Consequences of Stress on Children’s Development

       Going through stressors as a child can have lasting effects that may follow them throughout their lives. As a child I did not experience any stressors, but my mother did, when she was around six years old, many US cities began to riot, these riots were the results of racism. Many African American took out their frustration out on their neighborhood corner stores. My mother said that one evening, a large group of men and women got together, and began to break store windows, taking many of the goods and some even set fire to some of the stores. There was a lot of violence in the streets, and the nation guard had to be called in to settle everyone down. As a child, she was very frightened, and did not understand this level of violence. My mother said that her mother talked to her and her sibling and explained to them that, the violence was outside and no one was going to come in the house to hurt them. Although, they felt safe when they were home, as they walked to school they had to walk over all of the glass and debris.

    In many parts of Africa children experience several kinds of stressors on a daily basis. A parent with HIV/AIDS is one stressor that a child in Africa may have to deal with.  When a parent dies from HIV/AIDS, these children are orphaned, and are placed in orphanages or many live on the streets and they have to raise themselves. (Steel, n.d.) Losing a parent is a huge lost and can hurt a child cognitive development. Many children contract HIV/AIDS from their mother, they sick all of the time so this can affect their development; they won’t go through the stages, properly.

Steel, Erik. (n.d) How Does AIDS Affect Kids in Africa?  Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/facts_5519392_aids-affect-kids-africa.html#ixzz1ko0wx6f

Nutrition and malnutrition

     Nutrition and Malnutrition is a very important issue to me because there are so many children in the world who are hungry. Not getting enough to eat affects many children in developing countries, and surprisingly here in the United States also. It is said that over 1 billion people including children in the world do not have enough to eat and that every 6 seconds a child dies from related malnutrition causes. (Kids health, n.d.) India has one of the highest percentages of children that are not getting enough to eat and many are dying of malnutrition. It is recorded that 38.4% of children under age three are has stunted growth and 46%  of the children are underweight, the cause is from poor nutrition. (Mother and Child Nutrition, 2009)

     In the United States in 2010 over 17.2 million households did not have enough food to eat. (World Hunger Education Service, 2011) At my family owned child care center, which is located in the center of the city, there are many families in need. About 90% of the families we serve are below poverty level. Many of the children at the center may only have their meals at the center. Our center participates in the Child &Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) food program, this program allows us to provide our children with healthy well balanced meals.

References

KidsHealth. (n.d.)Hunger and Malnutrition. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/feeding/hunger.html

Mother and Child Nutrition. (2009)  India. Retrieved from. http://motherchildnutrition.org/india/overview-india.html

World Hunger Education Service. (2011)Hunger in America: 2011 United States Hunger and Poverty Facts. Retrieved from http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm

Child Birth

    My sister was just one week into her fifth month of pregnancy with my nephew, when she went to the doctors and had an ultrasound, they told her everything was good but they did mention that he was low. One week later, she was having contractions and had to be rushed into the hospital. Within thirty minutes of getting to the hospital, she gave birth to a two pound baby boy. A little while after he was born, he lost one pound. The medical team worked on him for hours and then he was rushed over to a different hospital that had a NICU unit. He spent the next five months in the hospital.  We named him Keion. Keion had many ups and downs, along with many surgeries. Each day that he was there, it seems like something different happened he would be doing good one day and the next day he would take three backwards.

   One thing that I remember so clear, is one of the nurses came to us and said Keion was a fighter, he was always pulling on the wires that were hooked up to him. She said that he would make it because he was a fighter. She was right he did make it. His first year was hard he was in and out of the hospital a few times. He was smaller than kids his age and for that, it put him at a disadvantage. My sister didn’t let him stay at a disadvantage for long, she worked with him to help him meet the milestones that he should at the age he was. I do believe because of his birth he has had more obstacles to overcome.Today, he is in the seventh grade above level in history and math.

In North America, we take child birth as an everyday occurrence, but in Africa, child birth is difficult and mother and child can be in troubled. It is stated that one out of every six children dies before the age of five and many die before they have a chance to live. (Hunter-Gault, 2006)  Africa women die in child birth more frequently than any other industrialized country. Many children are born by midwives, and in Zambia, mothers are young and they have an average of six children, which is different from here in the US where, where the average is family size is 2.59. (United States Fact Finder, 2010). In Africa women are being more educated on prenatal care and they are being encouraged to go to the hospital to have their babies instead of trying to have them at home this will give both the mother and child a chance to live.

References

Hunter-Gault, Charlayne. (2006) In Africa, Overcoming the Risks of Childbirth. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5628726

United States Fact Sheet American Fact Finder. (2010) American Fact Finder. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts