Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

There are many common stressors that can affect a child in their development. Stessors like abuse, natural disasters, war, poverty, hunger, disease, violence  and many more environmental related factors.   A lot of these factors happen everyday in a child's life all over the world. When I was a little girl my father was in the Military and we were stationed in Okinawa, Japan (in the 1980's). We lived in Japan for 4 years and we have experienced a couple of Earthquakes there. My older brother was actually at school when one of the earthquakes happened. He was in his Elementary class playing number munchers and that's when his teacher told him that there was an earthquake. I was around 2 years old when this happened so I don't remember too much of what happened. Eventhough the earthquake happened in Japan during our stay we were just lucky enough to not be affected by it.

On January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude Earthquake struck Haiti. This earthquake has killed many people as well as left a lot of children homeless and without families. During the times of Natural Disasters this puts a lot of stress on children because of the aftershock of the incident. Children are afraid, they are wanting to know where their families are and etc. It's a lot of pressure on them. As an educator no matter what the situation a child may be dealing with from various stressors we have to know how to be able to nurture the child in their time of need. Below is a link of pictures from the Earthquake in Haiti.

I looked at this website and when I viewed the pictures of the children it made me think about a lot. What are your thoughts?

Jasmyn A.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/alleyes/content/haiti-earthquake-children-31-images

Child Development and Public Health

Their are many factors that impact Child Development and Children's Health all over the world.  The importance of making sure that children get the right nutrition, love, and care they need promotes healthy development.  Also, in other countries children may not have the chance to develop healthy because of the lack of resources provided due to low socioeconomoic statuses.  In this post I am going to discuss one particular issue that I feel is important and that everyone needs to be aware of because it's affecting children over the world.  Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is one of the leading causes of deaths in infants all over the world between the ages of 1 day and 1 year old.  There is no known cause of SIDS but there are ways to prevent it. Never place an infant on their stomach to sleep always place them on their back.  If you read below I am going to list some websites to further your understanding of SIDS and what you could do to help with the prevention.

www.sids.org

www.cdc.gov/sids

www.kabissa.org

Child Birth In Your Life and Around the World: part 2

Yesterday, I discussed my personal experience in watching someone give birth. Today, I am going to discuss how other women from different countries give birth, mainly focusing in on the women in Peru. The women in Peru mainly have "Vertical Birth Deliveries". Some of the methods include delivering the baby while the mother is on her knees with another person holding on to her in front of her while another pulls the baby out from behind. Another way is to kneel in the bath tub while holding on to something or someone and the baby will come out in the water. Just from research of giving birth in different countries to my own personal experience of watching someone give birth they are very similar the baby comes out the same way no matter how you position the body. I found this particular technique to be very informative because I had no clue that there was more ways to give birth. Below I am going to post some links I want you to check out and tell me what you think.

Child Birth in Peru
http://www.peru-zo.com/2012/02/14/childbirth-in-peru/

Stand and Deliver
http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2011/02/birth-around-world-vertical-birth.html

Child Birth In Your Life and Around the World.

Everyday someone is giving birth to a child. It's a beautiful thing to welcome a new bundle of joy to the world.  I haven't had the luxury of experiencing of giving birth however I have witnessed the birth of my God son.  I have to tell you it was exciting and yet I was overly grossed out. I think that's why I am not in a rush to have kids, just going through labor sounds scary.  On December 24, 2009 I took my very pregnant friend Erika on a family trip to Gatlinburg, TN. for the Christmas holiday.  The night before Erika, myself and my cousins all walked in Wal-Mart for over an hour getting snacks and laughing. That's when the festivities started to begin. On Christmas Eve morning around 6 a.m., Erika woke up saying she was in a lot of pain and that she was cramping. (We didn't know she was experiencing contractions) She said the cramps were coming and going every few minutes.  Around 8 a.m. her cramps were getting much worse and she had to use the bathroom, so we helped her up to the bathroom and we didn't pay attention to the fact that she was in there longer than usual. (That's when her water broke, we had no clue).  Around 9 a.m. my mother and I drove Erika to the emergency room. Once we got there we just figured the doctors was going to turn us away, instead they said in 2 hours the baby will be arriving. Boy, were they right around 11:30 a.m.  Dr. Love delivered my God son Gabriel. The birth of Gabriel on Christmas Eve made the Newspaper in Gatlinburg as well.  That is a Christmas I will never forget because I watched my friend give birth to her first baby, and I almost passed out! The Miracle of Life Videos are nothing compared to having front row seats to watching someone give birth.