Imagine as an adult, going through stressful situations such as divorce, an abusive relationship, Natural Disaster, death of a loved one, or many other things that may occur in life. Now imagine these same situations and how they may effect young children.
I can remember a friend who lost their home and everything due to a Hurricane causing a major flood. This same friend has recently seen her parents divorce, and was back and forth living between the two. Both parents home was lost due to the floods. For my friend and siblings, this was a major deal, they were already dealing with how to live between both parents, and now they had to live from place to place until both parents were able to obtain and secure housing. This family was not in the best financial shape, which also added to problems that they all had to face.
Recently Hurricane Maria hit the US and Puerto Rico was hit hard, they are still dealing with the aftermath of the Hurricane Maria, in that people are still without lights and housing four months later. This stress has an impact on children who may have already had other situations going on in their lives. Schools were interrupted, children still living in temporary shelters, and some may not have power. This situation not only effects the children’s physical health and being, but seeing their parents stressed effects them, as well.
Although bad things or stressful situations are not effecting us, we should always think about the people who are going through these situations and the children that may be effected as well. I cant imagine how I would deal with certain situations, and really don’t know how I would handle things if my children were place into these stressful situations. As Early Educators, we don’t always know what is going on with our children, but when we do know we should try to empathetic to their situation and how it may effect their learning, and behavior in the classrooms.
Reference
Berger, K. S. (2016). The developing person through childhood (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Early Childhood for Life 