Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Violence has profound affects on children's development. It makes them feel unsafe and afraid not knowing what the trigger might be on any specific day. I think that violence has different affects on different people depending on a variety of factors. Someone I know personally had quite a few violent encounters with their father at a young age. One instance in particular that this person shared with me was that their father hit them with a violin so hard he broke it because this person told their father that they didn't want to play it anymore. As a result, this person was very fearful and in some ways was still seeking the approval of their father even as an adult. This person shared with me that they ran away quite often from home because of the fear that had been instilled in them. When I hear something like this, I am first astounded by the fact that someone has survived this kind of situation still emotionally intact. Violence has such damaging affects on the emotional development in children. It causes them to be very fearful, very closed off emotionally. This person has been seeking help on and off through church groups designed to help those who have endured dysfunctional family relationships in addition to abusive relationships. Overcoming the lasting affects of violence and abuse is a phenomenal feat but it is definitely an ongoing process.

I was interested in finding out what kind of stressors impact children in Puerto Rico and I found that there were many different things that affect their development from weather (such as hurricanes) to various forms of abuse such as physical and sexual abuse in addition to poverty. One thing that was really a focus of solutions to these problems is providing services to help those individuals dealing with these stressors find ways to help them cope with their situations. These programs can include assistance with child care, counseling, assistance with medical care, and screening programs for medical issues that can potentially cause stress within the family. These are all important but I want to emphasize prevention of this rather than intervention. If we all move to take necessary steps to prevent abuse from even occuring we will be working to help children to not have to endure these unnecessary stressors in the first place. As these are still problems that we have to face we need to familiarize ourselves with the many different resources there are to support families and children in getting the assistance that they need to work through them.