Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

I am lucky that I feel I have not suffered under certain stressors in my childhood such as war, poverty, racism, natural disaster, isolation, hunger, noise, chaos, disease, environmental pollution, or violence.  I am not saying necessarily that my childhood was completely perfect; I do not know of many people that can say their childhood was perfect.  My family went through their share of ups and downs and as a child I learned to cope with these in my own way.  I do believe that some of these situations from childhood certainly have affected me as an adult; however, I feel that I am also lucky that I did not have to deal with some of these more traumatic stressors listed above.

In my various careers working with children and their families, I have come across many different situations that were certainly not ideal.  One situation that has always stood out to me was a fourth grade student I had during my student teaching.  She was a little girl who was one of the sweetest little girls I have ever met.  She was adorable as well, with freckles and glasses and a spunkiness to her that I truly adored.  She and I established a connection right from the start.  I often tried to work with students either on a one-on-one basis or in groups.  In the beginning, I would ask many questions when I met the students individually so that I could get to know the children.  This particular little girl opened right up to me.  She was living a rough life; her mother had a drinking problem.  She was living in poverty as well and experiencing all of the stress that comes with it.  Her situation was causing her to take responsibilities on that were certainly not appropriate for a child.  She coped with this by talking with me about her situation.  She worked very hard in school because she wanted to be successful so she could help her family.  She was very sensitive, sometimes breaking down and crying over altercations with her friends.  I believe her home life situation caused her to be extra sensitive.  I was only able to work with her for a few months; I wish I could have helped her a little more or known of available resources in the area I could have given her family at the time.  Unfortunately, I was young and naïve at the time and did not realize what I could do to help her.  Now, I make it a priority to get to know all of the resources in my local area that I can refer the families I work with to in order to help their quality of life at home and beyond.

I do realize there are many children out there that are suffering under various stressors in different areas of the country and the world.  Of course there are the many people in the recent earthquakes in Japan that were greatly affected by this huge natural disaster, as well as the multiple tornadoes in tornado alley, and the war overseas.  However, I chose to do some different research about the children and families that are sometimes forgotten.  There are so many families struggling here in my own state of Michigan.  The homeless population has increased over the past few years.  In my local area of Flint, Michigan, homeless shelters were busier than ever this past winter trying to provide warming centers and safe havens for so many families and children who had lost everything.  I recently went to a poverty conference at a local intermediate school district and was shocked and dismayed at the statistics I learned about homelessness in the area. There are many agencies out there that are making an honest effort to help these families, but they are running out of resources.  Some facts below are from the website www.solidgroundinc.org that gives statistics on homelessness in Michigan. 

·         In Michigan, on any one night, there are approximately 24,713 sheltered homeless individuals, with an additional 41,338 unsheltered, a total of 66,051.  These statistics include 34,622 adults and children in homeless families.

·         In Michigan, adults and children in families account for 52% of the total homeless population.

·         Youth 17 years or younger and not in families account for an estimated 5% of the total homeless in Michigan.  This means that, in Michigan, there are at least 3,000 youth and children who are alone and homeless.

Obviously, if children cannot get their basic needs met, they will not develop to their full potential.  If they are not fed well balanced meals, they cannot grow properly.  Hungry children cannot concentrate in school.  Many school districts are doing all they can to help these problems, such as fee and reduced breakfast and lunch programs or identifying homeless families and helping them with various resources and agencies available.  However, there is much work to do and meanwhile, children are paying the price!