Stress's in Early Childhood and how they affect growth and development

Poverty is the stressor I chose to expand on further. My mother who is now in her 70’s grew up in North Georgia in a poor community. Her mother was an alcoholic and her father was a boot legger. Neither one of her parents worked a regular job for very long therefore the children went without during the most important stages of development. Her and her brother would forage for food; she even ate dirt when she was really hungry. Due to the poverty she has experienced hunger, racism, violence, and isolation.

As a small child she thought this was normal so her self-identity was not affected until she had to go to school and she was exposed to people who were not in poverty. That was when she realized she was not the same as other children. She was constantly in the fight or flight stage if she was around her mother so she chose to spend most of her waking hours outside.

She never received dental care so her teeth were very bad and hurt most of the time. At the age of 17 she had all of her remaining teeth pulled and got dentures. She dropped out of school at the age of 12 and got a job working in a truck stop, married my father and entered another alcoholic abusive relationship, but my father worked and she didn’t go hungry so she believed that was the way people were or that she was at fault somehow.

My mother is self-educated. She loves to read and when we were young children she would help us do our homework by teaching herself from our text books. My mother coped with her situation by escaping from reality in nature. At the age of 4 her brother was born so she had something to focus her attention on; helping him thrive and survive. She was his primary caregiver during his formative years and she ensured he received food and protection; even if it required her to put herself at risk.  

The area in our country that I would like to know more about is the Appalachian region of Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) reports on Appalachian statistics such as poverty, income, and employment. According to their 2007-2011 report, poverty rates across the US was 14.3% compared to 16.1% in the Appalachian region of Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Even within these states there is quite a difference between poverty rates. For example, in Virginia the statewide rate is 10.7% versus an 18.1% rate for the Appalachian region. The state with the worst poverty rate in the region is Kentucky with a 24.8% rate versus 18.1% rate for the rest of the state. (http://www.fahe.org/appalachian-poverty/)

The kind of stressors that impact the development of children in this region are the same stressors my mother faced as a child; poverty, isolation, lack of health care, physical abuse and neglect. The federal government and local governmental agencies are trying to combat the effects of these stressors by:

Spreading the Word: Tell your friends, family, and coworkers about Appalachia and Fahe.

 Donating: A donation with Fahe goes a long way. They have worked in Appalachia for over 30 years and they know where to place your money where it will do the most good.

  Investing: You can earn a competitive return and help those less fortunate. They have a 100% repayment track record to ever investor in our history.

Volunteering: Come out and help, meet the people, and let the experience change your life and theirs for the better.

Resources:

Almost Heaven Habitat for Humanity – WV http://almostheavenhabitat.org/

Appalachia Service Project (ASP)– TN/KY www.asphome.org

Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency – KY www.bell-whitley.org

Christian Appalachian Project (CAP)– KY www.christianapp.org

Christian Outreach to Appalachian People (COAP)– KY http://www.coap.faithweb.com/organ.html

Clinch-Powell RC&D – TN www.clinchpowell.net

Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Org(HERO) –AL www.herohousing.com

HOMES – KY http://www.homeseky.com/

Housing Development Alliance – KY – http://www.housingdevelopmentalliance.org/

Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority – TN www.kingsporthousing.org

Knoxville Leadership Foundation – TN www.klf.org

People Inc – VA – www.peopleinc.net

People’s Self Help Housing – KY www.pshhinc.org

Religious Coalition for Community Renewal – WV – www.rccr.org

Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project – VA – www.sercap.org

Southern Appalachian Labor Schools – WV www.sals.info

Woodlands Development Group – WV www.wdgwv.org

Water, water, water until it is all gone!

A public health concern that I chose to expand on further for this week’s blog post is access to healthy water; something most Americans take for granted.

If we want a glass of water we go to the kitchen sink and there it is. If we want to take a bath or shower we go to our bathroom and take a shower; sometimes twice a day. That is not the case in many parts of the world. One part of the world where healthy water is a concern is Uganda.

Our church recently helped to put a well in at treasured kid’s school in Uganda. The drinking water in Kampala, Uganda contains bacteria that causes cholera, dysentery and diarrhea. The water also contained bacteria that causes cholera, dysentery and diarrhea.  The water also contained 12 to 40 times more dirt and other foreign matter than generally accepted safe levels. (Nam)

What does this mean for Ugandan children? Why is healthy drinking water important?  You need water to help your body work properly. Just like other living things humans need water to survive. Your blood contains lots of water and carries oxygen to your cells. If a child does not consume any water or enough water their cells will not work right thus there body will not work right. When children do not drink enough water they can become dehydrated causing them to be more sluggish, their thinking isn’t as clear, and their body (especially the lymph system) is not regulating correctly. (Gavin)

So why is this a global concern?

With population growth projections of three billion more people in the next 50 to 75 years there will be more thirsty people, meaning a greater demand on an already scarce resource which without proper education and intervention will cause more civil unrest and increase the numbers of children dying because of lack of water. Water is used for more than just human consumption and this natural resource (even where abundant like the U.S.) is being wasted and over used. (unicef)

As a responsible steward of the environment and role model for young children it is our responsibility to teach them not only what healthy drinking water means to them but what healthy drinking water means to the world. 

(new well added in the village for the children to have access to safe drinking water) 

Resources:

https://www.koshland-science-museum.org/water/html/en/Overview/Why-Is-There-a-Problem.html

http://www.onewater.org

http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/water.html

Excellent resource videos

Quick videos to highlight 

Brain Smart Starts 

Implementing Conscious Discipline 

cut n paste links below or

 access from left column of blog under Conscious Discipline 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXhDQW3-OxA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8fbYPtoKEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE-invHwjII

Child Birth In Your Life And Around The World!

Choosing one birth experience was difficult for me having seven beautiful children to choose from. I gave birth personally four times. My first child was born two week late and my body refused to deliver him naturally. After 23 hours of labor my doctor sent me down stairs for an x-ray. They realized from the x-ray he was in the correct position but very long with very wide shoulders. She decided she would do a C-section. The C-section went well and I delivered a healthy 8 pound 9 ounce, 24 inches long little boy with a beautiful smile, a twinkle in his eye and a love for his mother that can never be matched.

When I woke up from the anesthetic they gave me while they were putting me back together I woke up in a room with other people and I could hear the nurses talking, laughing and eating pizza, yes eating pizza. It was the weirdest experience ever. The scary thing was I couldn’t feel my legs. I had been given a spinal tap prior to the delivery and it hadn’t worn off yet. After I woke up they wheeled me to my own room where I was able to hold my baby but I had very strong emotions about the lack of feeling in my legs and my head was pounding. I was in the hospital for three days; it took two of those days for me to regain the use of my legs, obviously this was not normal. I was only twenty years old with very little early childhood knowledge and I was taking home a beautiful human being with the understanding I would love, nurture and provide for him all with very little experience and minimal knowledge of early childhood development.

During my pregnancy with my son I was sick for 9 months straight. I vomited daily and couldn’t keep anything down. My doctor said this was normal and would go away after delivery. My first meal after delivery I threw up; they said it was probably the anesthetic. When I got home from the hospital with my newborn I ate a piece of chicken and some mashed potatoes and the pain was unbearable and I got sick with 10 staples in my stomach this pain was unlike any pain I had ever experienced. Upon returning to the hospital they discovered I had gall stones and they needed to remove my gall bladder immediately. (I wished they had discovered this during my C-section) I was rushed to another hospital emergency surgery was performed and my mom cared for my infant son.

I chose this example because it illustrated how you could plan and plan for child birth but things happen that you have no control over. And despite delivering a normal, healthy child you can still have life threatening complications. Fortunately for me and my son I had my mother to help me because the impact on his child development could have been much more traumatic. What if I did not have a support system? While I was in the hospital who would have cared for my son? Could he have had attachment issues? He is fine and this experience did not impact him in a negative way but it could have.

In Uganda most mothers give birth at home with no anesthetic and very little medical care. Had I attempted to give birth in Uganda I probably would have died and my child would have died with me if we did not have the option of a C-section. According to the latest official figures from a 2006 health survey, 16 Ugandan women a day die in childbirth, and 76 newborns in every 1,000 do not reach the age of one. The leading direct causes of these deaths are haemorrhage (26 percent), sepsis (22 percent), obstructed labour (13 percent), unsafe abortion (8 percent) and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (6 percent), according to the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Uganda.

My next three child birth experiences where VBAC (Vaginal Birth After C-Section) and uneventful. I gave birth to 3 happy healthy daughters. In Uganda this would not have been possible because I probably would not have survived my first birthing experience. I think that having children at home is possible but you need to plan and have a contingency plan in case there are complications. I am grateful that I live in a country where we have access to high quality medical care and facilities as well as access to knowledge that is free and helps us raise happy healthy children.