Environmental Effects on Childhood Development

                When my son-in-law was a youngster he was discovered rummaging through trash cans for food for himself and his younger brother. His mother was a drug addict and neglected to care for the boys. Fortunately, both of the boys were placed in a foster home and were eventually adopted by that family. This family provided stability and love and food – all of the things that their mother did not. Through the county, the family took advantage of necessary medical care.

 Although all of this took place when the boys were quite young, he was three years old, it did not totally compensate for those early years of deprivation. Both of the boys also needed some therapy as a result of those early years. They both had trouble with impulse control and aggressiveness that needed to dealt with. Luckily, for them the county helped the family find the help the boys needed.

The region that I have chosen to look at is the Detroit area and the effects that poverty is having on the children there. A group called Kids Count has stated that approximately 71% of children in the Detroit area live in families that are 200% of poverty level or lower. Even when families are as much as 200% above poverty level, they have difficulties paying rent and utilities as well as being able to provide adequate food, medical care, and stable child care. This same group has offered statistics that indicate that children ages 0 – 5 are the most affected group, with percentages as high as 58% (detnews).

“Research shows that children who grow up in high-poverty neighborhoods are at much greater risk for health and developmental challenges in almost every aspect of their lives, from education to their chances for economic success as adults. These challenges exist regardless of their own family's income” (Speer, 2013). I find this statement to be very interesting. Apparently, even when children are living in a family that does not suffer from the effects of low income, the prevalence of other families in the community who are suffering can still affect them. Michigan has placed an emphasis on Head Start and Early Start programs to try and offset some of the effects that poverty has on these youngsters. Recently, some have also suggested that changing to a year-round school would also be beneficial. This move would not only prevent what is called “the summer slide” when it comes to their learning, but it would insure that these children continue to be provided healthy breakfasts and lunches through the school lunch program.

Another problem these families have to deal with is that many of them live in what the USDA describes as a food desert. A food desert has a lack of accessible grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and other healthful food outlets (Nutrition Digest). This does not mean that there is no food in the area; however, it tends to be junk food that is readily available. Recent movements have been trying to counteract this problem by establishing urban farms and/or fresh food trucks for these areas.

http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=131#ixzz22209nQpf

Higgins, L. (2013, June 29). High poverty areas need a community strategy. In Detroit Free Press. Retrieved September 27, 2014

Speer, L. (2013, May 16). Kids in High-Poverty Communities: 5 Ways It Affects Us All. In The Whole Child Blog. Retrieved September 27, 2014

The USDA Defines Food Deserts (n.d.). In American Nutirtion Association: Nutrition Digest. Retrieved September 27, 2014

Many of you are probably aware that there was a problem with the water supply in Toledo, Ohio earlier this year.  Due to an algae build up in Lake Erie, the water was deemed undrinkable. Residents were told that even boiling it would not make it safe to drink. But the news got even worse when the residents were told that they shouldn’t even bathe in it. Although this was a temporary problem for the area, it got me thinking about the many ways that water is a necessity in our lives and about the areas of the world that deal with water problems similar to this on a regular basis.

One common water contaminant is arsenic. It is estimated that over 200 million people in the world are drinking water that contains levels exceeding the World Health Organization’s recommended levels. Many of these people live in Southern Asian Countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, India, and Vietnam. However, several Latin American countries are also experiencing high levels of arsenic in their water. One such country is Peru.

Arsenic can occur naturally in water sources due to exposure to certain metals and volcanic  rocks. However, it can also reach the water supply through human activity such as mining and smelting. Peru is a major supplier of gold, silver and copper to the world market, as well as one of the main producers of arsenic that is used to make pesticides and insecticides around the world. A recent study has shown that this activity may very well have contaminated a large portion of Peru’s water supply. Although poor, rural areas seem to be the most affected, it is disturbing to note that samples taken from the river that runs through Lima, the nation’s capital, also tests high in arsenic content. The most disturbing aspect of the results concerning Lima is that, in some parts of the river, tests showed levels to be 5 times those that are recommended.

Prolonged exposure to arsenic has many detrimental effects to one’s health, ranging from cancer to cardiovascular, neurological, and respiratory diseases. Arsenic has also been proven to have adverse effects on a child’s cognitive and motor development. Because of these facts it is important that countries, like Peru, take advantage of technology that aids not only in testing for arsenic, but also in treating the water to mitigate the amount of arsenic that is in it.

People have long recognized the need for human beings to have access to clean drinking water. In fact, in 2010 the United Nations recognized the need for clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right. As such, all nations must take steps to ensure that their citizens are not denied this basic human right. As a citizen, I must be vigilant in my efforts to keep contaminants from reaching my water supply. As a teacher, I need to make sure that my children are not only afforded adequate amounts of water throughout the day, but also ensure that water is safe for them to drink.

References:

Rush, E., (2013). Water: neglected, unappreciated, and under researched. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition,67(5), 492-495.doi:101038/ejcn.2013.11

George, C., Sima,L., Jahuira,Arias,M., Mahalic, J., Cabrera, L.Z., Danz, D. & Gilman, R.H. (2014). Arsenic exposure in drinking water: an unrecognized health threat in Peru. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 92(8), 565-572. doi:10.2471/BLT.13.128496 

Because of the fact that I had had a previous miscarriage, my pregnancy of my oldest child was an anxious one. This was especially true during the early part of the pregnancy when you can’t feel the baby moving. I couldn’t wait to feel the baby move; I was convinced that I would feel more secure about the pregnancy once we reached that milestone. As it turned out, that was only partially true. Although I relaxed somewhat after the baby was large enough for me to feel it moving, I would still occasionally find myself worrying about how long it had been since I last felt her move; then I would try to make her move.

            When it finally came time for the birth, things progressed the way the majority of pregnancies in the United States go. We went to the hospital and prepared to deliver the baby naturally, with my parents present, but with medical supervision in case things went awry. In this particular case, it turned out to be a good thing that we were in a hospital. After a few hours of labor, as the nurse was doing an internal exam, it was discovered that the baby was fully engaged in the birth canal – butt first. She could not be turned into a head down position because of her location, and giving birth to a baby who is folded in half can be dangerous for both the mother and the baby. So the decision was made to perform a c-section.

            The doctor took the time to inform me and my husband about the details of the procedure and what we could expect before, during and after. After I was given a spinal block, they wheeled me into the operating room, set up a curtain between my breasts and belly, and got to work. As they pulled her from the birth canal, my husband looked over the curtain but could only see her butt; so he asked the doctor, “Is that a boy butt or a girl butt?” The doctor informed us we had a baby girl and brought around the curtain to me. After briefly getting to see her at that point, the nurse came and took her and left the room; my husband left too and followed our baby where ever she went.

            It was a few hours before I got to really spend time with our new baby girl. They did not bring her to me until I left the recovery room and was taken to my own room. I remember feeling a little out of it at that time. When the nurse was getting ready to leave me in my room, she said “She’ll be in here in a few minutes.” I was confused and asked “She who?”

            Most people know the importance of prenatal care when it comes to child development, but few stop and think about how the birthing experience itself can affect it. If we believe the studies that show how a mother under stress has a negative impact on the development of her child, one must also believe that undue stress to the mother during birth will negatively impact the child's development. However, relieving of undue stress is not totally reliant on the amount of medical attention a mother receives. A mother's stress can be reduced by having support from family and/or friends during labor and delivery, by being in a relaxing atmosphere brought about by soft lights and music, or anything else that the individual mother may find comforting. Although the majority of American women have their babies in hospitals, I believe that hospitals have embraced this idea of reducing stress for the mothers by allowing mothers to choose to have people in the room with her and providing rooms that have a more homey atmosphere.

            I was asked to investigate the birthing experience of another culture and compare it to that of the typical birth in the United States. The country I chose to investigate was Japan because my mother-in-law is Japanese and I wanted to see what how her experience may have been different if she had had my husband in that country. At first sight there may not seem to be much difference in experiences between the two countries. In Japan, approximately 50% of women give birth in a hospital, with the majority of the remainder seeking the services of a clinic. Japan also has places called birthing centers. Birthing centers and clinics both use midwives instead of doctors, but birthing centers are much smaller and more personal; if there are complications, the women are transported to a hospital.

            When you add up the percentages of women using hospitals, clinics, and birthing centers, the total is very similar to the percentage of women in the United States who give birth in hospitals. Another aspect of childbirth Japan that is similar is the fact that the number of c-sections is on the rise.

            One part of the birthing experience that is very different in Japan is what happens immediately after birth. Hospitals in Japan package the umbilical cord in a box and present it to the mothers as they are leaving the hospital. Sometimes the box also contains a small doll in a kimono with the umbilical cord inside the kimono. This custom is believed to help the mother and child bond.

References:

Umansky, N. (2014, February 1). 12 Fascinating Traditions for Welcoming Newborns. In odde.com. Retrieved September 5, 2014, from http://www.oddee.com/item_98850.aspx

Horiuchi, I. M. (2012, August). • The relationship between women-centred care and women's birth experiences: A comparison between birth centres, clinics, and hospitals in Japan. Midwifery, 458-465. Retrieved September 5, 2014, from Science Citation Index.