Consequences
of Stress on Children’s Development
Many stressors can hinder a child’s biosocial, cognitive,
and psychosocial development. Poverty,
war, racism, hunger, and chaos are a few of the many that may have devastating effects
on adults but especially on the young lives of children. Violence is the stressor I have the seen the
most.
I have a student this
year that has severe behavioral problems.
He is very emotionally disturbed,
with an extremely short fuse, and who is quick to react. I was aware of this when our Pre-K teacher
gave me the heads up. Everyone knew this
little 4 year old that would knock furniture down, through objects, kick, and
use foul language. I kept hearing, “GOOD
LUCK!” I was hesitant and didn’t know
how to reach him. So the first few weeks
of school we got to learn from one another.
He is an intelligent child who has social problems due to domestic
violence. The students in my class who
knew him from the year before would say things like, “He does that all the time”
or “He is a bad boy”. These comments, student
stares, and laughs would set him off and we would have a complete melt down,
including room rearrangement, about 2-3 times a day. While taking my Early Childhood Development
course and its readings I have taught my students to use empathy and help our friend
who is a part of our family. The results
have shown improvement among my students and my classroom environment. We have a give and take type of relationship
that seems to be working. My little
buddy no longer throws things or knocks anything down. He does have a temper tantrum or two but it
is understandable and we work as a class to help each other out. He is a great kid and everyone can know see
that.
I chose to do more research on violence in Mexico. I am of Latin decent, first born American, and
live in a city whose population is mainly Hispanic. Many stressors impact children in
Mexico. I will continue to focus on violence. UNICEF is sponsoring a program in Mexico schools
called Education for Peace. This program
is designed to reach children who experience violence at home and school. The program also involves adults and teaches
them how to recognize violence in their lives and how to avoid directing these
feelings towards children. The school
dropout rate in Mexico is due to children in poverty having to work as well as
abusive teachers, and parents. Yes I
said it…teachers! I was shocked to read
this. We are supposed to be the safe
haven they don’t have elsewhere. Mexico’s
government has taken over this project because of the wide results and impacts
the children have made. They want it to
spread to countryside, cities, and eventually nationwide.
Melanie,
ReplyDeleteHow rewarding for you that you have made a difference in a child's life already. The children you teach have also gained so much by learning about empathy. What a wonderful trait for all people to have. So many adults need to learn to look at issues from another person's perspective. This brings me to the point you made about abusive teachers in Mexico. I know people say, everyone is human, but I think there are certain professions that you are called to conduct yourself in a certain way or remove yourself from the situation.
Hi Melanie, it must feel very good to know that you made a difference in a child's life. You are doing a great job with the things that you are teaching your children. The research that you did about the people in Mexico sounds very interesting and it is something that I will do in my spare time. I think that all adults should look into learning more information about the program in Mexico because it is very helpful.
ReplyDeleteA great tool for fostering classroom empathy and unity among students are the presentation of social stories. I use them in conjunction with an entire empathy training curriculum called Second Step but these social stories are also available on their own by googling the subject on the internet. Social stories are just short presentations on how children can work to be better friends, but the presentations are presented in context so the children can get a better understanding of what behavior is appropriate in what situation. I also work with a lot of children who are exposed to inappropriately violence situations at home so I find that they really help teach appropriate social behavior without being punitive or confrontational.
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