The body reaction to physical or emotional situation that affects normal balance in any way is termed stress. Some describes it as a “pressure on the outside that causes pressure on the inside” (The Medicine Chest, 2006).
As a child, one stressor that I experienced was the feeling of unlovable. This was a feeling I usually sensed from my mum since I was a young child. I always got seriously beaten at the slightest opportunity, even for things not really my fault. There was a day that I was beaten until I developed cramps and could not move again, “die if you want to die”, she said as she continued beating. This treatment continued throughout my developing years.
I was able to cope with it because in this part of the world, Yoruba – Nigeria, it is a taboo for children to look their parents in the face or talk back at them, though changing now. I guess this helped me because all throughout I held on to the believe that my mum could not do better and it was for my good. It affected my studies greatly and I became sickly. Once I was taken to hospital after check up, I was asked to wait outside, leaving my parents with the doctor and on the way home, mum was fuming and asked, “how can that be the cause? Even if it is I don’t want to talk about it”, and dad just said, “well, you’ve heard it all”. I did not know what it was. A child’s own parents often maltreats the child through abuse and neglect (Berger, 2009). However, recently, I was reminded of one of my statements then, I was said to have told my dad not to worry, “we would buy a new mummy for daddy”. How babyish! There was no resource used and no support obtained.
I would like to know more about Nigeria and the type of stressor that impact the development of the children. I am choosing Nigeria because I am looking forward to establishing a pre-schooler educational outfit very soon and I would need every information that I can get about young children in Nigeria. Hypertension, a notorious adult disease now takes on children as victims (Osobu-Asubiojo, 2011). Many stressors were highlighted for this but most highlighted was Genetic, which means it runs in the family; or excess in daily activities especially these days that children wakes up by 4 a.m. to get ready for school in order to beat the trafick jam and get back home by 8 p.m. to complete their assignment, have dinner, shower if possible and go to bed; routine in daily activities, that is doing the same thing over and over; or change in life style and diet, taking too much of fast foods. In order to reduce this risk, there is need to educate parents and caregivers on the danger in eating fast foods and children not having enough rest. Balanced diet including fruits and vegetables is essential. Eating of food with low sugar, fat and salt was highly recommended. Regular day sleep was also suggested with a 30 minustes exercise at least thrice in a week. Alcohol should be strictly avoided. At the national level, nothing is being done yet, but doctors advise is being given to parents and caregivers as necessary, however, it is not nationwide yet. I hope this will go round faster.
Reference
Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
The Medicine Chest. (2006). Stress In Young Children. Retrieved February-March, 2006, from http://www.healthychild.net/TheMedicineChest.php?article_id=339
