earlier featured him as a three-and-a-half year-old wonder kid who could "run for seven hours at a stretch".

Did Budhia choose to be an achiever, or was he forced to be one? Does a three-year-old have it in him to set such goals?

"Absolutely not. Even adults are not clear about their goals. It is a scientific impossibility that the little boy, prodigious or otherwise, decided on this goal. In the United States, if a child as old as Budhia is made to perform such feats of physical endurance, the possibility of child abuse will be explored and the child would have come under close scrutiny," says Saraswathi Bhaskar, counselling consultant of Professional Counselling Services.

When Sahu turned the searchlight on Budhia's past, a heart-rending tale of bereavement and poverty unfolded.

The Budhia story

The boy lost his father at age two and his mother was hard put to provide the kind of food a growing boy required. In utter hopelessness, she sold Budhia to a man for Rs. 800.

Good fortune seemed to smile on the little boy when judo coach Biranchi Das identified Budhia's ability to run for hours on end without exhibiting any signs of fatigue.

He, in turn, paid the boy's price (Rs. 800) and `rescued' him.

A strict, daily regimen of running and stamina-building exercises followed.

According to the BBC report, everyday he is on the trot from 5 a.m. to 12 noon.

After lunch and a nap, Budhia is ready for another long run.

For Budhia, the gruelling programme has an `appetising' side to it. He gets to gobble "eggs, milk, soybean and meat".

The Sahu report added that the boy was pleased with the food and loved to run and Biranchi was keen on an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records, "which is possible if Budhia runs 90 km at a stretch".

"Although the boy says he enjoys the effort, it is an ordeal that could have an extremely deleterious effect on his physical growth. Mainly for boys, eye-hand-coordination is fine-tuned only at age seven or above. We don't know if he gets enough rest and sleep, which are essential for the proper growth of a child. If he is under pressure to perform, the stress can leave indelible scars on his mind," says Saraswathi.

According to agency reports, the Asian Centre for Human Rights urged the National Human Rights Commission to ensure "a team of medical experts examine the possible damage to Budhia's health and growth" and a day later, the police "whisked away" little Budhia and he was subjected to an array of medical examinations at a Bhubaneswar hospital.

Uni-dimensional growth

Dinesh Victor, Director, SIP Academy India Pvt. Ltd., says that from a purely child development point of view, Budhia's growth is uni-dimensional.

"For balanced growth, the boy has to get all kinds of stimulation. From what we know about him, he is receiving just one. This will not help him develop social and psychological skills. I am not saying he should not run. If the idea is to make him a marathon runner, he can be one only when is 18 or so. The right age for training is probably 11. None of the great marathon runners began to train before this age. Considering the psychological and physical damage suffered by early entrants in professional tennis, a minimum age has now been specified. How can we assume that Budhia is immune to such a damage? If a career in running does not work out in the future, what will happen to this boy? Does his guardian keep this possibility in sight?"

Ashraf, director (training), Life Academy Center for Self-Development, says, "The boy has been catapulted into the limelight. He is already hailed as a marathon runner. This could predispose him to choosing this field, thereby shutting out other avenues. The media exposure can harm other children as well. It can lead parents to push their children hard towards such mindless feats."

Now, we have to decide how we are going to react to Budhia's feat.

PRINCE FREDERICK

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