In my military community that I provide childcare services
for, War, hands down is the greatest stressor on all 302 children I provide
care for. I have two children in my
facility that have lost a parent because of the current war we fight; others
are left for months and years at a time without a parent or both. The stress to a child to have to an inconsistent
home life as well as not a consistent parental figure in their life makes for
some significant challenging behaviors.
I have seen a huge increase in the last five years of inappropriate discipline
that has to be investigated. For
example, a parent who has been deployed for eight –ten months has not
experienced with their child the different stages of development doesn’t understand
why her child is having such difficult potty training. The child has numerous accidents and the one
time put mom over the edge and she spanks her child so hard there are black and
blue bruise left behind on the child’s backside. Unfortunate as it may seem the child is
having bathroom accidents due to her environment. Mom is stressed, does not know how to relate
to her own child, child is frustrated because grandma who has been caring for
her the past eight months is no longer around, and now I have to live with
mommy and go to this school every day.
The child is in control none of the things that are happening to
her. The only thing children from ages
2-6 can control is if they are going to eat or not, and when they go
potty. The two things we as adults cannot
force them to conform are how they eat and when bowl movement will or won’t
happen. This leads to huge stress in
military families. The many impacts of
war on children’s lives are unbelievable.
Fallen parents, financial hardships, inconsistent parenting, disabled physically
and mentally that impact a parent’s ability to care for their child,
challenging behaviors, divorce, and above all child who do not cognitively, biosocial,
and psychosocially develop at the rates of non military families. Now I know in that back of your mind you are
thinking that child abuse, neglect, and blended parenting styles are affecting
children globally. I am trying to
illustrate that in it a huge concern for our children of war on how and if
society will ever truly understand the impact it has in our own
background. These children of war need
our love and support. I am just glad
that I am able to be a part of an organization and government program that
offer the best childcare in the given area for these children to have access to
all the resources and support and a state of the art facility to learn and
grow, yet most of all feel loved and appreciated.
It is not only American children who have felt the stressors
of War since we began fight terrorism in the Middle East, the children of Iraq
are no longer free to be children. Most
cannot even attend local schools. An article
in the guardian published by Michael Howard in 2007 illustrated Iraqi children
undergoing and being eyewitness to thing children should hear, see, or know
about (Howard, 2007) . “The Association of Iraqi Psychologists (API) said the
violence had affected millions of children, raising serious concerns for future
generations (Howard, 2007) .” War is not isolated to our country, or the
country we are liberating. War is a
tragedy that affects our children for generations to come. Society needs to ban together and support these
children of war before our future is altered forever.
Howard, M. (2007, Feb 5). The Guardian.
Retrieved from Children of War: The generation traumatised by violence in Iraq:
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/06/iraq.topstorie
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