Impacts on Early Emotional Development

    

Children of Syria 

Syria is the area I chose to explore not only because of all I hear and see in/on the news but because my area is inviting refugees to come and live among us. One father whose son has joined the Head Start program has even shown his bullet wounds to the staff to show the terror they lived in. His son cries every day when left at school. I copied and pasted the statement below because I cannot say it any better.

THE WAR ON CHILDREN IN SYRIA

Reports of mass casualties among children in Eastern Ghouta and Damascus

From Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

AMMAN, 20 February 2018- “No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones”[1].

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[1] UNICEF is issuing this blank statement. We no longer have the words to describe children’s suffering and our outrage. Do those inflicting the suffering still have words to justify their barbaric acts? (UNICEF/childrenofsyria, 2018).

Of all the 5.4 million refugees of Syria, 48% are children! Due to the lack of resources and high-living costs many families are opting for early marriage and child labor just to survive. Also, children’s exclusion from formal education is a huge issue in this country.

The affects these types of living conditions have on families and children are immense at best. Children live in a constant state of ‘flight or fight” which causes behavioral issues as well as physical and developmental issues. There is a lack of trust and/or hope for, well anything or anyone.

Exposure to chronic, prolonged traumatic experiences has the potential to alter children’s brains, which may cause longer-term effects in areas such as:

• Attachment: Trouble with relationships, boundaries, empathy, and social isolation
• Physical Health: Impaired sensorimotor development, coordination problems, increased medical problems, and somatic symptoms
• Emotional Regulation: Difficulty identifying or labeling feelings and communicating needs
• Dissociation: Altered states of consciousness, amnesia, impaired memory
• Cognitive Ability: Problems with focus, learning, processing new information, language development, planning and orientation to time and space
• Self-Concept: Lack of consistent sense of self, body image issues, low self-esteem, shame and guilt
• Behavioral Control: Difficulty controlling impulses, oppositional behavior, aggression, disrupted sleep and eating patterns, trauma re-enactment

Source: Cook, et al, 2005 (practicenotes, 2005). I cannot put it any plainer than this.

I have worked many years with Head Start and as the years go on, more and more immigrant families, some for the parents’ educational reasons but far too many for political and safety reasons, who are moving to this country. To read and learn about suffering of anyone, but mostly the children, breaks my heart and makes me angry beyond words. I am frustrated because there is nothing I can do to save them all. I can, however, teach the students I have here tolerance and empathy as well as any adult who will listen. One small stone thrown into the pool of anti-bias will certainly have a ripple effect. I will learn more about the experiences of my immigrant families and work to ensure a safe and accepting environment within my classroom. There is a “stirring” in me that I cannot explain but it seems to be focused on the immigrant families who come here to protect their children and to survive. This ugliness has go to stop!

Reference

UNIICEF Website (2018). Children of Syria. Retrieved from http://childrenofsyria.info/features/

Practice Notes (2005). How trauma affects the brain. Retrieved from http://www.practicenotes.org/v17n2/brain.htm

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

It makes me extremely sad that I am not at all surprised that a book So Sexy So Soon had to be written. Though I worked very hard to shield my own children from such early exposure I am sure I was still not even aware of all that our society throws at children. As a parent I was very open with my children and they knew they could come to me with any questions they might have had. I even remember the day my young daughter came to me and said she wanted to grow up to look like Barbie, an impossibility for any human girl to accomplish. I worked hard to undo that damage throughout her growing years. She does not look like Barbie by any stretch of the imagination, thank goodness, and she struggles with that fact every once in awhile still. I remember reading somewhere that little girls watch all these princess movies where the handsome prince four young children alls in love with the girl and they live happily ever after. The problem is, we do not see the couple after the wedding with the Prince's underwear on the floor instead of the laundry hamper or forgetting to take out the garbage.

 

      The implication of sexualization is scary at best. Cognitively and emotionally the child's confidence with her/his own body is hampered and may cause self-image problems. Physical issues may also arise, especially for girls as they develop eating disorders in the fight to look as society "dictates" while boys develop an unhealthy desire for women who look the part. Finally, sexual develop is affected with negative and unhealthy sexual self-images. 

     Is there anything we can do to stop this negative affect on our children? Yes, but it will take hard work on both families and educators working as a team. We must first be aware of what our children are being exposed to and that will take time watching television with our children, listening to the music they listen to, and monitoring any and all technology they are using. We also can teach media literacy which is understanding that much is being portrayed in hopes of attracting buyers of a product. Many cartoons are simply a half hour commercial for products sold in stores. We can teach our young children positive self-concept that is healthy with an understanding that we may look and act differently but all is positive. We can also portray women and men in a positive light having nothing to do with sexual content which will carry over into the adolescent years. 

     After this week's study in this area I want to be more pro-active in portraying children as competent beings rather than add to any sexualization even without realizing I am doing so. I need to have more examples of healthy body images and attainable goals for all children. I hope to become more aware and an educator for those I work with as well. 

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

Affects of "-isms" 

For this activity I do not need to imagine how various "-isms" would impact my professional practice because I deal with them quite often in the Head Start program I work in. I work very hard on recognizing those affects on to not let them interfere with my professional practice.

First I would like to explain who I am that can create "-isms" in my work place. I am a white  Christian woman of an older age then most of my coworkers. The dominate culture in my Head Start program is African American with few family members older than me (though I am not ancient by any stretch of the imagination) and my co-workers are a couple of years younger than me down to just out of college. This being said, I have been subject to "-isms" related to skin color, religion, age, and sex.

We as a team of co-workers are respectful of each other and feel free to ask each other questions about anything we want to learn about each other's experiences in who we are. However, when it comes to activities outside of work, I am excluded. There are times when plans for going out together are made right in front of me and no one asks if I am interested in being involved. I have made a joke about it saying, "that's fine, I am busy anyway." It hasn't changed things, they still make plans but it sometimes gets my point across. My director has even noticed that I am often excluded in conversations and plans and she says something. If I was not a professional, this behavior would most likely affect our relationships as co-workers but this is a pointless pursuit in my opinion. I am there for the children and I want to be a positive role model. Children can pick up on a strained relationship and this can cause them to feel unsafe which would not be a positive learning environment. Children also are watching how we as adult communicate with each other and this they will take along with them along with the ABCs and 123s.

I have also had African American parents who will walk right past me and speak only to my teaching partner (who is also AA) making sure their back is turned to me. Though this is extremely hurtful, I have also seen my white families do the same thing to my teaching partners which upsets me just as much. I do not let this affect me (well, as much as humanly possible) because it will hurt the children. I still say good morning and I work hard on trying to get to know all my families to give me some common interest to discuss, usually their child. If the children did not see me doing this they might think the two people they care for do not like each other and will think there is something wrong with them (the child). I need to be an example of positive and respectful communication.

I have also had cultures within my program who do not speak directly to women and this has to be handled very delicately. One family comes to mind in which the father was visible uncomfortable with the fact he had to speak directly to me. His wife was uncomfortable with me being a Christian (they were Muslim).  The father ended up verbally attacking me during a conference time to discuss a concern we had about their son. It was a very scary time for me. This family ended up leaving the program but I had to work very hard on not letting this experience jade me towards other families who uncomfortable speaking directly with women. I think if I had let it affect me negatively I would not be totally present to the child or the family in a way to give a positive experience. I am much more aware of family dynamics and the words I use because of this experience.

Children love both their families and their teachers and it is extremely important that both parties get along and are respectful towards each other. It is very easy for teacher to let the way they "feel" about a parent to influence the way they treat a child. If I feel a parenting style is "wrong" I may over step my limits by trying to show them the "right" way to handle a situation which will put a wall up between us.  Being in the classroom is so much more than the 3Rs.