Consequences of Stress on Child Development

My foster son is a prime example of what stressors like violence do to people.  He experienced a lot of violence when he was young from his mother, father, teachers, foster parents, and older children.  He was beat with brooms and baseball bats by his mother, had a foster parent push him down the stairs, and had a teacher slam him to the ground and hold him there while calling him racial slurs.  He had a gun pulled in his face by a stranger and has been beat up while sleeping on numerous occasions.  All of these things happened before he turned 14.  Because of all this violence, he has a terrible temper and as a young child was sent to counseling by his mother.  It didn't help his anger issues.  He was put on medication and went through anger management twice, neither helped.  His only way of coping with all the violence around him was to absorb it and try to find an outlet.  Unfortuantely, that outlet was by picking fights with peers and starting arguements with teachers and parents.  Now that he's older, he has found some more acceptable outlets such as exercise and martial arts but still has to work to control his temper when dealing with difficult situations.

In Brazil, children face many issues. There are many Street Children (either children who work the street, children who are runaways, abused, alienated children from deprived and poverty stricken families who are unable to maintain normal family units, or children who are orphans and abandoned children who parents may have died from war, illness or simply been unable to look after the children because of their family circumstance) and most of these are expected to be killed before they are 18. On a daily basis they face hunger, military police beatings, drug addition (often glue), becoming involved in stealing, prostitution, drug running, and gunfights.
The government is trying to eradicate poverty through taxation and public works projects and has promised to reduce ecomonically inequality before Rio de Janerio hosts the 2016 Olympics. The rich in Brazil hold charity events like the Zero Hunger drive aimed at providing food. The public sector too has started addressing poverty by creating jobs in some of the poorest neighborhoods.

Immunizations

A very good friend of mine has three little girls that have never received vaccinations so I asked him about his decision not to immunize. He stated that he doesn’t feel it’s necessary to risk his daughters’ health by giving them vaccines. He believes that too many parents are over-medicating their children and doesn’t want his children exposed to diseases they probably would not naturally come in contact with. As he lives in the United States, this statement is probably true. Many of the diseases we are immunizing against are pretty much eradicated in the U.S. However, with intercontinental travel and commerce, they could still be exposed.

Many parts of the world are still fighting against these diseases. For example, Polio has had major breakouts in Tajikistan, Brazil and Angola in the past two years. Measles have broken out in Tanzania and Sierra Leone. In these outbreak areas, vaccinations are the best option for most of the population to control the diseases. 

Back to my friend in the United States, I agree with him that his children may be better off not being immunized. Did you know that The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid out over $1.5 billion dollars in damages to families for injuries and deaths following a vaccine reaction? Or that every year the Food and Drug Administration receives 12,000-14,000 reports to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) of hospitalizations, injuries and deaths following vaccination? With so many reactions to vaccines, particular individuals may be saving their lives by not getting immunized. Sometimes the vaccine can even cause the disease it’s supposed to be protecting against. The live polio vaccine causes approximately 10-20 cases of polio each year. Other times the vaccine is ineffective. I personally know two young ladies who received the HPV vaccine and still ended up contracting it. It definitely makes you re-think vaccines.

Personal Birthing Experience


Because I have no children of my own, I decided to write about the birth I most anticipated, the birth of my niece Penny. I was working toward my bachelor’s degree and about to leave for class when I got the phone call that my sister-in-law was heading to the hospital. As a college student I couldn’t afford a cell phone so I headed to class not knowing what was happening. At the break, I explained to my professor that I couldn’t wait any longer and I left for the hospital.

I arrived at the hospital still in the dark about what was happening. I asked for my sister-in-law’s room number and went right there. As I opened the door, I saw my sister-in-law standing up with my brother supporting her. She said, “Go!” and I found the waiting room where my sister, mother and father as well as her sister were waiting. They told me she had been in labor for a while and was having a hard time. Soon my brother poked his head in and explained that his wife didn’t want anyone with her yet. We then waited about two more hours before he finally came back in to tell us that she had given birth to a healthy baby girl. We waited more then made our way to the nursery to see our little girl. My sister-in-law was trying to get some rest, so we left.

The following day I got a phone call that my sister-in-law was to be released from the hospital but Penny had been moved to the neo-natal ward of another hospital. Apparently Penny had inherited her mother’s skin disorder which does not allow her skin to sweat and when they put her under the heat lamps it dried out her skin so much that the skin on her neck cracked open. Because of the open wound, she had to be moved to the neo-natal unit for a few days. Having to wait to bring her home was hard on everyone, especially her parents who were the only visitors allowed to see her in the hospital. But the days went by and soon she was able to come home.

While researching childbirth delivery in other countries, I learned that most expectant moms in the Netherlands are referred to a midwife by their family doctor. The women then choose whether they want to give birth at home or in a hospital. All expectant women are required to pick up medical supplies necessary for a home birth just in case. If a woman chooses a hospital birth, the midwife will determine when it’s time to go to the hospital. Even at the hospital, epidurals are only given if it’s convenient for the anesthesiologist or if an obstetrician deems it necessary.

If a baby is born in the hospital early in the day and there are no complications, both mother and baby may go home in about two hours. Then the home care begins with nurses visiting the home for seven days to provide medical care, cleaning, cooking, and basic parenting skills.

This is very different from what I experienced with my sister-in-law first because of the option of home or hospital delivery, the possibility of a two hour hospital stay, the lack of epidural, and then the home care lasting for a week.

Ethics in Early Childhood

While reading over NAEYC's Code of Ethical Conduct, three ideals really stuck out to me personally.  Two of them seem to be in conflict with one another.  The first one is I-1.5-- to create  and maintain safe and healthy settings that foster children's social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development and that respect their dignity and their contributions.  This has always been my first priority as a preschool teacher.  But some years the safe and healthy setting isn't just the physical environment but also the children within the environment.  If a child is hurting other children in my class, then I have not met my ethical requirement of a safe setting and the hurtful child may have to be removed.  However, this may be in conflict with the second ideal that stuck with me which is I-1.8--to support the right of each child to play and learn in an including environment that meets the needs of children with or without disabilities.  A child with emotional issues has the same right to play in the environment as a child without.  However, I have had some children in my class that hurt others because of their emotional issues even with interventions and training in appropriate behavior.  So which ideal do I promote first?  If I exclude the child with emotional issues, am I violating their right or am I violating the rights of the other students if I include this child? 
The third ideal that really struck me was I-2.3--to welcome all family members and encourage them to participate in the program.  I feel that this has always been my strongest area when it comes to working with families.  Over the years I have had grandmothers, mothers, fathers, cousins, and aunts that have participates in the program in different ways.  I have always had an "open door" policy when it comes to families and have never turned a family member away. 

Additional Resources

New America Foundation Early Education Initiative
http://earlyed.newamerica.net/

Natural Resources: Early childhood Listserv of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
natural_resources2@listserv.unc.edu

 
Center for the Study of Social Policy
http://www.cssp.org/reform/strengthening-families

Course resources

Position Statements and Influential Practices
Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/dap

Where we stand on child abuse prevention. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ChildAbuseStand.pdf

Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf

Where we stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf

Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/pscape.pdf

Early childhood inclusion: A summary. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC_NAEYC_ECSummary_A.pdf

Infant-toddler policy agenda. Retrieved from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller

Evidence-based practice empowers early childhood professionals and families. (FPG Snapshot, No. 33). Retrieved from http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~snapshots/snap33.pdf

Turnbull, A., Zuna, N., Hong, J. Y., Hu, X., Kyzar, K., Obremski, S., et al. (2010). Knowledge-to-action guides. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 42-53.

Global Support for Children's Rights and Well-Being
Fact sheet: A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf

Websites:

World Forum Foundation
http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us

World Organization for Early Childhood Education
http://www.omep-usnc.org/

Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/

Early Childhood Organizations
National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org/

The Division for Early Childhood
http://www.dec-sped.org/

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
http://www.zerotothree.org/

WESTED
http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm

Harvard Education Letter
http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85

FPG Child Development Institute
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/main/about.cfm

Administration for Children and Families Headstart's National Research Conference
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/

HighScope
http://www.highscope.org/

Children's Defense Fund
http://www.childrensdefense.org/

Center for Child Care Workforce
http://www.ccw.org/

Council for Exceptional Children
http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home

Institute for Women's Policy Research
http://www.iwpr.org/

National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/

National Child Care Association
http://www.nccanet.org/

National Institute for Early Education Research
http://nieer.org/

Pre[K]Now
http://www.preknow.org/

Voices for America's Children
http://www.voices.org/

The Erikson Institute
http://www.erikson.edu/

Professional Journals
YC Young Children

Childhood

Journal of Child & Family Studies

Child Study Journal

Multicultural Education

Early Childhood Education Journal

Journal of Early Childhood Research

International Journal of Early Childhood

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Developmental Psychology

Social Studies

Maternal & Child Health Journal

International Journal of Early Years Education

Words of inspiration and motivation

Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.
-Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund

We do not have a money problem in America. We have a values and priorities problem.
-Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund

If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much.
-Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund

The best economic development strategy is investment in early childhood.
- Art Rolnick, senior vice president, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Every dollar spent on preschool produces a 12 percent real rate of return – a number that, in the private sector, would start a venture capital stampede.
- Art Rolnick, senior vice president, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

One little sparkle will make the difference for me.
-Raymond Hernandez, Executive Director, School of Early Childhood Education, University of Southern Caliornia

I'm not here to save the world. I'm here just to make a difference in the community that I'm working.
-Raymond Hernandez, Executive Director, School of Early Childhood Education, University of Southern Caliornia

It's not all about you. You gotta take your ego out of it and think about what's best for this child.
-Renatta M. Cooper, Program Specialist, Office of Child Care, LA County Chief Administrative Office