Consequences of Stress on Children’s Development

War Stories

                At the beginning of WWII, a German boy was born in a military family.  His father climbs up the ladder of Nazi ranks and takes charge of constructing bunkers on the European coasts.  Of age to attend the Hitler Youth, the boy’s brother is enlisted.  Strangely, this young boy was insensitive to Nazi ideology, would not let himself be indoctrinated, devised a stratagem, and successfully obtained his release from the training camp. At the end of the war, father is interned in a camp where he dies from starvation; mother dies from tuberculosis and children integrate an orphanage.  Although relentlessly promoting peace and tolerance, the youngest boy bears the shame and guilt that his parents’ generation has left for legacy, never being able to apply the principles of peace and tolerance to himself.  All his life, the youngest boy deals with conflicting and irresolvable feelings of love for his father as well as intense hatred for having adhered either by choice or by cowardice to Hitler’s mandates.  End result: unmanageable post traumatic stress disorder and a sacrificed life seemingly offering his life in repayment for his parents’ mistakes.  Forged in a time of intense emotional crisis, the young boy’s identity is unable to shift.

                 

                In another country, a Jewish girl born well after WWII continues to nurture hatred for anything German, perpetuating her parents’ victim syndrome.   Forged in a time of intense emotional crisis, the Jewish girl’s identity is permanently impaired.

                Perhaps affected by her cultural environment and the media, a non-Jewish girl identifies with the Jewish culture at a young age.  Curiously, her behaviors exhibits stresses expected from people having lived through a war. Are people like her the necessary links to extend memories and feelings when actual witnesses are gone?

About Poverty, Hunger, and Violence Here and There

                Having to fare for himself, a very young boy was accustomed to roam the neighboring streets scavenging for food.  Alarmed by the condition of this very young boy’s teeth appearance, a teacher alerts CPS, Child Protective Services, who remove the child from his unsafe home where he also was subjected to random acts of violence and abuse.   Neglect, hunger, and violence since birth prevent the child from thriving emotionally and linguistically.  Thanks to recent science discoveries, we know that the brain continues to grow until the age of 25 giving caregivers hope that their children have a chance to catch up with development.  Unfortunately, from his emotionally non-available caregivers’ situation, the young boy has developed reactive attachment disorder which prevents him from healing his early childhood scars.  Only caregivers’ patience and unwavering trust in life’s marvels may give the child enough time to catch up with expected childhood’s growths such as a disposition for trust, respect for authority and abandon of controlling issues, and empathy.     

 

Brazil

A UNICEF Look at Childhood Poverty in Brazil

Retrieved from: http://www.google.com/search?q=child+poverty+in+brazil&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SKPT_enUS428

                Not surprisingly, the last slide confirms that black children from rural origin cared for by a very young mother (20) with no specific professional skills because she only attended school for 7 years, 3 brothers, and no father fit the profile for poverty stricken children.