Impacts on Early Emotional Development

      I chose the region of South Asia, because I have a student and family this year who are from India. I know very little information about their culture or their country. The child recently told me that his grandparents are now living with them.  I was curious about where they came from and how they are impacted by their culture and country.

      The UNICEF (2013) website had a great deal of information about India and how children are impacted. I discovered that 34% of the population tries to survive on less than $1.00 a day. There are about 45.9% of children under 3 years of age who are underweight. The child mortality is impacted by malnutrition. Teachers know that children’s development socially, emotionally, and academically is impacted by whether or not their basic needs are met. If children are hungry, then it is hard for them to focus and learn. I learned that 2/3 of children have been abused physically while over 50% of children have been faced with sexual abuse. Child labor and trafficking is high in India as well. It is estimated that 70,000 children under 15 suffer from HIV.  Children who have been abused physically or sexually are going to be impacted socially, emotionally, and academically. Their self-esteem is going to be low while they will have a hard time knowing how to interact with others. Learning is not going to be easy when they lack confidence and struggle with how to interact with other children.  If a child is sick, then they are also going to be impacted developmentally as well. It is hard to imagine how their well-being and emotional development is impacted. I could only imagine how scared children must be on a daily basis. Are they going to have enough to eat? Are they going to have clean water? Are they going to be abused? When those concerns or experiences occur or have occurred, then it is horrifying how they must feel emotionally.

     Natural disasters also impact children in India. They are impacted by flooding, droughts, earthquakes and landslides. These types of issues propose challenges for families when their home is damaged, food supply is decreased, or they suffer from the loss of a family member. Loss of water or sanitation issues can interfere with a healthy development in children as well. UNICEF has been helping people in India with sanitation at home and school.  They try to offer services and education about child protection issues. UNICEF works hard to educate people in order to prevent HIV/AIDS.

      Thinking about the information that I read on the UNICEF website (2013) really opened my eyes to the challenges that children and families face in India. Children deserve to grow and develop in a world where they can reach their full potential. I feel very blessed to live in a country where we try to help others, but my heart goes out to those that are faced with challenges. I do realize that there are children here in our own country and state that suffer from many of these same conditions and challenges. It is scary to think that we expect children to come to school and try to learn and interact with others while they have such turmoil going on in their lives physically, emotionally, and socially. Teachers need to be aware of what challenges children and their families face. We need to get to know the children and their families. Regina Chavez (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) discussed how children need to feel safe, supported and loved. If we want children to learn, then we need to provide an environment where their basic needs are met first. Children deserve to grow and develop and reach their fullest potential.

 

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children [DVD]. Learning about fairness: varying abilities. Baltimore, MD: Author

UNICEF. (2013) Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/rosa/index.html