Category: Free Essays

This essay discusses about parenting and its effects on childhood obesity. Whether parents should be solely blamed for the outcome of an obese child. Modeling behaviour, dietary habits, parenting styles, parents beliefs and expectations were also discussed as the few factors which contributed to childhood obesity. This essay also discusses about the imbalance of energy input and output of children which also contributes to children??s obesity. Furthermore, ideas were given on the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity through healthy lifestyle changes.

Keywords: parenting, childhood obesity, dietary habits

Parents Should be Punished for their Children??s Obesity

Over the years, the definition of obesity has been continuously revised and altered. What we would define as obesity in this era could be very much different from how we would define obesity in the past. So it all comes down to one question, what is obesity? Many find this difficult to answer as there are numerous perspectives, some may base their definition on culture, whereas others may base it on science. However, there are a few definitions from various different aspects. According to Kretchmer (1988), obesity is defined as ??a complex biological situation and a prime example of a problem where there is a constant interaction of genetics and environment.?? Based on Kretchmer??s definition, he believes that it is pointless to argue on whether nature or nurture has a greater influence on the origination of obesity. On the other hand, from a nutritional and scientific point of view, a method known as the body mass index – weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared, defines whether an individual falls within the normal or obese range (Kretchmer, 1988).

Based on the results from the 2009??2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), an approximate of 16.9% of adolescents and children in the United States between the ages of 2-19 are obese (National Center for Health Statistics, 2012). The main question is how exactly do these young individuals end up being overweight and obese? Should they be fully responsible for their own physical well-being, or are there other factors that contribute to this epidemic. This essay will discuss on how parents become the main source of reason behind the childhood obesity outbreak, mainly focusing on their lifestyles which thus affects their children, as well as their beliefs, expectations, modeling behaviour and parenting styles. However, childhood obesity can also be caused by various other factors, ranging from dietary to sedentary lifestyles, which will also be discussed in this essay Majority of the time, a child??s parents are his/her primary caregiver, therefore they spend hours with their mother and father. This thus allows parents to be the number one most influential people in a child??s life, their presence could result in either promoting or impeding the child??s healthy lifestyle.Furthermore, parents equip their children with their food environment, model eating habits and control their children??s food intake.

According to Birch (1979), the child??s familiarity with food contributes to 25 to 50% of the changes in their dietary preferences. The familiarity with food was tested by Birch and Marlin (1982), whereby they introduced unusual fruits and cheeses to various children and found that there was a significant relationship between the amount of exposure and preference. This suggests that children would rather prefer foods that they are introduced to at home. McCarthy (1935) also discovered that children showed a distaste for foods that their parents have no liking for. This studies are also interrelated with the parents beliefs, as it contributes greatly in their children??s eating habits. For example, most parents have the belief that children disfavour skim milk, and that the temperature of the milk given would greatly affect consumption. However, studies done by Herbert-Jackson et al. (1977) proven otherwise, when children were given different milks with differing fat density at varying temperatures, they noted no differences in the consumption of the milk. Foman (1974), suggests that because some parents find skim milk distasteful, they presume that their children find skim milk distasteful too.

Likewise with salt and sugar that are added to baby foods, parents perceive that their taste preferences would be similar with their offsprings??. These studies thus shows that parents play a very important role in their children??s food environment. Although most children do not have a specific taste preference, due to their parents influence they consume much more salt, sugar and fats than what is nutritionally needed as they are affected by their parents?? taste preferences, this could thus result in an obese child.

Furthermore, the modeling of parents may act as an intermediary on how children develop their eating habits and activity levels. Harper and Sanders (1975) compared the impacts of persuading and modeling on children ranging between the ages of one to four. They discovered that children reproduced the adult model??s eating behaviour in 80% of the situations. However, when persuaded to eat, children would only reciprocate 48% of the time. Though prompts to eat does affectthe intake of foods, an adult model is even more a influentialstimulant. Therefore, this study shows that an adult model had a great impact on children. In this study, unidentified adult models were introduced to the children, yet the response of modeling behaviour was still high. Parents would consequently provide a much more greater influence considering how the children are constantly exposed to their parents?? presence.

In addition, a review article done by Sleddens et al. (2011) investigated on general parenting and its impact on their children??s physical activity level, eating habits and weight status. According to Sleddens et al. (2011), it was found that variousstudies showed a significant relationship with general parenting. Parents who raise their children in a authoritative manner resulted in their children having high levels of physical activities, more healthy eating habits, and have lower BMI scores in contrast with other children who were raised in a different parenting style. According to Maccoby and Martin (1983), an authoritative parenting style is defined as a family setting whereby emotional support and warmth is conveyed, along with a comprehensible and clear-cut communication between the parents and the children. For that reason, parenting style plays a very important role on how it influences the health of the children.

Although there are many studies relating parenting with childhood obesity, it is however not the only factor that contributes to the obesity of children. According to Kutchman et al. (2009), they theorised that an imbalance in the child??s energy intake and energy output affects the weight of the child. Due to the sedentary lifestyles of young individuals in this era, they are more prone to be inactive despite consuming the same amount of foods as children did in the past. This is due to the increased usage of computer use (e.g. surfing the internet, social media websites ?? facebook, twitter), and increased television viewing time. There was a positive correlation found between obesity and global television viewing time (Robinson, 2001). A study done by Matheson et al. (2004), showed that children who watch television while eating resulted in the consumption of more calories in contrast with children who did not watch television while eating. According to Proctor et al. (2003), children who watched less than an hour and forty-five minutes of television per day had significantly lower levels of BMIs as compared to those children who watched television three hours or more. They also found that those children who watched large amounts of television during their early years had the most increase in body fat over an extended period of time (Proctor et al., 2003). This study thus demonstrates that the child??s level of physical activity is greatly affected by the level of computer usage and television viewing.

Although there are two sides to how a child??s obesity is affected, it all still points towards the direction on how the parents handle their children. As children are still not old enough to make such sensible decisions, parents thus play the larger role in disciplining and modeling healthy behaviours for their children (Bries & Gartin, 2006).

In conclusion, I believe that parents are to blame for their children??s obesity, however to punish them would not be as appropriate, but to educate them on leading a more active and healthy lifestyle would be more beneficial for both the parents and the children. Further directions includes research that should be conducted on the investigation of intervention studies that focus on the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity through general parenting (Gerards, 2011). Another area to consider would be to focus on creating awareness on childhood obesity, and how this epidemic has been increasing over the years. Parents along with schools should work together in battling this ever growing problem. Ultimately, they should encourage healthy lifestyle changes for not only the children, but with the parents as well because ??weight-loss among children and their parents have greater long-term success rates than programs focusing solely on child weight reduction?? (Larimore et al., 2005).

The Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework provides Head Start and other early childhood programs with a description of the developmental building blocks that are most important for a childs school and long-term success” (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p.1). All children, ages 3 to 5 years old, are expected to advance in all of the areas of child development and early learning that are written by the Framework. All federally funded Head Start programs are also expected to develop and implement a program that ensures such progress is made (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2010). The Framework is the base foundation of the Head Start Approach to School Readiness. It aligns with and builds from the five essential domains of school readiness identified by the National Educational Goals Panel and lays out essential areas of learning and development (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2010). The five essential domains outlined in the Framework are: language and literacy, cognition and general knowledge, social and emotional development, approaches to learning, and physical development and health .

There are many reasons that children enter daycare and other childcare settings in the years leading up to beginning kindergarten. The primary reason that children enter preschool, either private or public, is a parent returning to work, especially during the first one or two years two of a child’s life (Peyton, Jacobs, O’Brien, & Roy, 2001). Statistics from outside the home preschool programs suggest that non-family child care can provide lasting benefits to children (Campbell, Ramey, Pungello, Sparling, & Miller-Johnson, 2002). The later preschool are normally the years that prepare children to start school (Fram, Kim & Sinha, 2011). Head Start aims to provide the resources necessary to strengthen the school readiness and general development of pre-kindergarten children who come from low-income families, and a growing prekindergarten movement has extended this type of approach to a wider range of children with growing success (Barnett, Lamy, & Jung, 2005).

The FACES 2003 cognitive assessment data showed that most children entered Head Start with early academic skills that were “below national norms on standardized measures of vocabulary, early math, early reading, and early writing” (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2006, p.2). The cohort stated that the mean standard score for all U.S. children is 100, with a standard deviation of 15. Children who entered Head Start in the fall of 2003 had mean standard scores of 85.6 for vocabulary, 88.4 for early math, 95.0 for early reading, and 86.5 for early writing. These scores were expected because many of the enrolled Head Start children come from disadvantaged families with very low parent education (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006).

A 2012 study by Baroody and Diamond stated that reading is an essential area of academic competence that is “central to children’s successful development and functioning as adult citizens in society” (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2000, p.10), and learning to read is a main focus of instruction in early elementary grades. Children who are successful in reading are also more likely to do well in mathematics and other areas of academic achievement (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2000). Other studies on a nationally representative sample of young children have confirmed that children who participated in a center-based program between two and three years of age demonstrated the strongest cognitive and developmental outcomes at school entry (Loeb, Bridges, Bassok, Fuller & Rubmerger, 2007).

Language and Literacy

Children begin their language development early in life. This includes both receptive and expressive language, as well as understanding and possibly using one or more languages (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2010). Children must be allowed to interact socially with other children and adults to fulfill their language development. Children need to have a literacy knowledge to be successful in school. These skills include the basis for learning to read and write, such as basic concepts about printed materials, the alphabet, and letter-sound relationships (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2010). Research has shown that children who are interested in reading and literacy activities tend to participate more and are likely to become more proficient readers than children who lack literacy interest. Both literacy interest and engaging in literacy activities, both at home and at school, are important components in children’s early literacy experiences (Baroody & Diamond, 2012). There have been several studies on literacy skill development through play, which embed literacy materials within play settings in preschool programs, that have normally shown increases in children’s use of literacy materials and engagement in literacy acts (Bergen, 2002). Research shows that children who enter kindergarten with knowledge in language and literacy are more likely to succeed in schools, and children who are severely lacking in areas such as recognizing letters, phonological awareness, and overall language ability are more likely to experience trouble in learning to read (Bredekemp, 2004).

Children who enter the Head Start program come with a wide range of skills. In 2000, the highest quarter of Head Start children were at or above the 50th percentile in early language skills, with the lowest children ranked in the bottom 2 percent (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003, p. iii). The mean standard score for all U.S. children is 100, with a standard deviation of 15. The mean standard scores for children who entered Head Start during the fall of 2003 were 85.6 for vocabulary, 95.0 for early reading, and 86.5 for early writing (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003).

Researchers have documented that vocabulary, letter recognition, and phonological awareness are skills needed for children to successfully learn to read. Biemiller (2006) observed that vocabulary is a telling predictor of reading comprehension. A 1997 study by Cunningham and Stanovich showed a measurable connection between oral receptive vocabulary in first grade and reading comprehension in eleventh grade. Whitehurst and Lonigan (1998) and Ehri and Roberts (2006) both reported that letter recognition and phonemic awareness are two of the skills that children need to become proficient readers (United States Department of Health and Human Services, January 2010). Emergent literacy is a key component of school readiness, and early differences in emergent literacy in preschool tend to be made worse throughout the elementary years (Noble, Duch, Darvique, Grundleger, Rodriquez, & Landers 2011). Noble et al. found that randomized trials suggested that when struggling parents are taught the parenting skills needed to help their children engage in reading and reading related activities, children’s emergent literacy skills will improve. Huge steps in reading are being seen when children are engaged in such emergent literacy strategies both at home and school (Noble, Duch, Darvique, Grundleger, Rodriquez, & Landers 2011). Children love to be read to. It’s a small thing that parents can do to improve their child’s success in school.

Research suggests “the skills that children need to become proficient writers include vocabulary knowledge, phonological sensitivity skills, letter knowledge, and an understand of conventional print, all of which contribute to their oral language skills” (Powell, Diamond, Bojczyk, & Gerde, 2008, p.425) In a qualitative study, teachers in one Head Start classroom stated that it is “important to expose children to the alphabet, but cautioned that the exposure should not be forced upon them” (Powell, Diamond, Bojczyk, & Gerde, 2008, p.427). According to the 2006 FACES Brief, the Head Start program has been stressing the importance of early literacy skills, which includes vocabulary and alphabet knowledge. The average number of letters that Head Start children know by the end of the program year continues to increase. Research shows gains in letter identification and early reading during the Head Start year have increased across the three FACES cohorts, 2000, 2003, and 2006. (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006). In 2006, the Congressional goal of knowing at least 10 letters was being met. (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006). The average number of letters that 4-year-old and 5-year-old children in Head Start could identify correctly has increased significantly since the 1997-98 program year. The mean number of letters correctly identified by children of these ages at the end of the 1997-98 program year was 7. At the beginning of the 2000-2001 school year, children identified 4 letters, and by the end knew an average of 9 letters (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003, p. iii). By the end of 2003-04 program year, the children could identify 10 on average. (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006).

The 2012 study by Baroody and Diamond studied children’s alphabet knowledge using the FACES QRS Letter Naming assessment (Westat, 2003). Children were shown three plates that included eight to nine uppercase letters. The child was asked to name all of the letters he/she knew. The data the researcher used was the number of letters the child named correctly. Due to the fact that children’s alphabet knowledge scores were not normally distributed, Baroody and Diamond created a dichotomous variable: knowing few letters (0-9) or knowing many or most letters (10-26). These categories were based on both the distribution of these data and Head Start letter-knowledge objectives (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). Sixty-seven percent of children (54 children) named few letters, and 33 percent (26 children) named 10 or more letters. Children who know more letters and do better on letter identification show higher levels of literacy interest. This is important because letter knowledge is a good predictor of children’s reading development (Baroody & Diamond, 2012). Children’s code-related skills in preschool, which include letter-word identification and alphabet knowledge, are related to kindergarten literacy skills, which are also related to reading and language skills in first through fourth-grade reading comprehension (Storch & Whitehurst, 2002).

Each Head Start FACES cohort includes a nationally representative sample of 3- to 4-year-old children entering Head Start for the first time in the fall of the program year, their families, Head Start teachers, classrooms, centers, and programs. Children in FACES are administered a one-on-one assessment of their development that includes language and literacy. There have been five FACES cohorts (1997, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009) and they show significant gains over fifteen years of school readiness in language and literacy, most notably in narrowing the gap between Head Start children and other preschool-age children, especially in vocabulary knowledge and early writing skills (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003). FACES cohorts use the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III)(vocabulary) and the Woodcock-Johnson Revised (WJ-R) achievement battery to look at the children’s development (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003).

The FACES 2000 Executive Summary showed more progress in letter recognition skills than in the 1997-98 cohort (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2003). In 2000, FACES found that students entering Head Start had a mean standard score of 85.3 on the PPVT-III which increased to 89.1 in the spring (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003). Scores on the Woodcock-Johnson Revised in early writing increased from 85.1 in the fall to 87.1 in the spring (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003). The FACES 2003 cohort found more gains vocabulary and early writing skills. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III found a mean standard score of 85.6 in the fall, that increased to 90.6 over the course of the school year (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006). The WJ-R showed a decrease in early writing skills from a 86.5 mean standard to an 85.9 (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006). FACES 2006 also showed improvements in vocabulary and early writing with mean standard scores of 89.4 and 97.5, respectively (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). In FACES 2009, they used an adapted version of the PPVT which showed that children enrolled in Head Start scored ahead of the non-Head Start children with scores of 257.50 and 251.43 (United States Department of Health and Human Services, January 2010). As shown in the 5 Head Start FACES cohorts, data shows impacts on children’s cognitive development while they are in their Head Start year (United States Department of Health and Human Services, January 2010).

Cognitive and General Knowledge

Cognitive development encompasses areas such as social science, science, math and logic and reasoning skills. It is only one component of a child’s development, but is just as important to a child’s learning as is physical, social and emotional systems. When looking at mathematics, it includes the conceptual understanding of numbers, their relationships, combinations, and operations. Science includes the ability to gather information about the natural and physical world and organize that information into knowledge and theories. Social studies looks at understanding people and how they relate to others and the world around them. Logic and reasoning skills include the ability to think through problems and apply strategies for solving them (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2010).

Jean Piaget was a psychologist who studied the cognitive development in children for over 50 years. He studied his own children and developed his theory of cognitive development. He believed that children acquire knowledge through interacting with the physical environment around them. Piaget believed that cognitive development occurs through the process of assimilation and accommodation. He found that “when the child encounters something in the environment that he or she does not understand, the child has to expand, through accommodation, his or her view of the world and thereby restore equilibrium” (Zigler & Bishop-Josef, p. 15).

Professors from Georgetown University constructed a cognitive study using students in Tulsa, Oklahoma to test the success of universally available pre-Kindergarten. Oklahoma has the highest proportion of 4-year-olds enrolled in pre-Kindergarten, 63%, of any state in the union. The study compared two groups of children of very nearly the same age, one of which had attended pre-K and one of which had not. The first group of 5-year-olds barely missed the birthday cut-off for pre-K and the other group turned 5 by the cutoff. The first group were about to start pre-K and the second group had experienced one year of pre-K and were starting kindergarten in the fall. Since the children were literally just days or weeks apart in age, they were expected to have similar skills, unless the experience of pre-K had made a difference. The one year of pre-K did make a difference. In three cognitive exams, letter-word identification, spelling and applied problems, Tulsa students who had pre-K substantially outperformed those who had not. Statistically significant differences were found among every race of students, and among every socioeconomic group. Quality early education benefits all social and economic groups of children (Calman & Tarr-Whelan, 2005).

Mathematics helps children make sense of their world outside of school and helps them construct a foundation for success in school. Math is for everyone. If math is taught properly at the early childhood level, all children should become proficient in it (Copley, 2010). Children who entered Head Start in the fall of 2000 had academic skill and knowledge levels well below national averages. Academic levels were comparable to the levels found FACES 1997. (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003). The skills that children have when they start Head Start are influenced by home life and other early childhood settings before Head Start. FACES 2000 found that children who entered Head Start with lower math skills made greater gains than the children who came in with average scores. FACES found that students entering Head Start in 2000 scored an 89.7 on the Applied Problem (early math) task in the fall, but scores rose to 89.0 in the spring. This score shows entering students at about the 21st percentile in early math skills, when compared to American children in the same age range. The mean average standard score is 100, with a standard deviation of 15. Scores for the highest quarter of children entering Head Start was 104.7 in math. Therefore, these Head Start children rank in the top 50 percent when compared to all U.S. preschoolers (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003).

FACES 2006 used the ECLS mathematics assessment to look at a broader set of skills, including geometry, patterns and measurement. It found a large range of scores in math. The average score for Head Start children was 88.4, with the national average being 100. The ECLS found that the children who started Head Start with the lowest skills scored an average of 68.8 and the children with the highest skills scores on average 105.7 (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2006).

Disadvantaged children are less likely to exhibit well-developed mathematics skills and knowledge than their more advantaged counterparts, both in preschool and continuing through the school years (Noble, Duch, Darvique, Grundleger, Rodriquez, & Landers 2011). These families tend to focus on simpler topics, such as counting and shape recognition, rather than on more complex processes such as numerical or geometric reasoning. In two small evaluations with Head Start families, researchers found that children who participated in Family Mathematics Curriculum (FMC) with their parents had significantly higher scores in the areas of enumeration, numerical reasoning, and an overall math composite relative to children in a control group (Starkey & Klein, 2000). This supports the idea that, with adequate support and materials, parents can have a significant impact on children’s mathematical skills, allowing for a more successful school experience (Noble, Duch, Darvique, Grundleger, Rodriquez, & Landers 2011). Head Start encourages families to become involved in all aspects of their child’s learning.

Social and Emotional Development

Head Start strives to promote young children’s development of social skills and emotional self-growth. Social and emotional development refers to children’s learning the skills needed to foster secure and healthy relationships with adults and other children, manage their own behavior and emotions, and develop a positive personal identity (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2010). Basically, this domain includes understand and following classroom rules, sharing with others, making friends, and listening, all skills needed to make children successful in school. “Teaching social and emotional skills to young children who are at risk either because of biological and temperament factors or because of family disadvantage and stressful life factors can result in fewer aggressive responses, inclusion with pro-social

peer groups, and more academic success” (Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2004, p. 98). Research in the area of early childhood education has shown that children’s social and emotional skills are important for children to be ready for school and are the basis for cognitive development and knowledge acquisition at very young ages (Center for the Study of Social Policy). Recent research released by Zero to Three, states that if aa‚¬A“children do not achieve early social and emotional milestones, they will not do well in the early school years and are at higher risk for school problems and juvenile delinquency later in life” (WestEd Center for Prevention and Early Intervention, 2006, p.10). Head Start children have shown growth in their social skills during the Head Start year (Unites States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006). Early Head Start parents clearly linked their concerns about social and emotional development to their understanding that young children learn in social context and from social relationships (McAllister, Wilson, Green and Baldwin, 2005). Emotional regulation skills and social competence show exceptional growth during the preschool years. Teachers begin to see empathy emerge as children recognize a broader array of emotions. Children begin to understand that their actions can cause feelings in other people that are different from their own (Bierman, Nix, Greenberg, Blair, & Domitrovich, 2008).

A major developmental task of the first five years of life is the development of self-regulation, or controlling ones’ own emotions, learning to delay gratification, and building relationships. In fact, “providing the experiences that allow children to take over and self-regulate in one aspect of their lives after another is a very general description of the job of parents, teachers, and protectors of children that extends throughout early childhood and into the adolescent years” (Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development, 2000, p. 94). All children must learn to navigate through the transition of total dependence on others at birth, including learning to regulate their emotions, behaviors, and attention (NAEYC, 2009). In the preschool years, teachers can help children develop self-regulation by scaffolding high-level dramatic play, helping children to express their emotions, and engaging them in planning and decision making (NAEYC, 2009). The preschool period is seen as a critical period for the development of the skills needed for social competence (Tarullo, West, Aikens, & Hulsey, December 2008). These skills are best accomplished during the preschool years “because building positive social skills and healthy emotional relationships in young children is much easier than later trying to correct behavior and adjustment problems” (Domain 6: Social and Emotional Development, website). Young children who know nothing but poverty are at greater risk of enduring emotional problems, particularly internalizing behavior problems (Tarullo, West, Aikens, & Hulsey, 2008). Also, children with greater self-regulation in kindergarten are more skilled in reading and mathematics in later grades (NAEYC, 2009). Studies show that aggression declines as children gain the self-regulatory skills that allow them to inhibit reactive aggression in favor of socially appropriate alternatives. The “acquisition of these social competencies (emotion regulation, pro-social skills, and aggression control) represent another important facet of school readiness, predicting kindergarten and elementary school engagement and academic success, as well as positive peer relation” (Bierman, Nix, Greenberg, Blair, & Domitrovich, 2008, p. 823).

The FACES 1997 and 2000 cohorts showed gains in cooperative classroom behavior over the course of the program year. Children who started Head Start with lower social skills showed more gains than the children who entered with higher social skills (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003). The mean score on the Total Behavior Problems scale for the FACES 2000 cohort was 5.6. This score shows that the typical Head Start child engaged in several forms of aggressive, hyperactive, or withdrawn behavior at least somewhat or sometimes, or one or two forms of undesirable behavior often (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003). This score was close to the same as in the 1997-98 cohort. The significant declines in problem behavior by children with higher levels of problem behavior indicates that Head Start is having a redeeming influence on the children enrolled (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003).

The FACES 2003 showed that Head Start children showed significant fall to spring gains on a measure of social skills and cooperative classroom behavior, similar to gains observed in the FACES 1997 and 2000 cohorts (Unites States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006). Many Head Start children show growth in their social skills during the school year, with other gains in cooperative classroom behavior and a decrease in withdrawn behavior as observed by classroom teachers (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006). FACES 2006 showed that Head Start teachers reported that children enrolled as 3-year-olds showed more social skills, 18.4 versus 14.8, by the end of their second year enrolled in Head Start and fewer problem behaviors (5.4 versus 7.8) on average (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006). At select time points throughout the school year, Head Start teachers rated children as having relatively strong social skills and few problem behaviors.

The January 2010 Head Start Impact Study found strong evidence of an impact of access to Head Start on parent-reported behavior at the end of the Head Start year. Parents reported less hyperactive behavior (effect size= -.21) and fewer total problem behaviors (effect size= -.21) for the Head Start group as compared to the control group. There is suggestive evidence of a positive impact on parent-reported social skills and approaches to learning (effect size=.11) at the end of the age 4 year (United States Department of Health and Human Services, January 2010). The same Head Start Impact Study also found that at the end of the kindergarten year, there is moderate evidence of an impact on parents’ reports of children’s hyperactive behavior. Parents reported less hyperactive behavior (effect size= -.21) for the Head Start group as compared to the control group. There is suggestive evidence of a favorable impact on children’s social skills and approaches to learning (effect size=0.14) as reported by parents in this year (United States Department of Health and Human Services, January 2010). At the end of the 1st grade, there is moderate evidence of an impact on parent reports of closeness with their child (effect size=0.10), indicating more desirable or positive behavior for the Head Start group of children compared to those in the control group. There is also suggestive evidence of an improvement on parent-reported positive relationships with their child (effect size=0.10) in this year (United States Department of Health and Human Services, January 2010).

School readiness and success in school require both the development of academic skills and the acquisition of positive social skills and approaches to learning (Blair, 2002). The January 2010 Head Start Impact Study showed there was “limited evidence of an impact of Head Start on children’s social-emotional development with no impacts identified in the Head Start year or in kindergarten and only limited and conflicting impacts reported at the end of the 1st grade” (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p. 5-1). There is more evidence for the 3-year-olds social-emotional development. Parents reported strong evidence of reduced hyperactive behavior and reduced total problem behavior for children in the Head Start group during the school year. The reduction of hyperactive behavior continued into kindergarten for children in the Head Start group with a moderate report by parents. Parents also reported suggestive evidence of better social skills and positive approaches to learning for children in the Head Start group in both the age 4 year and in kindergarten. Finally, at the end of 1st grade, parents of Head Start group children reported evidence of a positive and closer relationship with their child than parents of children in the control group (United States Department of Health and Human Services, January 2010).

Approaches to Learning

The way a child looks at learning contributes to their success in school and often in their learning. It is not what a child learns at this age, it is how a child learns. Children’s ability to stay focused, interested, and engaged in activities supports a range of positive outcomes, including cognitive, language, and social and emotional development (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2010). The results of the “Getting Ready for School” study by Noble and colleagues, demonstrated that a targeted parent-focused program may be effective in supporting the development of school-readiness skills of disadvantaged preschool children. Assistance needs to be provided to Head Start programs to identifying and implement evidence-based interventions to help build the skills of parents so that they can help to support their child’s school readiness (Noble, Duch, Darvique, Grundleger, Rodriquez, & Landers, 2011). The approaches to learning domains encompasses observable behaviors that indicate ways children become engaged in social interactions and learning experiences (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2010).

Research shows that where children learn is just as important as how children learn. FACES 2000 found that Head Start classrooms were of good quality across a wide variety of indicators. In 2000-2001 there was an increased percentage of new teachers with advanced degrees that were more likely to be trained in Early Childhood Education and were members of a professional organization than in 1997-1998. The results showed that teachers with more education were more likely to have knowledge and positive attitudes about early childhood practices, which influence classroom quality (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2003). The FACES cohorts use the ECERS, or Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale to assess Head Start classrooms. The ECERS total score uses a rating scale of 1 to 7, with 1 indicating “inadequate” quality and 7 indicating “excellent” quality. FACES 1997 and 2000 cohorts found Head Start classrooms with relatively similar scores. In 1997, no classrooms were scored “inadequate” and only 4 of the 518 classrooms studied were scored in the “minimal” range (3) (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003). In 2000, a revised version of the ECERS found 5 of the 258 classrooms in the “inadequate” range and 15 of the 258 classrooms scored in the “minimal” range. FACES 2000 shows a small number of classrooms were rated lower in quality, but low-scoring classroom still only represented 20 of 358 classrooms overall (7.6 percent) (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003). The other end of the scale shows that the number of classrooms rated as “excellent” increased from 18.7 percent in 1997 to 21.6 percent in 2000 (United States Department of Health and Human Services, May 2003). Both the FACES 2003 and 2009 cohorts showed that quality in Head Start continued to be good. The average ECERS-R score of Head Start classrooms is higher than those of other center-based preschool programs (United States Department of Health and Human Services, December 2006). Approximately 70 percent of Head Start children are enrolled in centers that have an ECERS-R score of at least a 5 (on the 7 point system) (

Within this resource pack, I aim to guide practitioners and parents to implement the five outcomes of every child matters for children age four and five years in their care. I will begin by given the historical background of Every Child Matters and Policies and Legislative material in order to outline the definitions of social justice and inclusion. Also, I will discuss the significance and possible barriers of inclusion. Portions of the resource pack will reflect critically on Every Child Matters agenda which led to the enactment of The Children Act 2004 linking it to the five outcomes.

In 2003, the government initiated Every Child Matters which was launched in the United Kingdom followed by the death of Victoria Climbie. It was a significant plan of the government to change and improve the lives of children and children’s services. The idea of the plan was to safeguard children; however it went beyond and expands the prospects available to young people from birth to 19 years. After the death of Victoria Climbie, there was a long meeting of all the various professionals working in children services. The outcome of the meeting underlined a lot of failure of the system, such as not being able to protect vulnerable children from purposeful harm. As the above has not being the only or a one off incident this was based on professionals not communicating with one another therefore Lord Laming suggested a structural reform which means different agencies working together (DfES, 2003).

Following the consultation, the Government published Every Child Matters, the next steps which gave way to the Children Act 2004 which provided the legislative backbone for developing more useful and within reach services, focused around the needs of children, young people and families. The document carried 108 recommendations for fundamental changes. It aimed at supporting all children to have the support they need, no matter whatever their background or circumstances. This Act brought in a change for children. In 2005 a Children’s Commissioner for England was assigned to stand for the views of children. The Every Child Matters agenda was further developed in 2007 through the publication of the Children’s Plan. This plan was a ten year strategy ensuring that every child gets the best in life and helps parent into work as well as making an informed choices about child care and family life. Also it aims to improve children’s educations, health and eradicate poverty (DfES, 2004).

Every Child Matters focuses on the well being of children and young people. It lays emphasis on better outcome for children, hence the five outcomes a guideline every practitioner should follow. Being Healthy requires that Early Years settings must show that practitioners are enabling children to be in an environment that let them to enjoy physical, mental and emotional health. All settings have the responsibility to make sure children learn how to achieve these things for themselves and live healthy lifestyles and understand the importance of being healthy (Knowles 2009:59), this has significance to Article (24) (27) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which recommends that all children should have right to health, clean water and environment, nutritious food, and have a good standard of living that meets moral and social needs (Bruce and Meggitt 2007). One will include that children should be supported through various measure, ensuring that they are mentally and emotionally healthy, practitioners must promote, encourage and set good example through the curriculums and its policies and practice as well as attracting children in physical activity in order to educate them on how to wash their hands and what to eat and drink. Also families should be provided with other health-care support needed which represents the good multi agency practice already in place at Children Centres (DfES, 2004c). (Practitioners should refer to appendix A for illustration of promoting a healthy environment for children).

The next key outcome is Staying Safe which enables children to be safe from maltreatment, neglect, violence and harm. Practitioners should ensure that there is policies and procedure in place that clearly demonstrate an ethos of zero tolerance to bullying. Children should be protected from maltreatment, ensuring that providers and all relevant staff are appropriately trained in order to contribute to their safe from any harm. This is in relation to UNCRC article (9) (19) which states that all children should be protected from violence, abuse and neglect and Government should protect them (Meggitt and Bruce 2007) One could argue that providing a safe and secure environment will enable the children to achieve their full potential. (Practitioners’ should refer to Appendix B for the illustration of keeping safe).

Enjoying and achieving is the third most crucial outcome which stresses that children of all potentials are to be helped to achieve personal and social development with particular focus on those with special and additional needs and also to those in disadvantage and isolated areas (Bruce and Meggit 2007). Practitioners in early year’s settings should make available for all children to achieve their full potential despite their educational needs. Also pupils should be provided with an environment regardless of any physical disability so that they can access the social and educational aspects of school. Furthermore practitioners should promote and support inclusive learning, gender, culture, social and emotional desires. Lastly children with special education needs (SEN) should be encouraged by practitioners to experience equal opportunities to achieve and attain their ultimate goal (Knowles 2009) This is eminent of the UNCRC, article (28) (29) stresses that all children have the right to an education and the purpose of education is to develop every child’s personality, talents and mental physical abilities. (Practitioners should refer to appendix C for illustration of the above).

One could agree that taken education to some extend will teach children to respect individuals, their own and other culture and also prepare children to live responsibly and peacefully in a free society. Within the policy document, the section on enjoying and achieving cited in (DfES 2003:para1.8) meaning that out of the five outcomes this does give a highlight on leisure time whilst the rest is mainly about educational attainment. Children imagine “Enjoying” as playing yet within this document it seems to be more emphasising on education. Enjoying appears to be one of the most vital outcomes requested by children. If children are seen as the citizens of the present why not pay particular attention to them. It is important to respect their views (William 2004:412 cited in Hendricks: 2008).

In additional to this, making a positive contribution to children’s life is most important this include taking part in decision making and supporting the community, being law abiding, developing positive relationships with others being, self confident and able to deal with challenges and enterprise behaviour (Bruce and Meggitt 2007). In essence practitioners should encourage children to partake in planning and development of activities. This correspond to article (12) of the UNCRC which requires that the views of children must be sought after and given due weight in all matters affecting them.

Lastly, achieving economic well-being helps children to conquer income barriers and achieve their full potential (Bruce and Meggitt 2007). Consequently, practitioners should make sure that children are given the best start in life. Evidently, educational attainment is the most effective route out of poverty. Within article (24) of the UNCRC achieving economic well-being the standard of living for children should meet their physical, mental, spiritual moral and social needs (DfES 2004). (Practitioners should refer to appendix E)

The reason for writing this resources pack is to guide and support early years practitioners, parents and carers to implement the five outcomes of every child matters in the settings. Although Every Child Matters agenda outcomes seeks to promote the well being of all children which is underpinned by social justice and inclusion, practitioner still needs some ground rules to follow. Social justice is a theme in the United Nations and the European agenda for young children (Jones et al 2008:106). In Britain social justice is a belief that is currently in used to support public policies and practices with a view of making sure that all have equivalent chance to achieve the necessary goods and provisions they need to thrive and achieve well. This idea of fairness is embedded in the concept of social justice (Knowles 2009). Many young people as citizens take their rights and responsibilities seriously as it is necessary to keep hold of the belief in freedom and rights. Undesirably, some of the policies linked to social welfare are challenge by beliefs of rights and justice (Jones et al 2008).

In an ideal and fair society all children and families should have an equal chance of achieving well being yet the society we live in is homogenous entity. This encompasses of huge number of smaller groups between which is unequal distribution of power and access to goods and as part of the unequal power distribution some groups will knowingly and unknowingly discriminate against others. In this way some are prevented from being able to achieve well-being (Knowles, 2009:5). The achievement gap between boys and girls is smaller than that between working class children and middle class children. The focus on underachieving boys hide the fact that boys who come from the different class background and that some middle class boys gain well and some working girls do not.

Practitioners should promote a healthy environment for all the children in their care. (Practitioners should refer to appendix A), practitioners should engaged and also supervised the children when they are washing their hands. A child needs water to stay healthy therefore practitioners should make water fountain accessible. Being healthy is in line with Emotional Healthy and Well-being, (2008 cited in Knowles 2009:60) which states that ‘promoting positive health and well being of children helps them to understand and express their feelings as well as building confidence’. In other words practitioners should listen and respect children views. According to Rinaldi 2001 (cited in Abbott, 1999), listening means being open to differences and recognising the value of different points of view and the interpretation of others. Children should be allowed to play and rest anytime they want to.

As I have mention earlier practitioners should promote a safer environment for the children. Practitioners should support learning with symbolizing materials for children who are not able to read text. This helps them to understand what is required in different situation. According to Piaget (cited in Penn 2008 :42) ‘It is the teachers job to provide a well resourced classroom, where children could have lots of opportunities to learn for themselves how things worked, with guidance and suggested from the teachers’.

Every child has the right to enjoy and achieve, practitioners should make play a high lead as this is central form of learning. Children should have the opportunity to play for thirty minutes this must involve children with special needs. Also, both boys and girls need to be allowed to experiment wider range of play. For example if a boy wants to ride a pink bicycle he should be permitted to do so. According to Vygotsky (cited in Penn 2008 :43) play is a mental kind of support system which allows children to represent their everyday social reality’ and therefore enables them to think and act in more complex ways to invent their own rules and narratives’.

In regards to achieving economic well being practitioners’ must make sure that neutral advice and quality information are available to children and their families in order to make a thriving move to further learning.

In addition to this Practitioners’ should ensure that children are provided with access to different facilities and safe spaces where they can meet and engage in positive activities. For example play grounds with various facilities.

At the centre of all these lies inclusion, this has been one of the vital problems in the early year’s framework. Social Inclusion is a focal point within the early year’s education and care policy documents. The Government has stomp inclusion as the ‘Keystone to good practice’ (DfEE 1998:8). It is the process by which early years settings develop their ethos, policies, and practices to include all learners with the aim of meeting their individual needs. Historically, inclusion has been seen as a process that is relevant to those groups who have been marginalised, but now it is about all children, and it is closely linked to the Government’s ‘personalised learning’ agenda that lie at the heart of the EYFS. ‘Practitioners’ should deliver personalised learning development and care to help children to get the best possible start in life’ (DfES, 2007a, paragraph 1.7).

One would argue that social Inclusion denotes that all children are involved in appropriate activities making sure that they will not feel isolated or excluded from taking part in any learning performances for whatever reason. This link up with what Roffey (2001) proposes that inclusion does not only take charge of a few children but all. She went on to say that one of the main achievement of the last twenty years legislation has been “the increase focus on the desirability of inclusive practices rather than the segregation of children with special education needs” which is backed by the 1994 Salamanca statement that pose the Government to agree to the principle of inclusive education and make it a policy (www.unesco.com).

Children who find it hard to communicate in class often feels excluded I believe that when practitioners introduce symbol cards in the settings it will help children who feels shy to talk in class and also, it will raise confidence among children and enable them to deal positively with life changes and challenges. Again it will stop practitioners wrongly labelling children as being slow. For example my little boy is very loud at home but very quite in school so when he was introduced to the symbols cards, at his nursery he began to involve in the classroom activities. Practitioners will send newsletters to the parents to inform them about family evenings. In the interest of the child, practitioners and parents should work together to see how best they can understand each other. Helen Penn (2008) noted that working together will not only help the child but also make the individuals understand each other’s professional rareness and work together this will not isolate the child.

After the peer assessment group discussion, I went home to read over the comments my peers made about my resource pack. My peers noted both positive and negative comments therefore I decided to correct the negative ones. Within my resource pack, I explained the five outcomes of Every Child Matters but I had not planned for the activities so I started to gather information about the activities. I had written down my points which I have not yet linked to theory and practice and also had to expand on my points. I found it a bit difficult finding books for the assignment and there was no evidence of critical thinking in my resource pack. During the Christmas break I borrowed books from the university library so I started rewriting my whole work again. Moreover I had already written down notes of what I was going to write for the resource pack so I added some little information from the books I had borrowed. Although I had planned wanted to do, it was still not easy for me to do, as I did not know where to begin. However, the comments given by my peers really helped me to get started.

An activity I had planned for the practitioners was for them to give the children in their care all the telephone numbers of people and organisation to contact when they feel unsafe. Later on I changed my mind, to make a poster which can be on the classroom walls so that children can always revisit when they need help. I had read children story book on what they should do when they are in trouble and I found it very good which I wanted to include in the main essay however I was advised by my colleague to put it in the appendix and then refer it in the main essay. Also, I had printed out some pictures which I was going to use for my activities but was told by the initial group not to use them. However, during the second group discussion in lectures, I joined another peer assessment group who were pleased with the pictures and I was told to use them. I found the peer assessment very helpful because I met different people and got various feedbacks regarding my course work.

To conclude this, practitioners should ensure that the resource pack is followed as required, because it provides vital and timely contribution to the development of children between the ages of four and five. As laid out in the Every Child Matters agenda every child has the right to education irrespective of his or her background that is cultural, religion and gender or needs. Practitioners’ should develop a very good relationship with parent and carers this is very important on children’s achievement as well as leading them into adolescence and better adulthood. Part of healthy and successful education comes from home. Involving parents and the community will have a good impact in the setting. Similarly, it makes parents feel a part of the setting and their children education. Also, practitioners’ should recognise individual needs of each child and respond to them by organising extensive teaching strategies to help them. Conversely, practitioners’ should also create and work in multicultural settings which ought to demonstrate an understanding of the value of diversity and respect for difference.

Sadly, pregnant teenagers in society today are too often labeled as sluts . While the majority of gilrs become pregnant by accident, a small number become pregnant on purpose. These girls feel that they will be loved, or have someone to love, or that a missing void in their ife will be filled. Worst of all some girls plan to become pregnant to heal a relationship or to hold on to a boyfriend. The fact is, if two people are in a unstable, struggling relationship, having baby will just bring on more stress and turmoil. For the other girls who become pregnant by accident this is due to carelessness, lack of knowledege, the it can t happen to me attitude, or just really by accident. For many girls, they are under the false pretense thatthey cannot become pregnant the first time they have sex. Not only is this false, but one out of twenty girls become pregnant the first time they have sex, and ninty percent of all teen pregancies occur within the first year of having sex (Guernsey 19-20).

Pregnancy is a very serious situation for teenagers, because young teenage bodies are not developed enough then the bodies of women who are over twenty. Due to this, the death rate is sixty percent higher among pregnant teenagers under the age of fifteen than among older girls and women (Gutman 24). Babies born to teenagers are twice as likely to die before their first birthdays than are the babies that are born to women in thier twenties,also teenage babies run a hihger risk of being born premature or being born with mental and physical handicaps (Gutman 25). Some teenagers are afraid to tell someone about their situation, so they do not get pre-natal care which harms both the mother and the baby.

When a teenager finds out that she is pregnant, she has three choices: give it up for adoption, keep it, or have an abortion. A large number of these teens choose to have an abortion. Twenty five percent of all abortions are among the teen age population (Bender and Leone 58). For many girls this is an easy way out of a difficult situation and they feel that know one will know that they do not want to know. For some those feelings stay true, but for others a deep sense of depression falls over them for killing something that they made. For other girls that choose not to keep the baby but are against abortion, they give the baby up for adoption. For many girls adoption is a stressful and heart breaking experience, after carrying a baby for nine months and then handing it over to strangers, I don t see how it wouldn t be a heart breaking time. There are agencies that allow mothers to keep in touch with the family, but most girls know that they will never see there baby again. For other girls, they may make all the arrangements for adoption and then after giving birth may change their minds completly and take on their motherly role.

For the teens that keep the baby,they encounter a very challenging situation. They have to get proper health care for example. Many girls are forced to drop out of school and get jobs or the father of the baby drops out of school to support his family, if he stays with the mother. Less than one third of teens who have babies finish school before the age of eighteen (www.teenpregnancy.org). Once a teenager has a baby they have to focus on someone other than themselves, which means they can not do what they want when they want anymore. Their lives revolve around their baby and its needs. Many unmarried teen mothers end up poor or on welfare. Every year the federal government spends about forty billion dollars to help teenage mothers (Flinn & Hauser 15). However for some teenagers watching their baby grow or the bond that they share is a reward for their hard work.

An often over looked part of teenage pregnancy is the role of the father. About 1.1 million males father babies every year (Ayer 27). Approximately ten percent of fathers marry the mother of their baby. Some fathers care for their baby and pay child support but do not stay with the mother, or sadly some fathers refuse resposibility and do not give support in any way. A fatherly role is very important in child raising, so some communities and schools are now starting programs for teenage fathers and educating boys about teenage pregnancy. Many teen fathers may at first feel out of place, scared, and not educated enough to become a father. They may feel that a whole financial burden is now being placed on them, or that they will not be able to provide for their family. This leads to many fathers skipping out on their responsibility. Programs are now being designed to give fathers emotional support so that they will be able to handle becoming a teenage father, and to realize that there are benefits and obligations of fatherhood. As the article states the benefits to children, families, and society of the commitment of fathers are undisputed. Therefore, it is worth the time and effort of schools and community organizations to implement programs for young fathers that will enable them to develop into responsible adults, meet thier obligations, and create a generation of well-nutured and effectively educated children (www.ed.gov.html).

For the unfortunate teen that has no support there a teen pregnancy houses that house both mother and child. Many clinics such as Planned Parenthood give free or low cost care to mother and child and offer services to help ease the teens time of confusion. Community-wide teen pregnancy prevention efforts are also underway (Dryfoos 214). The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregancy was organized in 1996 and is focused on reducing the rate of teen pregnany in the United States,to improve the well being of children and to try to reduce child poverty.

In conclusion, teen pregnancy is an issue that should be taken seriously. With the growing rate of teenagers getting pregnant every year more steps should be taken to try to eliminate teen pregnancy. Perhaps these steps should be educating children while their younger or a better sense of birth control for teens or showning pictures of abortions, like they did in my high school. This may be cruel, but how many people who see the pictures will want to get this done after they see what it does.Teenagers are using abortions as a way of birth control , they feel that if they become pregnant there is always an abortion. Abortions can not be like that. If more teens are serioulsy educated then possibly less teens will be careless and the rate of pregnany will decrease. It might sound ridiculous, but maybe parents should really give the birds and the bees talk , because if children hear it from their parents they may take sex more seriously. Some children have sex to feel cool or just to fit in. It cannot be like that and children need to be taught that.Teen pregnancy is a serious risk for both the mother and the child. Many teenagers do not know about these risks and they need to know before it is to late and they are stuck in a situtaion that they can not get out of. The programs for teen fathers are wonderful because they really tell the boys how it is. Many boys do not know the risk of pregnancy and everything that it entails, these prograns will help to work with them and possibly scare them or at least give them a little more knowledge. Having a baby will change a teens whole life and the steps that are being taken will hopefully work to help teen mothers and fathers and help to lower the birth rate in teens. There is many books out that show cases of teen pregnancy, they should be read to get to know the effects that a baby has on a teens life. With the statistics and facts givin, I really learned so much on teen pregancy and hopefully others will to.

The amount of school completed for a women affects her life. It also affects her opportunities for marriage, her circle of friends and her income from work, which can also lead to poverty. Girls who give birth during their adolescent years tend to function less effectively in numerous ways than their peers who delay childbearing (Hofferth et al., 2001). However, recent research indicates that many of the negative outcomes of adolescent motherhood, such as low educational achievement and consequent poverty, precede rather than stem from early parenthood (Hofferth et al., 2001). In essence, teenage childbearing adds to the limited prospects of already disadvantaged adolescent girls. These outcomes include poorer psychological functioning, lower rates of school completion, lower levels of marital stability, less stable employment, greater welfare use, higher rates of poverty, and slightly greater rates of health problems for both mother and child as compared to peers who postpone childbearing (Hofferth et al., 2001). Other consequences of teenage pregnancy and motherhood are low-achievement, low-motivation, the teenagers immaturity and lack of success in school which are also linked to the fact that teenage mothers drop out of school (Hofferth et al., 2001). Therefore Hofferth et al. (2001) would expect early child bearers to be less likely than their childless peers to complete high school or at least college. Moore, Manlove, Glei, & Morrison (1998) studied adolescent mothers and concluded that early parenthood had a strong negative effect on the educational attainment of girls, such that young mothers were unlikely to continue their education beyond giving birth and thus obtained lower total levels of education than their peers who delayed childbirth. In large part because of low educational attainment, teenage mothers have lower incomes as adults and are more likely to be on welfare than their peers who delay childbirth (Moore et al., 1998). Overall, young mothers with a high school degree and work experience, may provide the needed incentive to obtain and maintain stable employment. Mothers with low education skills and poor functioning, or with other family problems, may have great difficulty maintaining stable employment, and thus may suffer a substantial loss in income (Moore et al., 1998).

However, parental involvement in their daughteraa‚¬a„?s school such as attending school meetings, participating in school activities, going to their daughters honor ceremony are not related to whether their daughters will become pregnant. Furthermore, adolescents who are involved in religious organizations are less likely to bear a child. Teenage girls who belong to a club or attend church are those who most likely will not bear a child in high school (Moore et al., 1998).

Several techniques have been developed to attempt to separate out the effects of background factors which influence both the probability of a teenage birth and the future functioning of the young mother from the effects of early childbearing. For example, a number of studies have compared sets of sisters, one of whom had a child as a teenager and one of whom delayed childbearing until adulthood, in order to control for differences in family background factors commonly found between teenagers who do and do not become young parents (Hoffman, 1998).

Such studies found that the effects of teenage childbearing on high school completion and total educational attainment are much smaller than previous studies had indicated. For example, Hoffman, (1998) found that postponing a teenage birth to after the age of 20 would increase the total educational attainment. This study found that having a child before the age of 18 reduces the likelihood of graduation from high school but attaining a GED ( General Equivalency Degree).

However, a GED may carry a lower return in future earnings than a high school diploma (Hoffman, 1998). This seems to be possible because of some teenage mothers that have a child and atten school at the same time. This is due to the fact that there all several programs that exists for this matter. There are day cares in the school which watch the child for the teenager while she is in school.

There are multiple negative consequences associated with teen pregnancy (Moore et al., 1998). Teenagers who have babies at an early age are less likely to complete high school, and more likely to be on welfare or to work at a job with a low income and experience poverty than women who delay childbearing until an older age (Moore et al., 1998). The disadvantages for teenage girls who bear a child at such a young age reduce their education or employment opportunities.

For women who delay pregnancy and childbirth, there are some advantages (Hofferth et al., 2001). The mother is more experienced with life itself, has a better education background and often has a steady job and steady marriage. As life progresses, such factors integrate themselves with life and having a child.

Divorce is always a dreadful experience in a persons life, especially a childs. When parents divorce, children are not always acknowledged during the termination and settlement process. This oversight can lead to problems with the child’s perception of day to day life. The impact divorce has on a family is far more noticeable to the children of the family than to the parents. As a child, there are many circumstances or situations that affect a view, opinion, attitude, and/or memory. Children have many daily struggles of their own to cope with, such as peer pressure and learning exactly who they are. Adults and parents sometimes forget what it is like to be a child dealing with some of the childhood pressures that children face, especially in today’s society. Many parents do not realize how something like divorce could possibly affect their children as much as it does them. In any case, most children are strongly affected by divorce. Some react and handle the situation differently than others, but all experience some kind of emotional change.

Divorce can cause many different emotions to arise that children may be unfamiliar with, and those behaviors may cause some behavioral changes. Feeling angry and sad are some common feelings of children dealing with divorce (Schor, 2004). Children have a hard time comprehending why their mother and father are arguing and cannot figure out why they are deciding to separate. The family needs to try their best to explain to the child why they are separating, while comforting the child as much as possible (Schor, 2004).

“Much research has been conducted to study the effects of divorce on children. While there are some basic truths these studies reveal, the fact is that each child is unique and may react differently from other children” (Sember, p. 9). A child may have certain emotional reactions to separation and divorce, including sadness, embarrassment, concerns about being cared for, regression, maturity, and physical symptoms. It is believed that reactions to a divorce can be similar to the reactions of losing a loved one.

According to Pickhardt, “There is a fear of rejection: ‘If my parents can stop loving each other, can they stop loving me?’ There is fear of the future: ‘What will happen to me now?’ There is fear of abandonment: ‘If my parents can leave each other, they can also leave me.’ ‘In the face of these uncertainties, a child may regress by acting more immature and dependent in order to receive more attention and caretaking support.”

The fighting that occurs between parents can cause children to react negatively and they can begin to show aggression towards others. Children can also begin to act up in class and become defiant towards authority, which usually results in their grades dropping. Often children have difficulties learning to cope with their feelings and feel like they are on an emotional rollercoaster (Ford, 2005). They’re also often stuck between a battle zone and as result can suffer psychological problems. Feelings of hopelessness may take over for many kids because they have no control or input to what is going on in their lives (Ford, 2004).

Divorce itself is inevitably an unpleasant situation, but it has been seen that children with siblings tend to cope better than any single child household in most instances, especially in cases where thoughtless parents take the unpleasant route of trying to ‘split up’ the children in an effort to hurt the other party. Effectively, children with siblings develop best with the divorce, single children trailing behind, with split siblings ultimately taking the worst mental beating out of the lot. The reasons for this may not at first be obvious, but let us take a moment to review the family dynamic itself and just what divorce does to the relationship of siblings.

A once intact family is effectively torn in two with the legal action of divorce, children are torn in their views in loving both mother and father, and ultimately they mourn for what is almost literally the death of the family dynamic itself. It is no longer the ‘normal’ life of mother, father, and children, but now a complicated life split between the children and their parents, possibly further complicated by a step family or the constant tension between mother and father.

In this situation a sibling becomes a sort of buffer zone, an emotional barrier between the pain and loss of the divorce and a happy family life. The sibling represents something concrete, a brother or sister that will (or should) remain. An individual who shares in the same pain and can be used as a more than viable coping mechanism, perhaps one of the only truly healthy coping outlets available to a child going through the divorce process.

Starkly in the opposite direction one can see the further damage caused when divorcing parents choose to split their off springs like they have their various possessions. Here, the

child(ren) need not only cope with the loss of mom or dad, but must also wrestle with the torment of being removed from someone who has been a lifelong companion. Instead of being given a viable outlet in the shape of a brother or sister this child(ren) is removed from most everything he or she has known in one solid legal swoop.

Divorce brings about a lot of legal issues, which include child custody, visitation, holiday issues, and child support. There are a few different types of custody arrangements. There is joint custody with visitation, which means that you share custody with the other parent. You are supposed to make all decisions together that may affect the child, and both parents must agree to the visitation schedule. Second, there is sole custody with visitation which is where one parent makes most of the decisions and does not need the other parent’s approval. Lastly, shared custody is where the child’s time is split evenly between both parents. Both parents are responsible for all decisions and neither parent is considered residential. But regardless as to what type of custody agreement is decided, the child(ren) are the one(s) who will be the most affected by this decision.

Once a custody agreement is made then the non-custodial parent is granted visitation. Visitation is important so that the child can spend time equally with both parents. This sometimes requires splitting holidays. Holidays are probably the worst part about visitations because children are use to spending the holidays together as a family, but as children age the visitation schedules change to accommodate both the child and the parents. This is simply because an infant shouldn’t be expected to adhere to the same schedule as an older child. For example, infants may have a harder time adjusting because it is more important for them to stick

to a schedule; frequent and short visits from the other parent is best. Also, sticking to feeding and nap times is important, otherwise, the baby can be extremely cranky. Toddlers have difficulty with separation anxiety from either parent. Transitions should be made gradually as toddlers often display aggression by biting or hitting. Preschool aged children begin to realize that their parents don’t live together anymore and start to ask questions and they can also begin another type of visitation schedule, such as weekend visits. Elementary aged children need more time for homework after school and it is important for both parents to help the child stay organized so that they are able to turn in their assignments on time to their teacher. Children from 8-12 are considered “tweens” and may start to take sides or try to act perfect in hopes that their parents will get back together. It is ok to let them know that nobody is perfect and that nothing can bring you and the other parent back together. You child will have more homework and more friends so it is important to fit this into the schedule as it continues to change through that child’s life. Teenagers may experience the worst symptoms from the divorce. They often discredit marriage and refuse to get close to another person in that way or they blame themselves for the separation. In some cases they feel that they had to grow up quickly because they felt the need to assume the role of the other parent. It may also be difficult for teens to stick to a schedule because friends are more important now and they may also have jobs of their own that they are scheduled for. Dating also begins to become a factor in the scheduling conflict. The teen should be able to go out on dates as long as both parents agree, but there also needs to be a restriction on the number of outings so that both parents are able to spend the appropriate amount of time with their son/daughter. You shouldn’t expect this to go perfectly, but do offer the teen to give their input on the situation and try to all come to a compromise.

Most days you experience with your child may be good days, so you should enjoy these days while they last because there may come a time when something happens and your child tells you that they hate you and would rather live with the other parent. This is just another part of trying to adjust. If most times are bad then it may be time to readjust your position. You may need to try to change some things including the visitation schedule.

Divorce not only affects the child(ren) emotionally but it also plays a major role in many other aspects of their lives. Two of the strongest and most widely held beliefs about the family life today are that marriage should be a lifelong commitment and that parental divorce has serious negative effects on children. These convictions are held with such value that many people are alarmed by the high divorce rate in the United States. The divorce rate is very high in the United States, where about 50% of all first marriages formed in the early 1990s ended in divorce (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1998). According to the Heritage Foundation, “Each year, over 1 million American children suffer the divorce of their parents and most children will see their parents’ divorce before they turn 18 (Fagan and Rector, 2000). What are the major impacts being seen in these children? What are the effects on these children?

One area where divorce has a major impact on children is in their academic progress. In 2002, USA Today did a study that used a government-sponsored database that examined 10,000 adolescents (Crouch. 2002). This study found that the psychological damage to the child builds before the divorce but dissipated afterwards, but academic progress continues to weaken. It speculates that these children fall behind academically and then are not able to catch up once this happens. They lose self-esteem and motivation. There have been many studies done and the conclusion is the same. One study found that students from intact families outperform those students from divorced families and have higher grade point averages. Another one found that teens from single-parent homes are twice as likely to drop out of high school. I found it interesting that one study found that parental divorce affected female high school students more that it affected male high school students.

A second area where divorce has a major impact on children is their housing arrangement. The level of home ownership among people who have divorced is much lower than those who have married and never divorced. According to the Census Brief published by the U.S. Department of Commerce in September of 1997, more than a quarter of America’s children now live with one parent. They did a study with divorced and never-married mothers and found that divorced parents are more educated and less likely to live in rental homes, and are less likely to be poor in comparison to the never-married mothers. It appears from this study that being a single parent divorcee has a slight advantage over a never-married mother. This study also showed that four million children live in the homes of their grandparents.

The third area where divorce has a major impact on children is the income level of the custodial parent. Following divorce, custodial parents, mostly mothers, generally have less income than most two-parent families. One of the ways that lower income may impact children is through disruptions that may result from less money. Many divorced families change residence, which may result in changing schools, childcare, friends, and other supportive relationships. In short, less money due to these disruptions may lead to more problems for children because of the stress that change creates.

The fourth area where divorce has a major impact on children is the economic losses that it creates. Studies have shown that custodial mothers often face dramatic economic losses following divorce, leading to feelings of stress that adversely affects parenting. Researchers believe that divorce is disruptive for children largely because the custodial parent faces a significant amount of economic stress in the time period immediately following the divorce (Furstenberg 1990). These economic losses may produce major transition periods for the child like moving, changing schools or living with other household members, which can adversely affects the child’s well being.

It is important to remember that not all of the effects mentioned in the studies above will be experienced by all children of divorce and those problems that do emerge can be made less intense with further education, nurturing, good communication, and lots of love.

Divorce not only affects the child(ren) emotionally but it takes a toll on the parent- child relationship. In the wake of a divorce, most custodial parents expresses differing degrees of anger, disorder, decreased expectations from their child(ren), and a decline in the aptitude to separate the child(ren)’s needs and actions from those of the adults involved. Studies have shown that approximately 15% of children interviewed at the 10 year follow-up point in a 15 year study showed significant effects from taking on the role of holding a custodial parent together psychologically (Eloeff, 2008).

Children dealing with divorce are often left with a lot of questions because they are going through something they have never experienced before. It is important to answer every question that might arise in order for the child to better understand what is going on. Change is hard and the fear of the unknown can be difficult for children to handle on their own. Both parents need to try to make this new adjustment period as comfortable for the children as possible (Schor, 2004). Everyone’s life is impacted by divorce and children often have a hard time adjusting to change. “For all too many kids, nonresidential parents eventually will come to play a greatly diminished role in their lives. It doesn’t have to be this way, and with sensitivity, planning, and common sense, parents can sidestep many common visitation problems” (Neuman, p.272). So therefore, it is up to the parents to help their child(ren) to cope with the divorce and try to prevent this from happening. There are two general channels that can be taken to help the child(ren) deal with the divorce experience. They are parental effort and outside help.

During parental effort, it is important to communicate with your child(ren) that you love them and that you don’t hate them even if you don’t normally do those things, but it is important for your child(ren) to feel reassured. Avoid talking to your child(ren) about the divorce situation or any financial woes that you may be experiencing. It is best for your child(ren) to continue to be neutral to both parents. You should also not use your child(ren) as a messenger to see what the other parent is up to. This can make your child feel stressed and feel like they are betraying their other parent. Also, don’t make promises you can’t keep. It only disappoints them and causes them not to trust you. Children need to be reassured; just because the marriage is over doesn’t mean that they aren’t a family anymore. “Children must be told and told again: ‘Divorce means your parents have lost love for each other and do not want to live together anymore. However, divorce in no way changes our love for you” (Pickhardt, p. 84). Both parents need to try to avoid bad mouthing the other parent in front of the child(ren). This may prevent the child from feeling stressed out about double loyalties. You need to keep a sense of normalcy for your child so that they can feel that their lives have some stability after such a drastic change in their living situations. “One of the best ways to help a child feel rooted, protected, and loved, is to have rules” (Pickhardt, p. 25). It is important to create the rules together so that the child has the same boundaries at either home and that the other parent doesn’t appear to be better because the child has no responsibilities when they stay with them. The parents should keep the lines of communication open with their child(ren) and never stop attempting to make contact with their child(ren). They should also maintain an interest in what is going on with the child(ren); know who they’re hanging out with and how they’re doing in school and extracurricular activities. Most children want to make both parents happy, and it is up to the parents to make this an easy task.

As for the outside help avenue, this is a route to take when the parental effort is not helping. Counseling and/or an intervention program can help improve matters by being a neutral third party. They help in accomplishing things like, helping children to express their anger, as well as helping the parents to better understand how to appropriately respond to the concern’s that the child(ren) may have. Parents should consider seeking professional help when their child is having problems accepting reality about the divorce or seem to be going through some serious behavioral changes. Meeting with a psychiatrist or a counselor who specializes in divorce can be very beneficial for everyone involved. It doesn’t matter which route is used to help them get through the divorce process as long as the child(ren)’s best interest is kept as the top priority during and after the divorce.

All in all, children can be severely traumatized by divorce. Many of the effects felt can be long lasting or some may go away within a few weeks. If the divorce is nasty or is prolonged due to a custody battle, then the effects can last a lifetime. Children face many issues when going through a divorce. There are issues with self-esteem, loss of sense of security, the “sleeper effect”, and it even has an effect on birthdays and holidays. These problems can last forever in a child, even into adulthood.

When children have to go through a divorce, they deal with issues regarding their self-esteem. They may feel like they caused the divorce themselves. The child(ren) may also feel like they did something wrong to where mommy or daddy doesn’t want to be with them anymore. If these issues are not addressed early on, they can be long lasting and when developing, the older child will have low self-esteem. This can lead to poor grades in school, little to no friends, using drugs, and trouble in the streets.

Another issue children deal with when going through a divorce is in the area of security. The child(ren) may develop fears that both parents will abandon him or her. There may also be fears about what is to come. What will happen from here? Where does the child(ren) end up? These are thoughts about security that may come during a divorce. In addition, the absence of one of their parents can make the child(ren) feel extremely lonely. This can also last a lifetime if not dealt with early on. It can lead to the child(ren) growing up feeling scared and worried. He or she may have relationship problems and may not be able to trust anyone and can also lead to depression.

Some studies suggest that there is a “sleeper effect”. This is the idea that a child that goes through a divorce and recovers rather quickly. Then, because of denied feelings at the subconscious level, they will have a resurgence of fear, anger, guilt, and anxiety which doesn’t kick in until well into adulthood. These feelings tend to arise when a young adult is attempting to make important life decisions, such as marriage.

Another effect divorce has on children is dealing with holidays and birthdays. This will last a lifetime, because birthdays and holidays will have to be split, if this is the agreement. If there is time-sharing in place, or an agreement has been made, the child may have to spend every other birthday with the mother and father. With holidays, there may be time-sharing involved, where the child spends half the holidays with the father, and the other half with the mother. This can certainly last into adulthood, because the family will not be together, and there may have to be time split between the two parents’ homes.

Some children are affected more by divorce than others. However, all children will be affected by a divorce no matter what. The things that parents do and don’t do will greatly impact exactly how much a child is affected by the divorce. In addition, the child’s gender, age, psychological health, and maturity will also all affect how a divorce impacts a child. Dealing with the divorce as best as possible will help lessen the effects on a child and make it easier to get through. Only time will tell how much it has actually affected the particular child in a particular circumstance.

Of course, as we all know, divorce is a painful process for everyone involved; the legal act of breaking apart a family is taxing on both the heart and mind, but we see this most in children. Divorce rates are high and our children are suffering. Everyone should take their children’s feelings into consideration when going through a divorce because the child’s life is impacted as well. It is very important that parents help their children adjust to all the changes going on in their life and address any behavioral or psychological problems the moment they arise.

Child labor has been a constant menace plaguing Indian society for centuries. As the Indian economy develops at a dramatic pace to become one of the world’s future economic superpowers, it is becoming extremely important to protect the future generation of this country, which are undoubtedly the children. Child labor holds a disgusting picture in today’s India. India tops the list in the world of having the highest number of child laborers, under the age of 14, of about 100-150 million out of which at least 44 million are engaged in hazardous jobs (Larson, 2004). Even though the Indian Constitution prohibits children younger than 14 to be employed in any occupation or hazardous environment, child labor exists in this country (Ram, 2009). They often work for long hours in hazardous and unhygienic environment and receive meager pay (Forastieri, 2002). These young children deserve to be educated and benefit from their childhood rather than work at early age and face abuse. The Indian government should enforce their law of prohibiting child labor to eliminate this problem. It is extremely important to tackle this menace if children’s rights are to be protected and a vibrant, mentally strong and educated youth is to be ensured for the future.

To begin with, child labor is a gross violation of human rights. Firstly, it violates the constitutional law of India (Ram, 2009). Secondly, it also violates the UNICEF’S 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child whose article 32 “include[s] the child’s right to freedom from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development” (UNICEF, 2001, p. 6). Moreover, the International Labour Organisation (ILO)’s Convention number 182 also aims at eliminating child labor (Fyfe, 2007). Due to the lack of enforcement of law by the Indian government, the 100 to 150 million children are not getting the national and universal human rights they are entitled to.

When the thought of childhood comes to our mind, images like children playing and running around in school uniforms emerge. However for child laborers in India, its images of factory smoke, wounded fingers, and abuse that emerge. These children work for long hours inhaling smoke, working with dangerous machines, and facing abusive employers. The labor market in which these children work, the “[labor] supply exceeds demand, and, therefore, they lack bargaining power with the balance always tilted in favor of the employers leading to exploitation” (Mishra, 2000, p. 56). Also, since children are more vulnerable compared to adults and in weaker positions to negotiate, they face further mistreatment, abuse and get paid less. Some are even abducted, sold into labor and are forced into servitude with no hope of getting out (Schmitz, Traver, & Larson, 2004).

When children start working at such a young age and undergo through the above mentioned abuses and economic exploitation, it negatively affects their emotional and physical capabilities (Larson, 2004). In one case, a 10 year-old girl named Mina had her fingers almost worn to the bone because of working many hours rolling cigarettes for a ‘beedi’ (rolled cigarettes) company (Larson, 2004). In the same ‘beedi’ industry, another girl narrated that her work was not only hard but it was also painful for her to sit and continue for hours without any break to achieve her target of 3000 beedis per day, for a meager wage of 3 rupees per day. Surprisingly, an adult can hardly make 2500 beedis in the same time (Mishra, 2000).

In “Child Labour in India,” Mishra (2000) mentioned a disheartening case of a 12-year old boy in a matchbox factory. The boy complained that his employer would beat him for minor mistakes and insult his parents in a filthy language which would cause him a lot of pain since it was no fault of theirs. He also said:

My employer used to put a match box on my neck in order to bend it down sufficiently to concentrate on the work. This prevented me from raising and turning my head on either side. I was beaten several times by him for having raised and turned my head. The turning of my head was very well indicated by the fall of the match box from my neck. Sometimes he beats me with the help of a wire in an unkind manner. (p. 71)

Companies find it profitable to use child labor because it helps them produce at lower costs and the innocent children can be trained to do dangerous work under unsafe and unsatisfactory conditions. Many children in India who are child laborers work in industries such as glass-blowing, matchsticks, fireworks and also the carpet-making industry (Larson, 2004). An example of the terrible working conditions can be seen in the fireworks industry. Factories labeled as ‘D’ grade are legally binded not to employ more than 22 people in their factory. However, many of such factories employ around 20 to 150 people, including children! The ‘D’ graded match box factories are legally allowed to produce at most 80 units of matchboxes but they produce upto 100 to 300 units (Mishra, 2000). These firms are breaking legal rules and the Indian government should step in to enforce their laws.

Poverty-stricken parents in India who borrow loans often give their children to their debtor so that he can exploit the children by making them work and help in paying off the debt. The meager pay these children receive is not enough to cover up the amount of money to be repaid for the loan. In addition to this, the interest on the loan keeps increasing, which increases the repayment amount, and then the working child takes many years to pay off the debt (Larson, 2004).

It is often pointed out that child labor helps pull people out of poverty by offering a source of income and survival for a poor family (Larson, 2004). However, this ‘income’ comes at a huge cost as they are abused for work which affects their present and future life. An example can be seen above in the way children are abused as ‘collateral’ for loans. The constant abuse child laborers have to go through in exchange for a small amount of income makes their life not worth living.It does not make much of a difference whether the child is earning money while working in a hazardous job or not, since every type of work involves a degree of stress. Hazardous work “cripples the health, psyche, and personality of a child,” and non-hazardous work causes forms of deprivation “such as denial of access to education and denial of the pleasurable activities associated with childhood” (Mishra, 2000, p. 14). Therefore, the child laborer who is working at a young age to earn some amount of income for his family also does not get educated, which makes him unfit to grow up and get a well paid, decent job in the future. Child labor can even start a cycle as an uneducated illiterate parent will also start sending his young child to work as a child laborer, who in turn will also grow up uneducated, and use his child also as a source of income. Therefore, the Indian government should make an effort to enforce their child labor law in order to save these children, break this vicious cycle and protect its future generations.

Having a formal education is the birth right of every child in this world. But child labor has stolen this right from these 44 million children. These children in India who are involved in child labor are not able to have time to go to school due to the intense and long working hours. According to the International Labour Organization’s report, “Child labour leads to reduced primary school enrolment and negatively affects literacy rates among youth” (ILO, 2008). The report also found strong evidence that in a situation where school and work was combined, school attendance falls as the number of hours at work increases (ILO, 2008). This goes on to prove that working children in India involved in labor struggle to attend school due to their harsh and exploitive working hours which causes them continuous fatigue. As India has the highest level of child labor in the world, it is due to this reason that India’s rank in the Education Development Index (EDI) is a disappointing 102nd out of the 129 countries in the index (UNESCO, 2009). The EDI measures a country’s performance on universal primary education. High level of child labor in a country is often related with its low and unsatisfactory performance on the index (ILO, 2008). The Indian government should start enforcing their law against child labor so that these children can go to school easily.

A working child also often gets deprived of having a bright and lively childhood due to lack of leisure activities. In a research conducted by Dr. D.V.P Raja, Founder and Director of the Madurai Institute of Social Sciences in India, more than 90% of the working children who were interviewed “stated that they do not have enough leisure to play and engage in other recreational activities. This startling finding signifies that these children spend virtually all their waking hours working and are thereby totally denied any of the excitement and pleasures of childhood” (Mishra, 2000, p. 48). The interviewees also stated that while at work, they did not acquire or learn any new skills. This goes on to say that the impact of child labor on the development and creative side of the child is quite disturbing. These children do not find their work enjoyable but rather than that they find it difficult and boring; but, however, they still continue to stick with these jobs because they don’t have a choice nor do they find any other suitable alternative for them (Mishra, 2000). The government of India should now wake up and save these children before more of them become victims of a lost childhood.

The problem of child labor has done enough damage to the lives and health of many innocent children in India over centuries by stealing away their many rights. It is now evident that child laborers are heavily losing out on all fronts and are becoming terribly incompetent to live future life as child labor negatively affects their mental, emotional and psychological capabilities .Child labor should be brought to an end now. It is high time that the Indian government starts taking this issue seriously and starts enforcing its own constitutional law against child labor so that India’s present and future generation of young citizens have their rights protected and are able to live their lives healthy and secure.

Educators hoped that TV would serve as a window of knowledge for children. They hoped that it would broaden their knowledge by exposing them to various learning experiences, and help them learn about different cultures. Educators’ thought that TV would play a vital role in preparing preschoolers physically and psychologically for school. In contrast, today the effect of television on children has become a growing concern to many educators’ due to its effect on children’s behavior, health, and cognitive development and learning.

We do not deny the TV holds many benefits to children if used properly and under adequate supervision of adults. Yet, we cannot deny its negative effects of TV. In this article we will talk about the negative effect of TV, and how it affects children, while on the same time mentioning its positive effects. We will first discusses the amount of time children spend in front of their TV sets, We will then move talk about how TV affects children’s behavior, health, cognitive development, and learning. We will also try to highlight the reasons behind children spending extended hours in front of their TV sets. Finally, we will try to suggest some solutions to this issue and how can we mitigate the negative effect of TV on children.

The Amount Of Time Children Spend In Front Of Their TV Sets

Children in their early developmental stages are very fragile and vulnerable physically and emotionally .they fail to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong and could blindly accept what they see on TV as facts upon which they base their future judgments. Children often like to imitate other and of

Ten do so with what they view on TV without being able to identify the consequences of their actions. We need to realize the harm this device could do to children in order to be able to modify the way we view the role TV plays in children’s lives .we need to acknowledge the fact that children view TV more than any other media. We also need to realize that children use TV for fantasy, diversion and instruction. Children who are spending extensive hours in front of their TV sets are shield from the outside world. They fail to interact emotionally with other. A parent may walk in the door after being all day away at work and their daughter or son will not even left their eye to see them or run to them because they are so consumed by watching TV. The younger the children are the more effected they are because they fail to distinguish between fantasy and reality, and learn by observing and imitating.

Television has become a major part of our children’s lives .From the time they wake up until the time they fall asleep their tiny little eyes are glued to the television screen. In most of the households TV has taken up the role of a nanny in the house, not mentioning that it has also become a major source of knowledge for children. How many times have we asked kids where did you learn that from? And the answer was from the TV.Zimmerman and Christakis in their research Children’s Television Viewing and Cognitive Outcomes they mention that toddlers at the age of 3 watched TV at an average of 2.2 hours daily. While from ages 3 to 5 years the average increases to 3.3 hours daily. (Zimmerman & Christakis, 2005)

A shocking article titled TV Hurts Kids Of All Ages, Studies Say on CBS news revealed how early children begin watching TV on regular basses “The first study finds that 40 percent of infants are regular TV watchers by the time they are 3 months old. By the time they are 2 years old, 90 percent of children regularly watch TV. In most cases, it doesn’t seem to be a matter of parents using the TV as a surrogate babysitter, but rather parents truly believe that shows aimed at tots will somehow expand their minds, language skills and cognitive abilities, the study found.” (Johnson, 2007)

Violence Behavior

Children are often left in front of the TV for extended hours in front of the TV without supervision to view all types of programs regardless of the fact that those programmes do not suit their age groups. Many of these programs are full of violent and aggressive scenes that affect children negatively. It either reinforces aggressive and violent behavior in them, or plants fear into those little hearts. Children who are often subjected to violent behavior tend to form violent behavior .they tend to be hostile and aggressive towards their peers and fail to relate in a social mannar. “In Norway, a 5 – year – old girl was severely harassed by her friends following the viewing of a particular television series.” (Lemish, 2007)

TV violence could also aggravate fretfulness and dreadfulness in children who are exposed to it. “A survey of more than the n 2,000 elementary and middle school children revealed that heavy television viewing was associated with self-reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress.” (Wilson, 2008)

First before further talking about how TV violence affects children’s behavior lets first define what violent behavior refers to. Violent behavior could be defined as any type of intentional behavior to harm others physically or emotionally which means it could be verbal or physical. (Lemish, 2007)

So, where does violent behavior come from? The ground approach in sociology quarrels that children acquire various behaviors by copying authority figures in their lives, through positive reinforcement. Children repeat behaviors that are positively reinforced, and refrain from behaviors that are negatively reinforced. Children may imitate violent behavior they witnessed ages ago, which means they carry in their long term memory.TV in turn, is a rich source of violent behavior. Violent behavior may be found in not only action movies, but also in children’s movies and cartoons.

Let’s take children’s movies like the HULK or cartoons like Ben Ten and even as basic cartoons like Tom and Jerry .just one look at the chineese animated cartoons like Conon will let you realize the amount of violence on TV.

Yet, we do not generalize this issue. There are many educational and other specialized programmes or cartoons for kids. For example: sesame street, teletubbies, or Dora. There is no doubt that educational TV programs have a positive effect .in a landitudal study by Wright et. al (2001) “educational viewing (particularly Sesame Street) was related to letter word and number skills, vocabulary, and school readiness for children.” (Muarry, 2007).

verbal violence is another form of violence in children is widely spreading and the main source for it is TV programs .in her book Children and Television (A Global Perspective) Lemish refers to studies on this issue “Studies that measured the frequency and types of various forms of violence on television in various countries have re- affirmed the international scope of this phenomenon” (Lemish, 2007)

TV violence could also aggravate fearfulness and dreadfulness in children who are exposed to it. Children my for various types of phobias and fears from things they view on TV especially at night this would be most evident in forms of nightmare or fear to sleep alone .This is mostly due to the wide imagination that children posses. “A survey of more than the n 2,000 elementary and middle school children revealed that heavy television viewing was associated with self-reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress.” (Wilson, 2008)

Affects on Health

Another effect of television on children is health related. The fact that children sit idle in front of the TV for hour can lead to health issues like obesity. Some studies have pointed that watching TV by children may not cause obesity directly but it indirectly keep children from indulging in other outdoor activities that enhance their metabolism. (Dixon, 2007)

.the impact of advertisement on children and their diet is great. Food and beverages advertisements directed to children have constantly been criticized for influencing children’s nutritional choices. We will often find kids watching TV and gulping down packets of chips and popcorn that are full of saturated fats that contribute directly to obisety, malnutration, and mineral deficiency and sometimes anemia.

Grossbart eals onand Crosby (1984) found that children’s snack preferences were influenced by the types of food they saw advertised. Children who saw commercials for sugared snacks and cereals were significantly more likely to say they preferred highly sugared products than children who saw public service announcements for wholesome foods or children in a control group. Those who saw a pro-nutrition TV program chose sugared snacks than the control group.

Number of studies point out to the relation between obesity among children and extensive viewing of TV .studies referred to the impact of ads on children food preferences. It showed that 98% of the foods advertised are rich in sugar and salts and are viewed by children between ages 2 to 11. (Gonzalez, 2010)

recently many studies link early TV viewing to development of ADD’ Attention Defect Disorder’ /ADHD ‘Attention Defect Hyperactive Disorder’ in children at later stages “The study revealed that each hour of television watched per day at ages 1-3 increases the risk of attention problems, such as ADHD, by almost 10 percent at age 7..” (Center, 2004).

The affect of advertisement also extends to children being exposed to Alcohol and smoking.They grow up viewing these practices as part of being social and often end up consuming alcohol or smoking by the time they reach adolescence. “, Mr. Balls said a study by Alcohol Concern revealed a spike in television drinks advertisements between 4pm and 6pm, when many children watch.” (Henry, 2007)

Learning and Cognitive Development

The most alarming effect amongst all is the effect of television on children’s learning and development. Unfortunately, the effect of TV does not stop at learning; it also effects children’s development making it a major concern for parents and educators.

There have been some indications that television further effects children’s language development preference .As children grow their TV habits Change. Children’s mental capabilities, life style, and individual impact TV use as well as the socio-cultural context. The amount of time spent on TV has always been a major concern. “Cross-sectional studies show that viewing generally increases during the preschool years and peaks in early adolescence” (Muarry, 2007)

How often do we find children preferring watching TV then reading? Reading to them is a strenuous monotonous task. TV is a two sided tool on one side it enhances creativity, and on the other it discourages it. There is relationship between performance in school and viewing TV. Research found that spending time watching TV affect the academic grades. Children who had television sets in their bedrooms scored significantly lower on school achievement tests than children without TVs in their bedrooms. Therefore, instead of doing homework or reading the child will replace by watching TV.

According to Dr. Senay a studies reveal that teenagers in the age of 14 who view TV for 3 hours a day form problems in their academic achievement ,and in turn are less likely to join collage later (Johnson, 2007)

Moreover, TV has an impact on children’s behavior and attitudes. It raises their awareness to the issue of stereotypes raised by the TV. It also directs them towards gender biases in the way women are portrayed. Also pushes them towards developing poor habits like smoking and alcohol .on TV smokers are often successful people, not mentioning that hoe alcohol is a major requirement for socialization and relaxation. (university of michigan health system, 2010)

Why Do Parents Allow Their Children To Use TV Abusively?

The question that may rise in the readers’ heads may be why do parents allow their children to do so? Besides what e the parents of infants thinking when they subject them to these entire negative affects!

The truth is that parents are not fully aware of the effect of television on their children. Some deliberately place their children in front of TV sets assuming they are stimulating their senses, or other parents who fall for the add gimmicks regarding the educational programs. Dr. Senay advises parents to discourage to exempt toddlers from viewing to. It is more benifitital for children to develop their sensory and motor skills through interaction with parents and their surrounding environments (Johnson, 2007)

Solutions

.There are many measures that could be taken to reverse the affects of television on children however the most important and first step is spreading awareness. From all information we reviled we found that the main reason why parents allow their kids to view so much TV is due to lack of awareness. Awareness on this issue could be spread on the media itself like CBS did by interviewing Dr.Senay on TV. It could also done by children health care centers by spreading broachers on the topic or holding small workshops at the centers to inform parents on the effects of television on children.

There are much parents can do to mitigate the effect of TV on children. The first step parents can take is to control the amount of TV their children view. This could be done by replacing TV with other fun activities that allows kids to stimulate their senses and engage with the outdoor environment. Parents will find their kids growing attached to them and relating to them instead of sitting glued to the TV sets.

In Households where children’s rooms have TV set. A wise idea would be to get rid of them. These TV sets will only isolate the kids from the rest of the family .in other words they do more harm than good.

However the most important step parents can do is to monitor the children’s use of TV. There are many TV sets which allow parental control. They enable parents to restrict certain content and programmes while also restrict the time. Parents by no means should allow their children to view TV without supervision, or purchase movies or cartoons without them ensuring that it I fit for them to view.

There are many measures that could be taken b y governments such as controlling the advertisements that are aired during the time it is supposed that the most viewers are below 18.

They could also monitor the content of TV programs and movies for violet and inappropriate content. The governments need to at times take extreme measures with TV channels and broad casts companies that fail to keep their content free of violent unhealthy and harmful content.

In conclusion we have reviewed the many affects of TV on children. We talked about the long and extensive hours children spend in front of their TV sets. We then discussed how TV is responsible for violent and aggressive behavior in kids.whe also discussed how it also opens the door for verbal violence in children. It also is a reason for children forming fears and phobias. Furthermore, we moved to illustrate the effects of TV on children’s health. We revealed how many studied showed that TV was responsible for obesity in children because it keeps them from practicing and taking part in other activities, TV totally blocks those children from the outside world. Latter on we shed light on how TV effects children’s cognitive devlopment.TV affects children’s speech and discouraging them foe indulging in important activities like readin.TV simply makes reading look as a boring and monotones activity for children. We also mentioned how some studies link TV to ADD and ADHD. Furthermore we referred to studies that extensive viewing of TV lessens children’s eagerness to join collage as adults. Likewise we also showed how TV effected those children’s moral judgment they fail to distinguish right actions from wrong ones simply because media becomes the criteria by which they crate their moral compass. Then we move on the explaining the reasons behind parents allowing their children to use TV abusively. We showed how it all mostly is result of lack of awareness. Finally we suggested some solutions that will help do some damage control on the part of parents. We also mentioned how the government could play a vital role in controlling abusive content from appearing on TV sets. We truly help that we were able to shed light and divert attention to this issue. We’re talking about children here as adults we are obligated to make the right choices for them and keep them out of the way of harm.

The impact on children’s culture of anime, manga, video games and trading cards of Pokemon

Japan’s popular culture industry is very vigorous in recent years. The popular culture consists of anime, manga, video games and trading cards. These media have a great impact on children’s culture in Japan and also other countries. Pokemon is a very successful case. Pokemon first appeared in the game of the Nintendo’s Game Boy, and then quickly diversified into manga, anime, movies, trading cards and toys in those years, and Pokemon phenomenon is appeared in Japan in 1996. These products revolved mainly around children and youths and had impacts on them. This essay will examine the impact of Japanese popular media culture on children’s culture using Pokemon as an example. The impacts which will discuss in this essay are effects on children’s literacy, the social effects, effects of addiction and violence. I will use two case studies to argue some effects on children’s literacy. Data have been collected from two articles. The author of the articles was a primary school teacher and she collected data from the classes she was teaching. Besides children’s literacy, there are many impacts in other aspects. Furthermore, negative impacts are much more than positive impacts. This will be discussed at the end of the essay, also the future of children’s culture under the influence of Japanese popular culture.

The anime Pokemon is diversified from its video game. This anime talks about Satoshi, a 10 years old boy, and his friends travels the world catching Pokemon and battling Pokemon trainers. This is the primary source of the essay.

Allison, A. 2004. ‘Cuteness as Japan’s Millennial Product’. In: Tobin, J. Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokemon. Durham: Duke University Press: 34-52

Anne Allison is a Professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University in the United States, specializing in contemporary Japanese society. Her current research is on the recent popularization of Japanese children’s goods on the global marketplace and how its trends in cuteness, character merchandise, and high-tech play pals are remaking Japan’s place in today’s world of millennial capitalism. In Cuteness as Japan’s Millennial Product, she finds that Pokemon is a successful case of children’s entertainment product with media mixes. Its success follows the previous waves of successful Japanese products which started in the late 1980s, and have impacted childhood consumption around the world. These products impacted children’s lifestyle in new interactive ways. Pokemon is game-based makes it more interactive than a mere anime or movie. This article provides information that supports my arguments, children buy lots of Pokemon-related products other than video games or comics, and Pokemon create or facilitate a common culture among children.

Arthur, L. 2001. ‘Popular Culture and Early Literacy Learning’, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2(3): 295-308

Dr Leonie Arthur is a senior lecturer in early childhood education at the University of Western Sydney. She has taught in long day care, preschool and school and is an active member of a number of peak early childhood organizations, including Early Childhood Australia. She currently works with undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Western Sydney in areas of early childhood curriculum and literacy. This article reports on research findings which indicate that while children’s home and community literacy experiences and texts are increasingly digital and connected to popular media culture experiences and texts in educational settings are predominantly book-based and generally exclude popular media culture. In practice, children’s literacy is affect by television, videos, computers, comics, trading cards and magazines rather than children’s books. It also examines the role of popular media culture in children’s lives. This article provides support for my arguments which related to children’s literacy and violence: media restricts children’s creativity and promotes violence.

Buckingham, D. and Green, J.S. 2003. ‘Structure, Agency, and Pedagogy in Children’s Media Culture’. Culture and Society 25(3): 379-399

David Buckingham is the Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media at the Institute of Education, London University. His research is on children’s and young people’s interactions with television and electronic media. Julian Sefton-Green is the Head of Media Arts at WAC Performing Arts and Media College, an informal learning centre in North London, England. He has researched and written widely on many aspects of media education and new technologies. The authors point out that Pokemon as a phenomenon is a controlled and calculated commercial strategy aimed manipulatively at the children’s market. They examine some positive and negative effects of the Pokemon phenomenon on children. Pokemon engages children visually through television, video games and as consumers through the range of products available. This article provides information that support my argument, Pokemon create common culture among children, makes children spend lots of money to collect valuable trading cards and children bully others to grab their cards.

Ito, M. 2006. ‘Japanese Media Mixes and Amateur Cultural Exchange’. In: Buckingham, D. and Willett, R. Digital Generation: Children, Young People, and New Media. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 49-66

Mizuko Ito is a Japanese cultural anthropologist who is an Associate Researcher at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine. Her main professional interest is the use of media technology. She has explored the ways in which digital media are changing relationships, identities, and communities. She sees “the move toward new media as an interaction between long-standing and emergent media forms, rather than a shift from old analog to new digital media;” while most of the essay explores the “low-tech media of trading cards and comic books,” The article is about young people’s relationship to media. Ito argues that “these analog media forms are being newly infected through digitally enabled sociality”. She also examines the trading cards activities. This article supports my argument that children play trading cards class whenever they have time and a people as their competitor.

Marsh. J. 2009. ‘Writing and Popular Culture’. In: Beard, R. and Myhill, D. and Riley, J. and Nystrand, M. The SAGE Handbook of Writing Development. London: SAGE Publication Ltd: 313-324

Jackie Marsh is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the role and nature of popular culture in young children’s literacy development. She has conducted research projects that have explored children?s access to new technologies and their emergent digital literacy skills, knowledge and understanding. This chapter examines the potential role that popular culture can play in writing curriculum in schools. She examines how popular culture affects children and young people’s written texts in classrooms. She considers the adaptation of out-of-school popular cultural writing practices for educational purposes, and explores the way in which these practices are challenging the boundaries of writing as it is instantiated in the curriculum. This article provides information that support my argument, popular culture restricts children’s creativity/

McDonnell, K. 2000. Kid Culture: children and adults and popular culture. Annandale: Pluto Press.

Kathleen McDonnell makes her living writing in a variety of genres, from playwriting to junior fiction to social criticism. Besides her many books, she writes articles and opinion pieces for the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Chatelaine, Maclean”s, and Utne Reader, and also contributes to CBC Radio and Canada AM. Her plays have been produced throughout Canada. She explained that the reason she writes about children: “I find that children’s stories are usually the best medium to express what I want to say; and about because I have a burning interest in kids and their culture, how they think and feel about the world they’re growing up in”. The book explores children and popular culture and help adults better understand the role of popular cultures plays in children’s lives. Kathleen McDonnell offers a balanced and engaging perspective on the power and influence of children’s culture. This book supports my argument that trading cards encourage gambling addiction.

McGray, D. 2002. ‘Japan’s Gross National Cool’. Foreign Policy. June/July 2002: 44-54

Douglas McGray writes about social and political issues, science, and culture for the New Yorker, This American Life, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, the Los Angeles Times, Wired, and Time. He is a contributing writer of Foreign Policy magazine. He spent the spring of 2001 in Japan as a media fellow of the Japan Society. In Japan’s Gross National Cool, McGray argues Japan’s street culture, from fashion to art to music, has become ever more vibrant and is having an unprecedented influence on the rest of the world. He analyzes “what made Japan a superpower more than just a wealthy country”. He examines the globalization of Japanese culture. This article provides information of how Japanese popular culture affects other countries.

Squire, K. 2003. ‘Video games in education’. International Journal of Intelligent Simulations and Gaming (2) 1.

Dr. Kurt D. Squire is an associate professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Director of the Games, Learning & Society Initiative, and best known for his research into game design for education. The article examines the history of games in educational research, and argues that the cognitive potential of games have been largely ignored by educators. Contemporary developments in gaming, particularly interactive stories, digital authoring tools, and collaborative worlds, suggest powerful new opportunities for educational media. Squire analyzes educational games refers to some checklists ad frameworks. He promotes case studies and design experiments as a research method that doesn’t study isolated variables. He states that there are four concerns of video games, which are encouraging violent or aggressive behavior, employing destructive gender stereotyping, promoting unhealthy attitudes and stifling creative play. This article provides information that support my argument, popular culture restrict children’s creativity and children imitate violence in media.

Willett, R. 2004. ‘The Multiple Identities of Pokemon Fans’. In: Tobin, J. Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokemon. Durham: Duke University Press: 226-240.

Dr Rebekah Willett is a lecturer in Education on the MA in Media, Culture and Communication and the MA in ICT at the Institute of Education. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. She has conducted research on children’s media cultures, focusing on issues of gender, literacy and learning. Willett discusses the multiple identities of Pokemon fans. She uses a cultural studies model to make sense of the “identity work” children do in their story writing. She finds that Pokemon thrives in children’s culture by providing a variety of subject positions for children to adopt as they perform and shift their identities in a variety of context in their daily lives. This article supports my argument, children use too much dialogue and insufficient amount of description when writing story because of popular culture, and children isolate others who do not familiar with Pokemon.

Willett, R. 2005. ‘”Baddies” in the classroom: Media education and narrative writing’. Literacy 39, 3: 142-148.

Dr Rebekah Willett is a lecturer in Education on the MA in Media, Culture and Communication and the MA in ICT at the Institute of Education. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. She has conducted research on children’s media cultures, focusing on issues of gender, literacy and learning. This article relates findings from a classroom study focusing on children’s media-based story writing. The study examines how children write their own stories under the effects of media, that is, how they consume media and how they produce new media texts. Willett finds that children’s media-based stories make explicit some of implicit knowledge of new media forms. “Baddies” in the classroom: Media education and narrative writing provides information that support my argument, children write too much dialogue and insufficient amount of description, story with unpronounceable names and incomprehensible plots, also unnecessary violence.

Is parenting really significant? Does parenting have a positive impact on a child’s life? One may wonder if his or her parenting style has effectively influenced his or her child’s complete development. This paper probes the effects of parenting styles on a child’s development. A child’s holistic development, specifically psychological (emotional and social) and cognitive (intellect) developments, may be affected by numerous factors. These factors may be biological and environmental, which includes culture, family and more significantly parenting styles. Parenting styles used, though not solitary effects, have an absolute impact on the child’s future. According to Baumrind (1971), there are three parenting styles namely “authoritative (demanding and responsive)”, “authoritarian (demanding and unresponsive)” and “permissive (responsive but undemanding)”. More recently, uninvolved parenting (unresponsive and undemanding) has been recognized as a fourth style. Though each parenting style has varying characteristics, it is crucial for the child to receive both nurture and autonomy in order to obtain adequate development. Parenting styles such as authoritative and uninvolved influence a child’s cognitive and psychological development but authoritative parenting is preferred.

Every child’s cognitive development is impacted by his or her parent’s parenting style. Cognition pertains to the intellectual process by obtaining knowledge. According to Bjorklund (1989), “Cognition involves mental activity of all types. It includes activity that is geared toward acquiring, understanding and modifying information.” (p. 4). According to Piaget, children dynamically assemble knowledge by four stages-sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational-as they control and discover their world. It is necessary for parents to be cognizant of the effects of parenting styles on a child’s cognition. Berk (2009) stated that, “Authoritative child-rearing style-the most successful approach-involves high acceptance and involvement, adaptive control techniques, and appropriate autonomy granting” (p. 569). Authoritative parents are affectionate, attentive and receptive to their offspring’s wants, yet they implement firm, rational control and are usually demanding. They inspire the child’s independence and decision making so that the child will be able to make the right choices in life. They encourage dialogues and joint decision making whenever there is a disagreement between parent and child, thus paying attention to the child’s perspective and providing sensible supervision is necessary.

A child’s cognitive development is optimum for independence and decision making skills when experiencing positive and maximum parental support. Hence, an authoritative parent is said to be highly involved in a child’s development, offering positive and maximum parental support which encourages the development of a personality. A child reared by the authoritative parenting style exhibits “high self-esteem, self control and task persistence” (Berk, 2009). In regards to a child who has high self-esteem, positive values and beliefs are passed on from the parents because of their high participation in the offspring’s life. For example, the importance of these parental beliefs and positive values are adopted from family discussions and family rules and practices. Research has shown that children reared by authoritative parents have great academic success because the parents are extremely involved in all aspects of their lives and particularly, their academic achievements. Authoritative parents will praise their children for striving; help them with the difficulties they face in their school work and encourage them to do their best. Children given this positive and maximum parental support believe they have the competence to succeed in life.

The different areas of a child’s development are interconnected thus influencing one another. Psychological development, defined by Encyclopedia Britannica, refers to the emotional and social competence and operation of one’s life span. Authoritative parents are demanding-have high hopes and expectations for their children. Benson & Hiath (2009) postulates that “Children of authoritative parents exhibit low amount of internalizing behaviour such as depression and anxiety and externalizing behaviour such as antisocial behaviour and substance use” (p. 290). In essence, offspring of these parents are more socially and instrumentally competent than children reared by other parenting styles. Authoritative parents also show interest in their child’s social life. It is important that they know about their child’s whereabouts and the friends he or she keeps. Therefore, the child will be less likely to be antisocial in behaviour because of their high autonomy granting. Similarly, it is important to note that though these parents are involved in the child’s social life, they do not dictate the type of friends the child should keep. Instead, they provide good advice and allow the child to make his or her own decision. Benson & Hiath further states that, “Children of authoritative parents are better equipped to cope with life stresses and less likely to succumb to peer pressure, due to the competencies authoritative parents have instilled” (p. 290). Based on research presented, it can be concluded that authoritative parenting has a positive impact on a child’s complete development.

Additionally, a child’s cognitive and psychological developments are also influenced by uninvolved parenting. Unlike the authoritative parent, Benson & Hiath (2009) believes “the indifferent parent is not dedicated to parenting roles and is disinterested in helping foster optimal development of the child” (p. 283). The uninvolved parent is said to have little or no participation in their child’s development thus the child is likely to have less interest in his or her own development. These parents have either despised their children or probably do not have the time or energy to take care of them because priority is given to their own life problems and stresses instead. In contrast to authoritative parenting, children reared by the uninvolved parenting style display poor emotional control and low self-esteem. Children of these parents are likely to have low self-esteem as well as poor school performance because they feel unappreciated by their parents, due to the parents’ low acceptance and non-involvement in their lives. For example, a parent who is parentally stressed and shows no interest in the child’s academic achievement will not encourage the child to develop academically. As a result the child will become a low achiever because there is no parental guidance and support when he or she gets an assignment and needs parental assistance. Additionally, the child is likely to have difficulties making decisions and expressing views effectively because the uninvolved parents are lacking in the areas decision making and perspective.

Uninvolved parents are undemanding often showing little control. A child who feels neglected by his or her parents is likely to have a deficit in his or her psychological development. The child of an uninvolved parent may have behavioural problem such as antisocial behaviours and substance abuse. This is so because the parent-child relationship is poor and so the child is emotionally detached and withdrawn. Due to the lack of positive guidance (no parental values, beliefs and expectations), the child may be led by the wrong type of friends and as a result find himself or herself in a destructive path. For example, parents who are uninvolved in their child’s social life set no expectations and allow their child to do as he or she pleases; searching for affection and attention in the wrong places. Studies have also shown that uninvolved parenting, unlike authoritative parenting, has a negative impact on a child’s holistic development.

From a biblical perspective, a parent should train up a child in the way he or she should go, so when he is old he or she will not depart from it. Research have concluded that parenting plays a minor role in the development of a child and that the impacts are surpassed by the effects of inheritance and society. Despite such claims it is revealed that parenting styles, though not the only influence, wield great effect on a child’s development. Based on previous studies, authoritative parenting is preferred because it has the most positive influence on a child’s entire development while uninvolved parenting has the most negative impact. Some parents use more than one parenting style in the upbringing of their child; therefore it would be a great idea for uninvolved parents to strive to adapt some values of authoritative parenting to allow the child to develop autonomy, confidence and maturity.

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The aim of this project is to explore the effect of outdoor play on children’s social, emotional and physical development. According to Bruce (2004) play is probably one of the least understood aspects of an early-childhood practitioner’s work (p.135). The conceptualisation of play is shared by many other early childhood practitioners for whom play is considered essential, as an activity promoting learning ………………………(p.135). Outdoor play is a much needed activity in the early childhood. You may have come across a child playing and you are sure he/she is having a fun time. Therefore, play is the building block of a child’s intellectual skills. Through play child develops social, emotional and physical skills. The outdoors according to Letter & Wyver (2008) presents obvious opportunities to move and be active, and for children to discover and engage with the natural environment, as well as the chance for open ended activities such as sand & water play, construction and pretend play.

According to Hutt et al (1989, p.10) “the emotional and social development of pre-school children depends crucially upon play” while Penn (2008) asserts that “to learn about child development is to learn about Piaget” (p.41). As Piaget focused on how children acquire knowledge, he tried to understand how children change the way they think, how babies show intense reactions to external stimuli them (Penn, 2008). Ibid (2008) asserts that it was Piaget who provided a theoretical legitimating of learning through play. In addition, Berk (2009), Keenan (2002) & Bruce (2004) are firm believers that children actively explore their environment and are influential in shaping their own knowledge. They believe that it was through social interaction with more experienced and more knowledgeable members of the society – parents, relatives, teachers, peers etc. that children are able to acquire the knowledge and skills that a culture deems to be important

According to Bruce (2004) there is no clear definition for play. It is still an umbrella world (Ibid, 1991), while other early childhood practitioners defined play as ‘child’s work.’ Play is primary way children express their social nature (Strickland et al, 2003). Ibid (2003) argued that all kids enjoy playing alone some of the time; while some prefer to play with others (social play) much of the time. Play is an integral part of learning. Piaget defined play as “a kind of scientific rehearsal” (Penn, 2008; p.43). While Bitton (2010) stated that play offers a meaningful context for children and that it is only when a situation has meaning and purpose that children can function at a higher level (p.49). Children’s emotions are ways in which they react to situations while social development refers to how they get alone with peers and form relationships (Ashiabi, 2007). Furthermore, emotional and social developments are linked because children’s social interactions are usually emotionally charged (Ibid, 2007).

To clearly explore the role of outdoor play on social, emotional and physical development. Strickland et al (2003) asserts that outdoor play is critical to the social development of 3-4 year old children, and to girls in particular when it comes to building self confidence (p.2). In addition, children learn to be more empathy and less egocentric through play and they develop more skills for coping with conflict while boys tend to engage in more social dramatic outdoor play than indoors; outdoor play allows boys who are more physical to assume leadership roles (Srickland, 2002) and perhaps get more positive affirmation than they do inside. White (2007) confirmed that when given the choice, the outdoors is where most children want to be and playing outdoors is preferable to indoors. In support of this argument, Eustice & Heald (1992) argued that outdoor play is an extension of classroom activities which summarises the beliefs of early year management that children learn best by exploring, investigating and solving problems outdoors (p.7). While Alfano (2010) asserts that playing outdoors is a form of exercise that promotes well-being and wholesome physical developments; and that children are naturally drawn to active play outdoors. One of the obvious benefits of getting kids outside to play is the increased exercise they will be getting as opposed to setting in front of the T.V. or computer.

Most early years scholars have also assert that when children play outdoors they are developing mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically. This view is supported by Johnson et al (2002) that children gain lots of opportunities outside to develop basic social skills and social competencies e.g. running, jumping cycling, hide and seek, sing; sensing, make noise, make mess, crawl, and explore the natural world unchallenged. While Brice (2004) viewed that through play, children develop initiative and are strengthened to face challenges in life (p.134). More so, playing outdoors reduces stress in kids. Children express and work out emotional aspects of everyday experiences through unstructured play (Levesque. 2011). Whilst Strickland (2002) argued that there are also opportunities for emotional development as children test their limit and challenge themselves to try things that may be just at the edge of their reach

Moreover, most theorists found that pretend play outdoors was the most dominant form of play (Bulton, 2002). Perhaps that’s why theorists such as Piaget and Vygotsky assert that pretend play provides children with opportunities to practice grown up and perspective talking (Ashiabi, 2007; p.2002). Also, in pretend play a child is always above his average age (Penn, 2008; p.44) and above their daily behaviour. In addition, Wyver & Little (2008) asserts that play also facilitates language development, creative thinking and problem-solving; and helps children deal with complex and competing emotions.

In view of the above statement, parents should allow their children play with other children because it helps in the emotional and social development. Although social and emotional benefits of outdoor play may not be in clear cut, one benefit from research is that it allows kids to move freely, make noise and self-express themselves in ways that many not be encouraging inside. Outside play encourages logical thinking and the ability to reason through highly interactive activities such as building sand-castles, playing games with friends, playing puzzles with friends etc. Time spent outside with peers helps to create social skills that are needed for great healthy friendship (Brouillette, 2010). While Froebal cited by Bruce (2004) stated that “play is the highest level of learning………………………………………….activities of the child” (p.132). While Siraj-Blatchford et al (2002) cited by Bruce (2004) shows that the richest play is found especially in nursery schools. According to Little & Wyver (2008) the significance of outdoor play as an essential part of every child’s life has also been acknowledged by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 31 supports a child’s right to rest and leisure, and to participate in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child.

There are other reasons why playing outdoor is important for children, according to Stewart (2010) “when children play outside, they are more likely to maintain a healthy weight because they get the chance to burn off extra calories by running, jumping, climbing, riding bikes, yelling etc. which can also lead to better sleep.” Also, the above exercise help children to develop small and large muscles, strengthened bones, increases flexibility, fine and gross motor skills and improves their overall health (Ibid, 2010). In addition, outdoor play is important in early childhood because it helps in the physical development of the child as obesity is a common problem among children today (Pillar, 2010). Therefore, engaging in outdoor play helps in preventing childhood obesity.

More so, Vitamin D is essential for the skin and can only be derived by playing outdoors as it is impossible to get an adequate amount from food and vitamins alone. Getting kids outdoor increases the exposure to sun and their natural production of Vitamin D.

In contrary to the above advantages of outdoor play, White (2007) argued that today it seems that the motivation for children’s outdoor play has declined because global society is very busy in its day-to-day activities and over protected parents. Furthermore, many school age children have too much homework after school, therefore having less time for outdoor play. Whilst those without homework are too busy/lazy watching T.V, playing computer games, or pre-occupied chatting with friends on-line. Lastly, some parents are too busy with work and other activities (watching T.V, Football, cooking) to see to their children’s adequate outdoor play. Some parents are so paranoid that every man outside the street with big glasses/spectacles is a pervert or paedophile waiting to attack or abduct their children as they play outside.

Furthermore, social and environmental factors have greatly impacted on children’s opportunities for outdoors play. Little & Wyver (2008) asserts that where once children may have spent time playing in the street riding bicycle, playing chasing games, and hide & seek etc, increased traffic has made these areas and play opportunities off-limits for children as the changes are far too great. Children are now confined to classroom, backyards or local parks for relatively safe places to play. Also, Ibid (2008) stated that increase demand for housing in many areas, particularly urban areas, is eroding children’s play ground.

Lastly, according to Johnson et al (2005) providing for outdoor play needs for children is a complex and challenging task. A variety of factors must be considered, including the various play needs of young children, supervision, safety etc. while many educators, politicians, and parents believe outdoor play takes time away from academic activities; as a result, recess and physical education in many schools is limited or totally eradicated (Sutterby & Frost, 2002 cited by Johnson et al, 2005).