All countries develop their own unique cultures to live by and many countries have similar cultural characteristics that vary from country to country. More often than not, different cultures around the world may share similar ideations but they are shaped into their own version to fit the culture of that certain society. In China, there is a high population of “Left Behind” children. In Chinese culture it is morally acceptable for the heads of households to leave their children behind to raise and care for themselves and their family members. The parents of these families move to more urban parts of the country in order to make more money to give the family a better life. There is a similar cultural idea occurring in the United States and these children are being referred as the “Latchkey Children.”
Latchkey Children are children that come home after school and are left alone without parental supervision until their parents come home from work. This phenomenon became common during WWII, when one parent would be drafted to war and the other parent was forced to get a job to support the family. Today it is fairly common for both parents to have a job and the prices of after-school child care continue to rise. One in twenty-five kindergartners through fifth-graders care for themselves after school according to America After 3PM. Parents feel guilty leaving their children at home for a few hours a day but many times that is the only option.
Latchkey Children in History
It is difficult to imagine children as young as five making their own way home from school and letting themselves into an empty home. That was the reality for many children during the war. The term “latchkey children” came into existence during World War II. During ...
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...leave their child alone.
Works Cited
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2013). What is child abuse and neglect? Recognizing the signs and symptoms. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Children’s Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/whatiscan.pdf
Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Children's Bureau., Caliber Associates. Crosson-Tower, Cynthia. (2003). The Role of Educators in Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse and Neglect: Chapter 4 - Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect. Retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/educator/educatord.cfm
http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/child-abandonment.html#sthash.mTEcZH5u.dpuf http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=270-273.75 http://www.ehow.com/about_6594136_california-can-left-home-alone_.html
When children are hurt physically, emotionally, or sexually it is known to be child abuse. Children are known to be neglected when they are not getting the proper attention needed for children. When children are neglected or abused in any way it is the responsibility of others to report such acts to the authorities as to what they have witnessed first-hand or signs of abuse or neglect seen after the fact, these people who reports such acts are known as third parties. The proper authorities to report child abuse or neglect is called Child Protected Services also known as Child Welfare. After the abuse or neglect is reported the proper authorities will then investigate to see if the abuse or neglect is legit or fraudulent (Sedlak, 2001).
For such families, “sustaining children’s natural growth is viewed as an accomplishment” (Lareau 34). Lareau also reported that many working class and poor parents feel that educators hold the expertise, and usually fear doing the “wrong thing” in school-related matters (Lareau 357). What this usually leads to is trying to maintain a separation between school and home (Lareau 358).
Lisa Ling’s study showed that over ¼ of babies adopted and brought to the United States are from China. Most of these babies are girls. Due to the one child policy to control population, these unwanted girls are aborted, abandoned or hidden. They might even get killed. Boys are preferred because they will carry on the family name and they will stick with the family to care for them as they get older. These girls have never known a father. They have never known a mother, and they never knew a big sister. Most of them will be adopted from families in the United States. Others will stay in an orphanage until they are old enough to be on their own. China is one of the world’s oldest civilizations with over 4,000 years of history and culture. Today,
Growing up in the American education system, I always took my education for granted. My mother would always say, “You know how much people would want to be in your place and go to school?” In Chinese culture, education is the only way to achieve upward social mobility and leave the poor social economic class; whether you are rich or poor, you must have education and go to school. Education is not equal for everyone so how can one play the game when it is set up against you. Education is based on the resources that are offered in the area, thus if you live in a poor area, you get fewer resources. When the One Child policy was passed, it helped because all the family’s resources are focused on one child but the child is the only one to take care
middle of paper ... ... Children within the United States whose parents serve in the military are left to deal with issues of separation and fear. The fear of not knowing when their parents are coming home, and if they’ll come back to the same person they were when they left. Since we are incapable of hiding violence and the act of war from children, it is better to help them understand the meaning behind it and teach them that violence is not always the answer. Children react based on what they see and hear, and if the community and world around them portrays positive things, then the child will portray a positive attitude as well.
Wells, Karen C.. "Children and youth at war." Childhood in a global perspective. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2009. 152. Print.
Children are seen as adorable, fun loving, and hard to control. Ida Fink uses a child in “The Key Game” to be the key to this family’s life. The setting is placed during the start of World War II; Jews all around were being taken. Fink uses a boy who doesn’t look the traditional Jewish, “And their chubby, blue-eyed, three-year-old child” (Fink). As they read on the emotional connection is stronger because there is a face to go with this character. Fink draws a reader in by making connections to a family member the reader may know. A blue-eyed, chubby child is the picture child of America. A child in any story makes readers more attached especially if they have children of their own. The child is three way too young to be responsible for the safety of the father, yet has to be. Throughout the story, we see how the mother struggles with making her child play the game because no child should be responsible like
DePanfillis, Diane. “Child Neglect: A Guide for Prevention.” Child Welfare Information Gateway. N.p. 2006. Web. Feb. 2014.
Child abuse in the United States is a growing epidemic. Every year the number of reported cases, and missing children go up. This is caused mostly by lack of education about the different types of child abuse, and the signs that go along with it. Communities need to provide more resources to better educate the public about the types of abuse, and the signs that go along with it. Child abuse and neglect can be lessened by more resources, more education and to reach out to others.
Today child neglect is the largest part of child abuse in the United States, and almost two-thirds of all reported cases in child protective services is neglect (Dubowitz). Before the 1970’s child abuse mostly referred to physical abuse; however, now it encompasses physical, emotional, and sexual abuse as well as neglect (Compton’s). Physical abuse is when a child is hurt by getting hit, punched, kicked, or any other form of beating by an adult (Compton’s). This abuse will only harm the child physically and though it is horrific and can lead to long term effects it will normally only lead to violence. Emotional abuse is when an adult is hateful to the child by calling him names, and another form of emotional abuse is when an adult is punishing a child in a way that will cause him mental trauma (Compton’s). Emotional abuse is terrible for the child’s self-esteem however they can go and learn that they are important to the world by their contributions. Sexual abuse is when a child is touched inappropriately or molested (Compton’s). This is detrimental to a child but in most cases the child will block this out for when they grow older it is like it never happened which will cause no harm to their mental state. Neglect is when an adult will not seek medical help for their child and will not provide them with food, shelter, clothing, or emotional support (Sullivan). This is where the real trauma takes place on a child. The child will not suffer from being hit but they suffer from starving until someone is kind enough to feed them or they die from malnutrition. The child will not suffer from a parent calling them names but they might never know if their parent knows their name or cares to even speak to th...
Singer, P.W. “Children at War.” Military History 24.6 (2007): 1-5. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
Machel, Graca & Sebastian Salgado. The Impact of War on Children. London: C. Hurst, 2001.
Saisan, MSW, Joanna, Segal, Jeanne, Ph.D., and Smith, Melinda, M.A.,. "Child Abuse & Neglect: Recognizing and Preventing Child Abuse." Helpguide.org: Understand, Prevent and Resolve Life's Challenges. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2014.
Funding is awarded to support ongoing research programs to identify, prevent and treat child abuse and neglect and to collect and distribute data. Projects that are currently funded are Child Welfare Information Gateway website, the National Resource Center for Child Protective Services, National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response, annual publication of Child Maltreatment and the initiative on Supporting Evidence-Based Home Visitation to Prevent Child Maltreatment.
Due to parents having to take on 2-3 part-time jobs or low wage jobs, parents are required to deal with long hours, unusual hours, lack of benefits that cover paid sick days, paid medical, parental leave, and vacation time. This prevents parents from participating in their children’s development. (Spross, Jeff. "Low-Wage Jobs Don’t Just Harm Workers — They Harm Their Children." ThinkProgress RSS. 7 Dec. 2012. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.) Parents are not home to look after their children. When parents are home, it is for a short period that allows parents to feed the children, bath them and put them to bed. Parents have to choose their family time or making income and income is priority to try and provide the necessary needs like a home, electric, and food. This struggle between income and family has put tremendous stress on parents which lead to a higher level of depression which affects the whole family. Some young adult children are forced into the work force before they graduate to help the family. If these young adults are one of the fortunate ones that don’t need to join the workforce, they are still faced with taking on an adult role due to having to play mommy or daddy to their younger siblings. Having this kind of responsibility at such a young age causes some of these young adults to fall into a depression or stressed out with all the responsibility that they start rebelling authority or looking for