Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Children are exposed to both positive and negatives things throughout their lifetime.  Even they though they are such small and innocent creatures they sometimes experience levels of stress that one would only think adults would go through.  Parents fail to realize that sometimes any incident whether it is big or small can have negative effects on a child.  Stress can cause many issues for children because they are sometimes considers too young and fragile for stress.  According to Tennant (2005), “It is essential that adults understand the damaging effects of stress on children's health, behavior and learning and in turn, value the benefits of a calm, relaxed state” (para. 7).  In many households, a child experiences violence first hand especially in the case of domestic violence that involves the mother and the father.  The children basically goes through the stress of watching their father beat and hurt their mother and by being a child, there is nothing that they can do. 

This is definitely the case of a dear friend of my who grew up in a household where domestic violence occurred daily in their home.  From the time she was five, my friend would often see her father slap or punch her mother.  It started off with just a hit or two every now and then.  By the time she was twelve, the one or two lick had turn into her mother being severely beaten, dragged, spit on, and cursed.  There was many times where her mother was placed into the hospital because of injuries she had received during the fights.  This caused my friend a great deal of stress in which she was always nervous, always crying, not focusing at school, and on the verge of being retained.  To get away from all the commotion and to cope with the stress she would always want to spend the night at my house.  It went from one to two days a week to basically living with us.  Her mother said it okay because she didn’t want her daughter to see her being hurt.  My friend hated to leave her mother and felt that someone had to do something.  She finally told my mother why she always wanted to spend the night and that she wanted to help her mother.  My uncle was a police and my mother called him to report what was going on.  The police got involved and her mother finally decided that enough was enough and pressed charges on her father.  After the father was removed from the household my friend was able to go back home and live with her mother. 

I used to always wonder why my friend never got over the situation while it was going on knowing that there was nothing that she could do about.  I also wondered why she became so distant and isolated but I then realized that she has been through so much that the stress she accumulated made life seem void for her.  According to Berger (2005), “Almost every child can withstand one stressful event, but repeated stresses make resilience difficult” (Cumulative Stress, p. 381, para. 1).   I am just so glad that my friend was able to help put a stop to the violence within her household and to be able to live in a peaceful environment.

In Southern Africa children are faced with several stressors on a daily basis that is basically causing them to deteriorate.  In Southern Africa the children are faced with the widespread of HIV/Aids and the fact that there is no cure for this disease.  There is also the stressor that there is very little food for some children and they are facing starvation in which this also leads to the deteriorating of their health.  Lastly, the Southern African government is not equipped to provide the different services needed to address these stressors in which the future of these children is not so clear (Drimie and Casale, 2009).  The stressors that the children are experiencing are so severe that children are dying because their bodies are not strong enough to handle these harsh stressors.  However, there are several foundations established such as Save the Children an organization that focuses on helping the children of South Africa to deal with the stressors.  According to Save the Children (2012), “In every programme we aim to: innovate – develop and prove evidence-based, replicable solutions to the problems children face” (About Us, para. 2).  The organization is basically working to aid in minimizing the stressors the children are faced with to make sure the children receive the resources and services needed to stay healthy and alive.

References

Drimie, S. & Casale, S.  (2009). D Multiple stressors in Southern Africa: the link between HIV/AIDS, food insecurity, poverty and children's vulnerability now and in the future. AIDS Care: Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV, Vol. 21, Supplement 1.  Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, Florence, KY.

Save Our Children.  (2012). About us. Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org.za /about-us

Tennant, V.  (2005). The powerful impact of stress. Retrieved from http://education.jhu. edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Keeping%20Fit%20for%20Learning/stress.html

Child Development and Public Health

Nutrition/Malnutrition

 

 

When it comes to children, nutrition is very important and should be taken seriously to avoid problems with malnutrition, developmental problems, deficiencies, and death.  According to Berger (2012), "malnutrition beginning in infancy and continuing through early childhood contributes to one-third of all child deaths and slows later growth, including the growth of the brain" (Nutrition, p. 226, para. 1).  Healthy eating is encouraged early before the child is even born.  Mothers have to make sure that they are eating healthy and providing their unborn child with food and nutrients needed for the development of a healthy child.  Even after the child is born the mother must continue a healthy diet such as formula, breast milk, and eventually the child will become old enough to eat baby food.  This is the mothers opportunity to introduce the child to healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables in order to allow the child to become comfortable eating them.  As the child become older the mother should encourage the eating of fruits and vegetables to make sure that the child is getting the necessary amount of food and nutrients needed to keep the children healthy. 

There are several factors that can affect the child from receiving the proper nutrition needed such as economic levels and culture.  When a family is within the low economic levels, they are not able to purchase large variety of foods and basically get what they can.  This happens a lot in countries that are poverty stricken such as India.  Malnutrition is a big problem  in India in which one of the main causes of death in children are due to a lack of food and limited access to health care services.  According to UNICEF (2013), "In India, around 46 per cent of all children below the age of three are too small for their age, 47 per cent are underweight and at least 16 per cent are wasted. Many of these children are severely malnourished"(para. 3).  Culture also has a lot to do with a child's nutrition because of they way they are taught.  There are some cultures that limit what is available for families to eat as well as certain things that are considered a normal part of their diet.  Missing out on essential nutrients can cause problems that can lead to malnutrition.  However, there are different countries that focus on healthy diets such as the Chinese who cuisine consists of brown rice and a variety of vegetables (Berger, 2012). 

This topic is meaningful to me because I and a mother and I feel that no child should go hungry or without the proper nutrition needed for proper development.  I know times can be hard and in some countries they get what they can, but I believe that if everyone works together no one will go hungry.  As a future Early Childhood leader, I feel that information such as this will give me the motivation to want to help children in any way possible. 

References

 

Berger, K.S. (2012).  The developing person through childhood (6th edition).  New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

 

UNICEF.  (2013).  Nutrition.  Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/india/children_2356.htm.

Childbirth in My Life and Around the World

I have had two birthing experiences of my own in which I gave birth to two beautiful little girls.  This was the most special time in my life.  However, giving birth is totally different from coaching and helping someone during a birthing experience   My friend was due any day to have her first child.  However, during her last doctor's visit she was informed that the baby weighed 11 pounds and that he had to be taken immediately   When I got the news I became nervous because this was my friend and I was so excited for her.  The day she went in she was so nervous which rubbed off on me.  The procedure took about 30 minutes in which she had to get a Caesarean section.  The delivery room was so clean and organized and the doctor and nurses are dressed for the procedure.  I had never been in the room with someone who was having this type of birth so things went fast.  I was able to basically see everything the doctor was doing which was amazing.   They were tugging and pulling until after about five minutes a 10 pounds 12 ounces baby boy was pulled out and covered in things I cannot describe. This was the first time I had ever seen a baby right out of the mother's stomach before being quickly cleaned.  I was overjoyed.  He was so big and looked like a little man.  This birthing experience was so special because I was there by my friend’s side cheering her on.  I feel that the birth of a child has a great impact on the child's development.  The mother has to take care of the child during pregnancy just as much as they do when the child is born.  The mother can help with the development of the child during pregnancy by eating right, reading to the child, playing music for the child, and making sure that she is receiving prenatal care.

When thinking about births in the United States, they are totally different from births in other countries.  In the Netherlands, most of the women there are given a choice to give birth at home or at the hospital in which most of them choose to have their children at home.  This is very uncommon in the United States because almost 100% of American women give birth in a hospital.  My friend would often tell me about her doctor's visits she would have throughout her pregnancy.  However, the women of the Netherlands do not see an obstetrician.  The women of the Netherlands are not given and type of pain medication during birth and are not able to spend a couple of days in the hospital for monitoring like women of the United States.  If the birth experience goes okay, the women are home with their children within a couple of hours.  This seemed bizarre to me in which American women feel that they have to give birth at hospitals to have healthy children, however the opposite is happening in other countries and their children are healthy as well.