Child Development And Poverty And Its Effects On Childhood Development

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Childhood development is both a biological and psychological period that occurs to every human from birth to adolescence. The transition from dependency to autonomy characterizes this period. The crucial factors that affect this period include parental life, prenatal development and genetics among others. Childhood period is immensely significant for the child’s future health and development. Efforts in ensuring proper child development are normally seen through parents, health professional and educators who work collectively. Such efforts are essential in making sure that children grow to reach their full potential. However, it is not extremely easy to raise a child in modern times because certain factors emerge to ruin this pivotal stage in life. Poverty is a serious problem that can immensely affect childhood development (Horgan, 2007). Children are susceptible developmentally to problems in their earliest period of their life. Poverty is not a selective issue and it can affect all ages in any place, but its …show more content…

Poverty causes corrosion of families and parental relationships parents making it extremely hard for parents to get involved in parenting and providing for the childhood basic needs. Parental stress affects the development process of a child, and extreme stress can impair the neuron pathways of the child’s brain, which is underdeveloped (Kail, 2006). As a result, continuous problems in learning, physical and mental health and learning emerge in the child’s life. Studies affirm that the prevalence of poverty is high in households with non-English residents, single parents and large families with high illiteracy levels. All these are contributing factors of poverty that result in stress. This implies that children in these families are exposed to childhood development problems, but it should not guarantee that children raised in English families do not experience childhood development

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