Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Arguments, disagreements, fights and even family feuds were the norm for me where I grew up.  I can remember, as a child, seeing teenagers fighting, grown ups fighting and large groups of people fighting.  One of the most freighting memories I have is actually bearing witness to someone being killed.  I was between the ages of 10 and 12. It was a warm summer evening and the street lights were on so I was sitting on my front steps with a few friends from the neighborhood. The commotion began a few blocks away but loud enough that we could hear that something was going on, but just as any other uproar, it was ignored.  Before we knew it, the far away sounds of a few individuals arguing had drawn closer. Two men were fist fighting with their family members trailing behind.  A few neighbors soon joined in the crowd to get a closer look. The fight lasted only a few minutes, and I don't remember the cops showing up until much later.  After the crowd began to die down, the two men had been, finally, separated. As everyone continued leaving the scene, I vividly, remember the one man running up to his disputant and stabbing him with an object and pulling the object up from his abdomen towards his chest.  The body dropped immediately followed by screams of those that witnessed it.

Cognitive Theory

Cognitive theory holds that thoughts and values determine a person's perspective.  Early experiences are important because beliefs, perceptions, and memories make them so, not because they are buried in the unconscious (psychoanalytic theory) or buried into the brain's patterns (behaviorism).  

Laws on domestic violence vary by country.  For instance, in 2010, the United Arab Emirates's Supreme Court ruled that a man has the right to physically discipline his wife and children as long as he does not leave physical marks.  The social acceptance of domestic violence also difference by country. 

Just some thoughts on how behaviorism is developed.

References:

Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers. 

Child Development and Public Health

The Breast is the best for the baby

 Compared with formula based on cow’s milk, human milk is sterile; always at body temperature; and rich in iron, vitamins, and other newly discovered nutrients for the brain and body.

The Benefits of Breast Feeding

For the Baby                                                                                                      For the Mother

Balance of nutrition                                                                                        Easier bonding with baby

Has Micronutrients/ not in formula                                                          Reduced risk of breast cancer

Less infant illness, ear infections                                                                               Natural contraception

Less asthma                                                                                                       Pleasure of breast stimulation

Better childhood vision                                                                                 Satisfaction of meeting infants basics

Protection against childhood diseases                                                    Easier travel with the baby

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011

Inupiat Eskimos, Alaska Natives

Breastfeeding provides valuable immunologic, nutritional, and psychological advantages for infants.  Breast milk offers increased protection from respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, otitis media, meningitis, sepsis, and allergies.  The only difference in mothers from Alaska and U.S. is that the American mothers fall short of public health goals.  Native and Eskimo group that have not been directed away from such traditional cultures have higher percentages.  Although, the decline in breastfeeding combined with an increase in supplemental and exclusive formula feeding was associated with a rise in various health problems.

Breastfeeding is the best for infants.  The mother’s breast milk helps the infants to resist disease and promotes growth of every kind.

References:

Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). The Surgeon General Call to support breastfeeding. Washington, DC

My thoughts on Childbirth

My mother always correlates some of my characteristics with how I was born.  She described my birth experience as being slick or sneaky.  When she began contractions, she prepared for the worst.  I was her first born and contrary to popular belief, “the worst” that she was preparing for didn’t come until her second birth, seven later.  Immediately after my mother starting contracting, she began to dilate. She was rushed to the hospital, within the 20 minute ride to the hospital, my mother had reached her full dilation and was ready for delivery upon entering the hospital. My mother was very detailed about describing how they lifted her up on the table, while she tightly gripped the bed rails and squeezed her eyes shut and before she realized what happened, I had slipped out with all ease. Until this very day, she says that I am crafty and stealthy because of how I was born.

I was really impressed from a clip from a movie about Eskimos “ Healing our Children.”. The clip actually showed an Eskimo mother giving birth.  The mother was in a squatting which, physically, makes so much sense.  “ The ease of which childbirth is accomplished in indigenous tribes stands in stark contrast to the phenomal rate of birth interventions  and cesarean  births in the Western world.” Although, I’ve never witness a childbirth but discovering the difference between indigenous  and mothers, which the birthing process starts  far before, actually, birth.  The foods and products that are consumed and the preparation of the female body all begins for females when they are girls.  Nutrition and Physical Degeneration play a crucial part in the birthing process far before the end of the term when the baby is birthed.