War A Stressor for Children?1?

The common stressor young children experience during early childhood that grasp my focus is war. My interest was sparked by today’s media.  Currently the United States is not at war but they are aiding Ukraine in a possible war. Ukraine is currently in an uproar with Russia. Egypt is another country facing war today, Egypt is feuding with their government.

It may seem as a war would not be a stressor for children as we think children are not aware but if we look deeper into how the war may affect the family and environment we then understand how it becomes a stressor for children. The war in Ukraine against Russia regarding the Crimea territory although Russia has not officially invaded the Ukraine border starting a violent war the stressor of the possibility the Ukraine citizens are under affects their child’s development. “Families under stress produces children under stress”.

The Egyptian government is currently at war with their citizens, Gaza, Egypt to be exact a poverty ridden country where children are already facing common stressors malnutrition and lack of health coverage. These children are faced with the government selfishness regarding religion causing war against the government.  The Muslim Brotherhood illegally and unfairly took over the Egyptian government in 2006 portray a democratic party without the will of the people in mind. No actions since has benefited the people of Egypt. Today the people are attempting to overturn the government replace them with an existent democratic government to end the poverty and corruption in Egypt. All the violence of a war affects child development, even if the child is not directly harmed the brain embeds these violent acts. Children suffer from depression and self – esteem issues.  Anxiety is another major effect from children being exposed to violence. Research has not pinpointed at what age exactly the effects become server it has been identified the gender of the child plays a part in the severity. We know all domains of development biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial overlap at some point children may react in different ways but behavior is the most acknowledged.

References:

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/02/22/egypt-at-war-with-hamas/

http://www.floridahealth.gov/AlternateSites/CMS-Kids/families/child_protection_safety/impact_of_violence.html

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/30/us-russia-to-begin-new-round-talks-over-ukraine-sunday/

Water in Haiti

Throughout the world one death out of every five deaths are children with a water-borne disease caused by unclean water.  The access to clean water around the world has decreased but the crisis still exist in many poverty ridden countries one being Haiti. Today in Haiti only 55.2 percent of people have access to healthy drinking water. The challenge is the population income is equal to or less than 1 US dollar. Haiti faced an even greater challenge developing access to healthy water dating back to 2010. The earthquakes destroyed the water wells and affecting the water system leaving a treacherous process of repairs. Today Haiti have been unsuccessful with repairing the wells which held the majority healthy water supply.

 The Water Project and the Living Water International are organizations that have come to the aid of Haiti assisting with building a clean water supply and the accessibility to healthy water. With Haiti struggling in poverty clean water can aid them to breaking the poverty cycle. The benefits of clean water helps children stay in school to get the education necessary for jobs.  Farmers are able to grow crops to cure the hunger strike from the lack of available sources. Lastly but most important clean water reduces the illness in children and adults.

Sentlinger, Katherine The Water Project Water in Crisis-Haiti Retrieved March 11^th, 2014 from:

http://thewaterproject.org/water-in-crisis-haiti.php

Childbirth Customs

My little sister Jasmine was in labor for the first time in her life. I was anxious, nervous and excited all in one. We had known since the beginning of her pregnancy baby J’Mir was breeched. She was giving birth to a boy, although I already have 3 nephews he is my first from Jazz. The doctor and Jasmine previously decided to attempt to turn him around with an exterior virgin procedure. This procedure is performed by attempting to turn the fetus around by placing one hand on the head of the fetus, the other hand on the buttocks of the fetus forcing him to turn around.  Jasmine describe this as an extremely painful procedure.  I was feeling bias about the procedure as the doctor explain the percentage of effectiveness, I supported my sister choices. I was on edge during the entire labor and delivery because I never experienced a cesarean birth. As to say the exterior virgin was unsuccessful. The doctors prepared everything for the delivery, only one person was allowed in the delivery one while the cesarean took place. Jasmine choose J’Mir father. During the entire procedure I was anxious it felt as though hours had passed in actuality it was thirty minutes. J’Mir was healthy baby boy 6lbs 9oz. Jasmine was extremely exhausted afterwards and in abundance of pain as well. This birth experience holds dear to my heart because I share a special bond with my sister. I was with her the entire pregnancy any issue or concerns she had she confided in me prior to speaking to anyone else.  

In Korea childbirth customs and beliefs are very different than what I would consider the norm. During the labor and delivery the mother is not allowed to show any signs of pain. The actual birth of the child is what is considered to be the normal American way. A Korean belief is boys are special and to be treated as so where birth of all girls would be grounds for divorce. They also believe the post-partum is the most important period. The mother is required to recover for 21 days. The mother should not bathe, rest and eat hot foods. Learning about the Korean customs and beliefs causes me to be open minded. I agree the post-partum period is a crucial part of childbirth. I did learn some beliefs are considered to be “old traditions” Over the years as Korea has developed to more modern beliefs such as the acceptance of medicine.