For this week’s assignment, we were asked to choose a region of the world from the UNICEF website to explore. We were asked to look for challenges in the area that would affect the emotional development of the children living in this region.
- The area of the world I chose and why.
I chose Latin America and the Caribbean. Not only is this the only area of the world that I have traveled outside of the US, but it is also where the majority of our immigrant students and families come from in the school that I teach, so I felt it to be beneficial for me to expand my knowledge of the region.
- Detailed Description of some of the challenges that children in this region of the world are confronting.
This is an area of the world that is considered to be the most unequal. There are staggering gaps that leaves millions of children and their families at risk. There are many challenges that children in this region are exposed to, the main one being poverty. 60% of children living in this region under the age of 12 years old live in poverty. An alarming 1 out of every 5 children in this region experience malnutrition. Violence is also a ramped problem in this region. Around 85,000 children die each year due to violence in the home. Violence affects over 6 million children and adolescents. There are also frequent and harsh natural disasters such as hurricanes and flooding that destroy villages and towns.
- Explaination of how these experiences might have an effect on children’s emotional wellbeing and development.
We have learned the many affects that living in poverty can have on a child. They are often stressed, worried, tired, and hungry, just to name a few. Chronic malnutrition affects children’s growth through a variety of ways, among them: low birth weight, stunting and frequent illness. It can also affect a child’s emotional wellbeing, because their needs are not being met. Distress from destroyed villages due to natural disasters also affects children emotionally. Having all of your belongings and your home destroyed can make a child anxious, depressed and stressed. These natural disasters can also lead families to other problems such as poverty and malnutrition.
- Personal and professional reflection, insights gained and the influences they may have on me as a person and as an early childhood professional.
I’ve always considered to myself to be fairly aware of the problems in the world. However, I was shocked and saddened to learn of these statistics in a region so close to our own, and a region that so often feeds in to ours. I left this site feeling helpless. As educators, the best thing we can do for any immigrant children and families is to learn as much as we can about their culture and what life was like for them in their native country. That is the best way for us to help support them developmentally, socially, and in their transition to the culture which they have moved.
References:
UNICEF (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI also felt the same sense of helplessness after this assignment. As educators, I feel like there is so much that we know we should do for these children, yet there is just so much of a need that it is difficult to even know where to start...However, organizations such as UNICEF have begun taking a step towards that change.
Thanks for the information, Rebecca. Great post.
Beki,
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate children have to go through so much emotional trauma in their early lives. I am from the Caribbean and I can tell you, I have seen it, I have lived it! A commitment to reducing poverty and increasing the chances of success for all children requires investment in the earliest years. UNICEF is making it possible for all children to live their rights by working for policy advocacy and partnerships to protect and promote children’s rights, and to put children at the center of public policy, laws and budgets (UNICEF, 2012).
References
UNICEF, (2012). UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/lac/english_4842.htm
Hi Rebecca. These statistics are very sad. It is also sad that many of these challenges could be prevented with a little intervention and assistance from the governments inside and outside of the region. I think it is great that UNICEF and other organizations have began assisting in these regions to ensure that children are given the resources and opportunity they need in order to experience healthy growth and development.
ReplyDeleteI met a family from Haiti that moved here not too long ago. The children had been raised in a mission and they were here to be preachers in the church. The day that I met them there was a thunderstorm and their two chilren who are 10 and 8 were extremely scared and very upset. The mother told me it was the loud noises that startle them and as soon as she had told me this a door slammed and the children fell to the ground. Their hypervegilience was caused from trauma they had seen in Haiti.
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