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
