Coping with Stress in Early Childhood. - Week 4

Stress is a condition in which an individual experiences challenges to physical or emotional well-being that overwhelm their coping capacity. Some stress is normal and can be healthy, while some experience with manageable stress is important for healthy development, prolonged, uninterrupted, overwhelming stress can have toxic effects and affect normal development of the child. This type of toxic stress is often associated with childhood abuse and neglect, parental style of discipline, poverty, noise, pollution, isolation or even hunger.
As a child, growing up was fun and loving but quite stressful because of always wanting to live up to expectation of my parents. My father was a disciplined and high handed man. He had expectations of the type of behavior expected of his first daughter and was always talking about it. His expectations put pressure on me and it became stressful. I always wanted to behave well and be in daddy’s good book. How did I cope? My English teacher in school told me one day to be myself. “You are a good girl, just do what you know is right, don’t try to impress anyone, then you will get approval of all,” she said to me. That statement immediately removed the pressure of wanting to “perform” from me and gave me confidence to do what I know to be right.
Working with children to become healthy individual is a big task. All the domains must be developing at the right time and so anything that could impede the proper development must be removed because of longer term effect it has on the formed adult.
I chose to find out if there is any possible cause of stress that can impact the development of children in United States of America, given the high level of development there. I was shocked to discover that there is a high level of poverty which is affecting children at an alarming rate.
NOTE THIS:

Nearly 13 million American children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level, which is $20,000 a year for a family of four. The number of children living in poverty increased by more than 11 percent between 2000 and 2005. There are 1.3 million more children living in poverty today than in 2000, despite indications of economic recovery and growth.

Poverty is especially prevalent among black, Latino, and American Indian children.

·         35% of black children live in poor families. In the 10 most populated states, rates of child poverty among black children range from 20% in New Jersey to 43% in Ohio.

·         28% of Latino children live in poor families. In the 10 most populated states, rates of child poverty among Latino children range from 20% in New Jersey, Florida, and Illinois to 35% in Texas.

·         29% of American Indian and 11% of Asian children live in poor families (comparable state comparisons are not possible due to small sample sizes).

·         10% of white children live in poor families. In the 10 most populated states, rates of child poverty among white children range from 4% in New Jersey to 12% in Georgia.

Having immigrant parents increases a child’s chances of being poor.

·         26% of children of immigrants are poor; 16% of children of native-born parents are poor. (Children living with one immigrant parent and one native-born parent are not included.)

·         In the six states with the largest populations of immigrants—California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas—the poverty rate among children of immigrant parents ranges from 14% to 40%.

·         In all six states, children living with immigrant parents are more likely to be poor than children of native-born parents.

Official poverty rates are highest for young children.

·         20% of children under age 6—1 in 5—live in poor families; 16% of children age 6 or older live in poor families.

·         In half the states, more than 20% of children under age 6 are growing up in poverty, whereas only 13 states have a child poverty rate (that is, for children up to age 18) that is as high.

·         Researchers believe that parents of young children do not earn as much as parents of older children because they tend to be younger and have less work experience.

Effect of poverty on the children are seen in high mortality rate evidenced by low birth weight and medical complications arising from poor nutrition, poor housing  and increased risk of accidental deaths.

U.S government is working hard to reduce the effect of poverty in the recognized areas by developing policies that work and can make the difference.

1. Make paychecks worthwhile -   Since research is clear that poverty is the greatest threat to children’s well being, strategies that help parents succeed in the labor force can help children. Policies such as earned income tax credits and regular increases in the minimum wage are critical to supporting income growth for low-wage workers. These workers also need access to benefits that higher-wage earners take for granted, such as health insurance and paid sick leave.

2. Support families and young children - To thrive, children need nurturing families and quality early learning experiences. Programs that target families with infants and toddlers, such as Early Head Start, have been shown to improve children’s cognitive development and their behavior, as well as parenting skills. Investments in preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds are just as critical. High-quality early childhood experiences can go a long way toward closing the achievement gap between poor children and their more well-off peers.