Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Natural disaster

April 2011, the area where I live suffered a string of deadly tornadoes. This is something that was not heard of here in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. It was a terrible ordeal for many families who lost everything. In the aftermath we could drive by one house that was demolished and the one right beside it not even touched.

Several of my students were subject to the horror of what these storms brought. Even today every time it storms, a little thunder and lightning, they are horrified. It takes a lot of consoling and reassuring them that everything is okay.

Natural disasters happen all over the world including flood, wildfire, tornado, earthquake, blizzard, hurricane, landslide and volcano. We never know what will hit us so we have to prepare for any and every thing. We have tornado, fire, and earthquake drills at our schools every month.

Here are some of the natural disasters in 2011:

2011

Natural Disasters Around the World

March 11: JAPAN -- A massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck Japan triggering tsunami activity. It is said that over 10,000 may have been killed.

Feburary 22: NEW ZEALAND --The Canterbury Region of New Zealand was struck by a 6.3 earthquake that has killed over 98 people. *SEE MORE ABOUT NEW ZEALAND HERE*

January 13: BRAZIL -- Thousands of families living on mountain slopes face risk of being washed away in the heavy rains and flooding that have killed more than 900 people.

January 1: AUSTRALIA -- The Australian city of Brisbane has experienced widespread flooding, although the peak level is a metre lower than feared. The death toll in Queensland's flooding went up to 15, with dozens more reported missing.

References:

Natural disasters around the world. Retrieved from http://gvc1007.gvc10.virtualclassroom.org/

Immunizations

Disease prevention is the key to public health. It is always better to prevent a disease than to treat it. Vaccines prevent disease in the people who receive them and protect those who come into contact with unvaccinated individuals. Vaccines help prevent infectious diseases and save lives. Vaccines are responsible for the control of many infectious diseases that were once common in this country, including polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), mumps, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) (CDC, 2009).

UNICEF promotes the worldwide use of immunization and vitamin A supplementation as effective means of achieving international goals: one-third reduction of the under-five mortality rates by 2010 and the Millennium Development Goal of two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality by 2015.

I am a strong supporter of vaccines and immunizations. I believe that we must do everything we can to keep children safe and healthy. I know that there are questions about whether or not immunizations cause a range of physical and mental complications.

It is sad that there are so many children that die every year in third world countries due to no funding and no means of getting the vaccines or the people to administer them to the children.

I am posting below my resources and extra resources for anyone that would like more information.

Resources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009).  Vaccines and Immunizations. Retrieved
            from http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/howvpd.htm

http://www.unicef.org/immunization/index_bigpicture.html

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00053391.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10376617?dopt=Abstract

http://www.vaccinesuncensored.org/third.php

Childbirth In My Life and In China

At the age of 17 and in the first weeks of my senior year in high school, I found out that I was pregnant. Boy, was I scared to death!!! I had no idea what to expect and didn't know what to do. My pregnancy was a difficult one with being in and out of the hospital, from being dehydrated to preterm labor. At 30 weeks I started spotting and leaking fluid. I had to go on complete bed rest  only being able to go to the bathroom. I asked to go to my senior prom but at 34 weeks the baby's lungs were not ready. At 37 weeks I was allowed to attend my graduation, where afterwards I began having contractions and when we got to the hospital I was told that we would have a baby by morning. After a couple of hours the contractions just stop!!! I was told it was because of the medication they had me taking before to keep me from going into labor, being off it for a few days and the excitement of graduation just started the contractions. I went home and it was 2 weeks later at 39 weeks my water officially broke. I felt excited and scared at the same time. I ended up getting a epidural too early and they left it on too long. After 18 hours of labor I was finally able to start pushing, but I couldn't feel anything from the waist down. I had a nurse on one side and my husband on the other holding my legs and watching the monitor and telling me when to push. After 5 hours of exhausting pushing I was unable to continue, they had to use forceps to pull my son out. He ended up having a dent in his forehead. He was beautiful, I worried throughout my pregnancy what was I gonna do with a baby....it was so natural when I saw him I just knew what to do. I miscarried 2 years later and 3 years later I had another beautiful baby boy. 


I chose China to research about childbirth. Chinese culture traditionally has preferred males to females. Male children are preferred because they continue ancestral rites that care
for the soul after death (Myers, 1997). Males also have the responsibility to care for elderly parents. Because daughters tend to leave home to join the husband’s family, elderly people are concerned about who will care for them if they do not have a son. Extended female family members help the new mother during the birthing period. Traditionally, women from the extended family attend the birth rather than the husband. Childbirth is seen as “women’s business,” and most health care providers are female. Zuo yue zi (“doing the month”) is a unique aspect of Chinese childbearing. A Chinese woman will typically stay indoors for 1 month after giving birth (considered a vulnerable period) to allow her body to recover, regain balance, and avoid present and future illness. Other rituals surrounding zuo yue zi include washing the mother’s and family’s clothes separately, avoiding sexual relations, and limiting movement so the mother can rest as much as possible. A postpartum woman should also avoid drafts, stemming from the belief that any wind or cold can enter the body and cause future disease, like arthritis. Clothing must cover the entire body. A woman should not shower, brush her teeth, or wash her hair for a month following childbirth, although she may take a bath with ginger and red wine a week after childbirth (Hao & Moore, 2000).

References:



Hao, G. L., & Moore, J. F. (2000). Perinatal care: Cultural and technical differences between China and the United States. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 11(1), 47-54

Myers, J. H. (1997). Birth-planning policy in rural China: The cultural imbalance between innovation and tradition. Journal of International and Area Studies, 7, 22-31