Childhood stressors !

Let me walk you through our rose bushes to give you an introduction to the damages that insects can cause. Most of the insects are small, but leave the flowers damaged.

All the above flowers or buds of rose bushes are in different stages fo being damaged by the pests that attack them.

The picture below, in contrast to all the above, is of a rose bush with its bud and leaves in its usual state.

My colleagues and I completed health survey of 400 young children in a school this week. We have another 600 more children to examine.

What encouraged us was the good indicators of health that most of them are blessed with. But we have also come across children who carry with them markers of various insults they might have suffered during their early childhood. They might not adversely affect them as the growth and development process might at least partly compensate for them.

About thirty percent of children have a habit of biting nails. While enquiring about why they do it, I was surprised to find that most of them bite their nails while being in situations of anxiety.

The de-stressing practice of biting their nails would expose the pulp of the fingers at the tip which leaves the tip of the fingers unsupported. The nail bed overgrows beyond the nail over a period of time and an embedded nail accumulates dirt and the site is prone even for infection. A child with an embedded nail would have an unsteady holding of  a writing instrument. A child might have to apply force to steady the writing instrument which would tire the hand while writing, making writing slower and clumsier.

It is important to observe for stressors in the lives of children because they limit their fullness of expression and prospects of joyfulness. 

Our educational process has become performance centred. Parents feel pressured to convert the home ambience to a class room with most of the time focussing on helping them to complete their home work, reducing the time for leisure time activities. 

From an interview with some parents, the family times or relaxing activity times at home have got reduced to infrequent occasions.

The common stressful indicators in children are loss of hunger, sleep interruptions, lack of interest to observe or explore, quarrelsome behaviour, not enjoying friendship, prolonged time watching TV or playing with mobile phone or on the internet, reduced interest in reading or listening while being read to, etc.

As I watched the rose flowers and buds in various stages of damage caused by the invaders, I thought of the stressors that affect the wellness of children physically and emotionally. 

I feel challenged by this and sense yet another opportunity to listeN to teachers and parents to understand more about the genesis and evolution of stressors in children!

We attend to monitor most of the major experiences in childhood to protect children during their  growth and development. But the stressors do not receive enough attention as they look small or insignificant. But remember the insects which attack the rose buds and flowers are small but they leave them damaged. 

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)