Impacts on Early Emotional Development

On the UNICEF website, I researched the region of Latin America and Caribbean.  I chose this area, because I am somewhat familiar with this area, although I have mixed emotions.  I have been to the Caribbean several times via a cruise ship, and without a doubt, I will be back.  While my husband and I have enjoyed the beautiful beaches, amazing shops, and spectacular beach-front homes.  This is what we saw on most of our tours.  Then, this past year, we took a tour through Belize, and after seeing some spectacular homes and beaches, we traveled by bus through some of their poverty-stricken areas.  First of all, I was scared that we would be attacked (really I was).  But, more so, I was in shock… young children were running through the streets, without an adult in view…  children had ripped, dirty clothes… other children were without clothes… children could be seen going to the bathroom on the streets…  children were hitting each other with street branches… houses were boarded up… windows were broken… houses were half together (really).  The different areas on this tour were like night and day; it was hard to believe that one area of extreme wealth led into an area of extreme poverty.

The initial page on the website reiterated my observations.  The web page states that an unequal atmosphere exists among the children in Latin America and the Caribbean.  By unequal, it means while the lives of many children have improved, millions of other children are at risk.  More than half of the children and adolescents in this area are living in areas of poverty.  UNICEF is working in this area to break the cycle of poverty.  Then, as I read further, that many of these children do not have safe water to drink or basic sanitation services.    In addition, UNICEF is working to make certain that children in this area receive important immunizations.

As if I was not in shock enough, I read that an estimated 35 million children in this area never enter school… NEVER!  Obviously, one of the goals of UNICEF is to come up with initiatives that would assure all children received access to school.  Another one of UNICEF’s goals for this area is protecting children from violence.  Nearly 85,000 children die annually as a result of violence in this area.  While my bus trip (that I will never forget, nor will I ever repeat) was only 1 1/2 hours, I viewed life from both sides of a coin.  Without a doubt, the living conditions of these children will affect their emotional development, in addition to their cognitive, social, and physical development.

I cannot help but reflect back to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which I still think has relevance today.  If these children do not have the basics (water, food, clothes), it is basically impossible for them to move further up the ladder and accomplish much else.  Children whose basic needs are not met will never become all that they can be.  When I worked in the preschool classroom, I could instantly tell if a child had a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast; these children were wide awake and ready to conquer the world. 

This blog posting brought back memories that I tried to put away somewhere.  I kept telling my husband, “I don’t believe what I’m seeing.”  I wish that I could grab a handful of these little children and bring them home with me in my suitcase.  These children deserve a chance to make something of themselves… they deserve food and water… they deserve to go outside and play ball… they deserve to be educated in a good, developmentally appropriate school… they deserve a chance to succeed… they deserve life.  UNICEF is making a huge difference, and I trust that they will continue to do so, one child at a time.  I just do not know if that is enough; but I do not have a better alternative.

 

UNICEF (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html