Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Children of  Neglect

My cousins Sharnice and Monica were the  children of neglect. The neglect began when Sharnice was 5 and Monica was only 10 months old. Their parents divorced at this point and the stress of the deterioration of their marriage caused both parents to casually use drugs. This casual use of drugs became a full blown addiction for both parents. Sharnice and Monica was in the custody of their mother who began to neglect them.She began to miss feeding the children, taking them to doctor's appointments and keeping their hygiene. The problem persisted until finally neighbors reported the children being left in the house unsupervised to the local Department of Family and Children Services. Sharnice and Monica were not put into foster care but kinship care.They  were raised by their grandmother. Sharnice and Monica are 21 and 26 today. They are well adjusted adults, married and have children of their own. Unfortunately both their parents are still on drugs and they are dealing with the consequences their parents reap as the result of their drug use. Sharnice and Monica have never  had counseling as far as I know, just the support of a loving and caring grandmother.

Kenya and Child Neglect

Kenya defines neglect as failure to provide for a child's basic need. Neglect includes physical, medical, educational, and emotional abuse.  Among non-fatal cases of neglect 71.1% of these were neglect. These neglects include non-compliance with health care,failure to seek appropriate health care, deprivation of food resulting in  child not  physically  thriving, exposure  to drugs, inadequate protection from environmental dangers, abandonment, inadequate supervision, poor hygiene and deprivation of education. In 1996  a coalition that began with key government ministries, non-governmental agencies and community based programmes. This coalition was soon comprised of members from private sectors such as the police, judicial system and the main hospital. This coalition received training on child abuse and neglect. From this 3 groups were established training, advocacy and child  protection. As a result of this coalition  Kenyans are more aware of neglect and abuse of children  and systems have been established to address victims and their needs.

Read More Here

http://www.amshaafrica.org/component/content/article/108.html

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2002/9241545615_chap3_eng.pdf

Child Development and Public Health

Breastfeeding

 I chose breastfeeding because my sister Jackie, pictured above was the only one of my 5 siblings that was breastfed. My mom chose to breastfeed my sister because of lack of finances. After reading and researching the benefits of breastfeeding It gave me the opportunity to share with my mom how what appeared as a negative (limited finances for formula) in raising one of her six children was actually yielding positive results. First of all she has a higher IQ than all of us and is classified as gifted, she always excelled academically and received numerous honors. She is also the one out of the six that does not have a problem with her weight. She was and is the healthiest of the six children. Jackie is the fourth child out of six. David is the fifth child. There is a five year gap between David and Jackie. This is not the case between my other siblings they are a year apart. My mom always said she wondered why their was such a large age gap between Jackie and David, well now she knows the reason could possibly be breastfeeding, the natural contraceptive.

Breastfeeding and Asians

Although here in America, there is a cry to breastfeed babies to the age of 3. (click link to view more on 

this ) http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/breastfeeding-mom-time-magazine-cover-speaks-today-show-article-1.1076845

 The opposite is taking place in East Asia and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is voicing an alarm at the decline of breastfeeding across East Asia, and are stressing the need for mothers to understand the long-term benefits of breastfeeding. These low breastfeeding rates is the result of economic developments that's enabling more women to enter the workforce. Aggressive marketing of infant formula in the region is a cause for the decline as well. As little as five percent of all mothers breastfeed in Thailand while around ten percent do so in Viet Nam. In China, only 28 percent of babies are breastfed. 

Read More: Decline in Breastfeeding and Asians

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41893&Cr=children&Cr1=

 

Birthing Experience

I have no children of my own so the birth of my second God Child, is the only birthing experience I have been through. Samuel is 14 years old now. His birth was a difficult one. His mom was in labor 14hours with him. He was her first child. They had given her an epidermal and it actually wore off before she gave birth. So she felt every bit of labor pain while giving birth. Samuel's birth took place in a hospital. His mother had to do something unusual because of the difficulty of birthing him. She actually had to turn from side to side  during the birthing process. She with assistance from the nurse had to continue to do this until his head and shoulders came out. She was turning and pushing at the same time. At one point he actually went back inside. This is why she  had to turn from side to side. He was a health baby he wore 8 pounds and seven ounces.

Giving Birth in China

I chose to write about China because china has a lot of superstitions and customs that  go along with giving birth. First of all according to Chinese custom a husband should carry his bride over a pan of burning coal when entering home for the first time to ensure that his wife will pass through labor successfully. During prenatal development a pregnant woman is to guard her thoughts because they can influence the unborn child. It is their belief that that the mind connects with the heart and the heart connects with the the baby in the utero. They are encouraged to read good poetry beautiful stories before going to sleep. 

They are to avoid gossip,laughing loudly and no construction is to be allowed in the home because it may cause miscarriages or deformities. They are not allowed to attend funerals. I view this as being similar to prenatal care in the US. It is simply saying to avoid stress while pregnant. Although their are some superstitions that have no medical validity. Their prenatal care is similar to ours.