Child Development and Public Health

I chose Mental Health of family because it means a lot to me to learn about family structure and how it can change a child’s life. The article that caught my interest was Family Structure and Children’s Physical and Mental Health. This article talks about family structure and how it affects children upbringing. They talk about children that live with a single-mother, grandparent, foster parents, etc. I was raise by both a single-mother and grandparent. I believe I was healthy as we as loved by my family. They said children with both biological parents are in better health than children not living with their biological parents.  Well sometime it is all about the value the parent is promoting to the child. Children need love and support as well as guidance to direct them in the right direction. One thing that I agree with is that children from household with parents that educated are most likely to have better physical and mental health than children where the parents are unable to provide.

I was a little bit surprise to read about children taking care their of their parent  illness. This information will not impact my future as early childhood professional. However  if I was going  to work in Africa were I will be exposed to unusual experiences such as parents having trouble connecting with their child, or teaching children with multiple learning barriers, then  yes it will be a challenging career as a early childhood professional.

Article link: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/26/2/549.full

 

South Africa's children caring for parents with Aids

Article link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jun/22/hiv-aids-child-carers-south-africa

Interviewing more than 7,000 people in some of the country's poorest townships, they are studying the mental health and education of a generation of South African children who are growing up caring for relatives with HIV and Aids.

The two-year study, involving 35 field staff, including local managers, interviewers and volunteers, is working to build a huge pool of data that will inform social policy not only for South Africa, but for other countries with high rates of Aids and HIV around the world.

Shockingly, so far, the research suggests children who live with Aids-sufferers have as much psychological distress as those who have been orphaned by Aids. "It's because of the stigma that comes with having HIV in the family," Cluver says. "Kids report being gossiped about, and teased, and having people scared to touch them."

The early findings show that about 40% of kids in Aids-sick homes are missing or have dropped out of school, compared to 22% in homes affected by other illnesses, and 5% in healthy homes. Almost a third of the young carers – sometimes as young as eight – report carrying out intimate care, such as washing sick people, helping them go to the toilet and cleaning their wounds.

"The kids aren't passive victims – they're kids just like all others, wanting to be Beyonce or Usher. They're so excited about the World Cup that when they chose pseudonyms for their stories to be reported in our research, half of them used football players' names," Cluver says. "They worry about the same things as first-world kids – one 13-year-old girl cried throughout her interview because kids at school were calling her 'baboon face'."