Stressors

There are so many possible factors that could effect a child's biosocial development.  Being a child, learning everything from how to speak to how to socialize and play with others can be effected by your surroundings and situation.  Poverty, malnutrition, war, family chaos, and disease are just some of the factors that could negatively effect a child's upbringing, mental, and physical stability. One of the biggest stressors, in my opinion, happens after experiencing a natural disaster. 

       My parents are both from the West Indies, and both still have a ton of family that still live on quite a few of the islands. In October of 1995 there was a huge hurricane in St.Thomas (US Virgin Island).  The hurricane did so much damage that my aunt had to send all three of her children to come live with us here in NYC while her and my uncle rebuilt their house. The youngest was five, then seven, and the oldest was I believe 14. They stayed with us for almost a year, my mom had the two youngest join me at PS87 and the oldest was in high school. 

       I was eight at the time and had never even had a successful sleep over at a family members house, I could not imagine seeing my home blown away then having to leave my home without my parents, friends, school, and come to a new city to start over.  To throw salt on the wound, they all caught the chicken pox from my brother during their stay. 

    I remember them crying and missing their parents and home. Now, they will tell u it was because eight year old me was mean to them and they missed their mom because I scared them when I tried to play doctor and tell them that they could scratch off their chicken pox... But I don't remember any of that! That kind of loss takes a huge toll on everything, and as sad as they were they all worked really hard. My school even went as far as to link my third grade class with my cousins kindergarten class and made me her reading buddy! Not only that they introduced me to my seven year old cousins teacher and she allowed me and two friends to spend some lunches with her helping grade papers and she even got permission to take us out to lunch once. The school realized that my cousins needed to feel cared for and loved and I needed to feel as if I still mattered because of all of the sudden changes. It was a tough time for them, but it all worked out in the end. I even remember being upset and crying when we took them to the airport and they were so happy to leave. 

    I chose to learn more about possible stressors for children in Thailand. I had no idea they experienced so many stressful issues issues. "These include malnutrition, exclusion from education, trafficking, child labour and other forms of exploitation. Too many children have missed out on the benefits of Thailand’s development – particularly the children of ethnic minorities, migrants and the very poor" (unicef.org).  The country has been improving since the 1990s, in regards to making sure children are taken care of and educated, but some still manage to fall through the cracks.  The right to an education should be a right not a privilege, food is not made available for everyone that cannot afford to obtain food, trafficking continues to get worse, the children not in the class that automatically gets the help needed deserve a chance to excel. Which they won't be able to do if the country doesn't crack down on making sure everyone is taken care if no matter their background.

Reference-

1. Situation of children in Thailand. (n.d.). . Retrieved May 30, 2014, from http://www.unicef.org/thailand/overview_2043.html