The stressor I have chosen for this weeks blog assignment is chaos. I currently work in a situation where the children mostly come from chaotic homes, it spills over into the school, and the teacher are expected to maintain an order that counteracts the chaos and gives the student stability and balance.
Chaos can mean a variety of different things depending upon the person giving the definition. When I think of chaos I think of arguments, frustration, unable to settle, confusion, anxiousness, anxiety, and trouble. The home may be chaotic due to extended family living situations, divorce, constant moving, finances, hunger, or an absent parent. Chaos can only be calmed by something or someone grabbing the attention or focus of the individual or group. I believe that this is how many of my students overcome and deal with the chaos stressor. The students are heavily involved in sports, clubs, and organizations. We try to keep them busy with service projects during extra class time as well as after school. The more involved they are in a controlled environment such as school, the less likely they are to find other methods of dealing with stress such as gangs, drugs, or criminal activity. My students are like open books and openly share with me the harsh realities they face. They are happy to be at school because they can feel the acceptance from peers and they enjoy the sometimes tough love from administration and staff. Coping with chaos can be challenging at times especially when it because intertwined with other stress such as finances. Finances can mean no food, no water, no heat, no transportation to make Social Service appointments, which can lead to being cut off from services. This kind of chaos requires intervention and help from outside agencies. Students are the biggest assets to their families in this case. They can return phone calls from school phones, use the computers to look up agencies, and talk with counselors that can provide transportation assistance as well as give them a list of local agencies ready to assist. Persistence is required when chaos interrupts our lives, and we must be willing to help each other achieve balance.
In other parts of the world, others are not so lucky. One stressor that sticks out in mind this time of year is hunger. As we enjoy food in abundance, others across the world may not be be fortunate, hunger is a problem right here in the United States, but for this blog I would like to point out hunger in the horn of Africa. Famine in the Horn of Africa is spreading as the region's worst drought in 60 years continues to worsen, according to the United Nations. Tens of thousands of people have died, and 12.4 million more living across Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and Djibouti are in serious need of food aid. (ncm.org/africahunger) Children in these regions are dying from hunger and disease. The unsanitary conditions mixed with the lack of food is causing them to starve, and die from disease that we are often protected against because of the many vitamins and minerals that we consume each day. We see the commercials on television that ask for donations to feed and support children and families in Africa, NCM.org is one of many organizations that use our donations to feed the citizens of Africa and improve the living conditions. Children are unable to attend school due to their lack of resources. Physical development as well as social/emotional, and intellectual development are all hindered. Hunger is curable (so says the commercials) and we really should do our best to contribute whatever little we can to protect children everywhere from the stressors than can ruin their life.
Hi Danielle
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. I never knew how bad the hunger situation is in Africa. Sometimes when we have so much food here in the states that we do not realize how fortunate we are. It also makes me think about all of the food that is wasted as well since there are children around the world that are constantly starving. I wish their governments would have better policies to make the lives better at least in terms of food. I know the United Nations is always willing to help.
Pan
Danielle,
ReplyDeleteHunger is a fact in the United States also. I have encountered hunger and have seen young children come into the classroom starved from not having enough food over the weekend. We implemented a program that has shown some results called Backpack Missions where backpacks are sent home filled with foods that the children can access themselves. It includes nutrition bars, jello, puddings, meat sticks, cheese packs, juices, etc. We also provide food through our church outreach programs. Our region which has an extremely high rate of poverty is now experiencing more cutbacks with the economy.
Danielle,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing information on such an important topic. You initiated a great discussion. It is easy to think about hunger as an issue that plagues foreign populations, but so many children right here in the US are affected, too. It is great to hear about programs such as "Backpack Missions." I think sharing ideas about how to help children in our own areas, as well as, sharing the names of food programs that provide aid internationally is imperative to keeping this social issue present in our hearts and minds. There is always need, and more can always be done.
Danielle,
ReplyDeleteGreat post
Chaos is how lots of families live their lives. I use to work a long time ago for a theraputic daycare center. We picked up children and took them to the daycare center. The home life for these children were just that chaotic and the school was the only stability they had. These children were referred to us by CPS and it was mandatory that these parents came to parenting classes and that their children attend daycare. I also like how you mentioned hunger. For million of children this is a daily scare, "will I go hungry today?" The center I worked at provided two meals and a snack for these children, and that was all they usually had to eat. Chaos is sometimes all that children know, it is difficult to see how they can function, Great post, Melissa