Chaos

I chose chaos as a stressor on young children. To talk about chaos this week and How it may effect young children  so the definition of “chaos is complete disorder and confusion. There’s a physics definition behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions. “. Chaos  isn’t often something large like a war. As in one of my classes I had talked about the war in Syria and how it’s leading to childhood bullying and suicide in children under 10. Childhood trauma can also include little things like being left alone, disorder in the household as well as violence. Children who are raised with a lot of trauma and chaos grow up to adulthood with anxiety. I was reading that “a common core believe develop my children in this situation is something bad is going to happen” this is from love and life toolbox. I think I was raised with some chaos they tend to have little bits of anxiety and I often feel like something bad is about to happen. Especially when things are going well. I’m always waiting for the hammer to drop. Or the floor to drop out from under me. Chaos comes in many ways. I worked in a low income center after school program. And there was always one or two moms that had various “uncles” picking up their children. The younger ones usually about three or four were very vocal on the fact that that’s mom’s boyfriend I don’t like him. It used to break my heart when you do see a new uncle/boyfriend picking up the kids every 2 or 3 months. To me that is chaos on the child. Our early childhood experiences influence our adult experiences. Our emotions percolate and circulate in our subconscious selves. We make the brain  struggle to limit the effects of chaos. In infancy our children learn self awareness. Between the ages of two years old and six years old they are learning how to regulate their emotions but if there’s chaos and their deprived, helpless, Chaos and strong emotions leave deep marks on the soul.  As teachers we must speak love into a child soul. Kind words empathy we want tocounteract some of the things that they are feeling and  experiencing. If we pro actively fight against this chaos and how overwhelming it is to the growing minds we can help a child with their development.

Playing with the child allowing for pretend play helps the child on some levels work out their issues with chaos. Kathleen Berger’s text book The developing person through childhood states “pretend play in which children act out various roles and theme stories that they create. “(Berger KAthleen 2013)Allowing children to use their imagination, allowing children to talk through exploring their social roles. Allowing them to practice emotional regulation. And developing their self concept. Is important for a child that has a lot of chaos outside of the classroom. Directors can often come into a classroom reminding teachers to pick up the clutter, looking for a written schedule. Making sure that the voices that we use in the classroom arm low and tone when were speaking and not screaming at the children because when they come to school there should be less chaos. 

     The textbook also states “that during infancy and early childhood extreme stress may cause cortisol to flood the brain and destroy part of the hippocampus. There is extensive evidence of the disruptive impacts of toxic stress. Too much of that hormone early in life may lead to permanent deficit in learning and health”

This amazed me because parents and adults sometimes feel that infants don’t remember anything. Often times there’s lots of moving from apartment to apartment, parents find it stressful and even though the child might not “remember” that immediate stress is causing damage in the brain.

In estimated 3.7 children in Syria are growing up under toxic stress. One in three Syrian children have only known living in crisis. Which is sad because it would normalize chaos. Finding shelter during a bombing becomes an every day occurrence. I know I am looking at this through the eyes of someone who has never seen war but this is sad to me. In an article on CNN they quoted a mom who says her son wakes up in the middle of the night afraid. He had seen someone killed in front of him. That leaves a lasting impact I remember speaking to a woman in Germany in the city of Dresden. They took children to the river during a bombing attack by the Americans. Later in the evening at night the bombings continued and they bombed the river. Her friends burned to death while she stood nearby. And she says she still wakes up smelling the burning flesh.

In the CNN article it says the problems include bedwetting self harm and suicide attempts of aggression and withdrawn behavior. In children that should be children.

As teachers we need to create a balance between chaos and comforting a child. Playing with the child and keep encouraging them to practice regulating their emotions to advance their social understandings.

Cited 

Berger, Kathleen 2015 Worth Punlishers  New York

CNN McKirdy Euan, ( March 8,  2012) http://www.cnn/Middle East/savethechildren