How Childhood Affects A Child's Life

Childhood is a complex concept that has never been clearly defined, nor has it stayed a stagnant concept across all times and cultures. The time period in which a child exists is different depending on the time you are looking at, as are the characteristics which are attributed to children. In the time periods that were studied in this class, which spanned from the early modern period of literature up until the late twentieth century, the idea of childhood and what represented it changed vastly. In some of our early readings, children were defined as helpless and ignorant, with very little logic or ability to rationalize or reason. Towards the ends of our readings, when we were getting into the books that were produced in the twentieth century, childhood is still portrayed as innocent, but also as playful and creative, and full of life, laughter and friendship.

The purpose of this assignment is to examine if childhood has changed in the past 40 to 50 years. For the assignment I interviewed a 9 year old African American female and a 54 year old African American female. During my interview I found out that childhood has changed tremendously. Morals and values have been subsided due to priorities. Then on the contrary stress has taken a dramatic rise due to more children being raised in a single-parent home. In this paper I covered these basic areas: family history, school, friends, and extra-curricular activities.

The importance of Childhood Trauma is associated with the way children react later on in their life, as it plays an important role. There are several different types of maltreatment that are associated with abuse that can harm the child in the long run. Any type of physical abuse, emotional abuse or sexual abuse contributes to the negative affects that can change the child’s personality. If the child’s parents obtain physical neglect or emotional neglect, it can factor in changing a child’s moods, as it causes them to change into a different person. This experience causes them to develop different types of personality disorders such as Antisocial, Borderline, Narcissistic, Paranoia, Schizoid, and Schizotypal. Many children are affected through the terrible experience which develops mistrust in the world, and later causes them to turn against society because of the constant neglect that is inflicted onto them.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) such as neglect and abuse have the capacity to increase the likelihood of disease, social problems, sexual issues and mental health issues later in adulthood. A dysfunctional home life experience as a child also is also implemented and impacts physical, mental, social and sexual health and wellbeing as an adult.

In the immediate, as well as long-term aftermath of exposure to trauma, children are at risk of developing significant emotional and behavior difficulties (CWIG, 2012). The most damaging types of trauma include early physical and sexual abuse, neglect, emotional/psychological abuse, exposure to domestic violence and other forms of child maltreatment (Hoch, 2009). Research has shown that children that are exposed to these types of trauma will experience developmental delays including language and verbal processing. Also, they will have risk of poor physiological and psychosocial functioning, and will be vulnerable to emotional and behavioral dysregulation disorders, thus, leading to an increase risk of poor outcomes including substance abuse, suicidality, teen pregnancy and paternity, criminal activity, and revictimization (Hoch, 2009).

Children grow up vulnerable to life circumstances, having to become resilient at a young age

The childhood of an individual can be very crucial in the formation of the child’s character, personality, and future social behavior. The early experiences a child is exposed to may impact the child in a positively or negatively manner. Children exposed to traumatic childhood experiences such as emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; emotion and physical neglect; and household dysfunction such as incarcerated member of the household, domestic violence, and substance abuse; will result in criminal behavior in adolescence and/or adulthood.

“The overall impact of abuse also depends on the child’s natural reactions to stress and ways of coping with stressful situations.(child abuse and neglect)” Some people think that all the effects are the same however, “the effects of child abuse affect each child differently.(child abuse and neglect)” It is also a shock to people when they are told that “children are more physically susceptible to injury than adults as their bodies are still in development.(child abuse and

Many effects of child abuse are severe and can damage a child’s future in today’s world. It can cause long-term effects such as low self-esteem, depression, and relationship difficulties. All of these can effect a kid growing up because it changes their life style and how they think in difficult situations. Also neglect can effect a kid’s role in his or her middle school days. (Victims)Neglected children start to grow up with anti-social trails which causes them to be less active and social in school. It can also damage a Childs future, depending on the career they would want but in most cases, neglect effects every stage growing

The article presents the notion that children, who undergo severe life stress, will perform below par in academics, develop mood/emotional disorders and reap the effects in their social life. Past researchers such as, Shonkoff, Garner, and Wood believed that explicating how early life stresses affect neural, cognitive, and other functioning will assist in discovering ways to prevent or intervene before it gets worse (Romens 303). It was also noted that a key factor in children that experience this type of abuse is the parenting style. Children that are severely abused lack the support and care system that is given by supportive and delicate parenting (Romens 303). Slavich and Cole indicated that experiences in the environment play a role

The consequences of maltreatment can be devastating. The consequences of abuse and the failure to take care of their child or children affect the victims themselves and the society in which they live in. it is important, crucial even, to further investigate child abuse because it could tell us a lot about the thoughts in our society and the value of children to people. We should put stock into what children must say because it is always difficult in legal situations when children are involved because we think so little of what they should say. Therefore, being exposed to child abuse can lead into delinquency. The affects of child abuse are plentiful, particularly in relation to their physical, psychological and emotional needs and development. In addition to the damage caused to these aspects, this also can turn abused children to lives of delinquency. Physical consequences range from minor damage to severe brain damage and even death. Psychological consequences range from chronic low self-esteem to severe dissociative states. Behaviourally, the consequences of abuse range from poor peer relations all the way to extreme violent behaviours.

Some say that childhood is the most influential stage of life, the stage that shapes the future for that child into how they will develop into adulthood. With this in mind, we are always watching what our children are learning, and providing them with the building blocks that will help them grow up into a good person someday, we watch and guide them, being careful they are not exposed to some things too early and others not too late. Take fairy tales for example. Kids today know all the fairy tales, or at least most of them. But they only know what we let them see, which, in most cases is the revised Disney version of fairy tales that always have a happy ending and are therefore deemed appropriate for young children. However now some are

While writing a paper one thing that is said to grab a reader’s attention and interest is to ask a question. Teachers seem to do the same thing at the beginning of each year to grab their student’s attention. Typically, a fun exercise or game is used with the intent of using critical thinking, reflecting, and communicating. Questions such as, ‘Who do you want to be like when you grow up?’ typically go more into depth each year. From a child’s first day of school, they begin to create a version of themselves as adults. Most kids respond with names of people they know, ranging from family relatives to fictional characters from a television show or storybook. The answer is always going to be someone who has done something to make them stand out to each individual child. Almost any child is going to answer originating from someone who has made a significant impact on the child’s life in a positive way making them want to follow in this persons path and do the same. The answer is not something that can be taught in a classroom, however. It must be learned through a natural process we have the ability to identify with from birth.

In context to IRT, there are four components included in this theory that help us to understand childhood and childhood experiences from a sociological perspective more thoroughly. The four components include peer culture, central assumptions, collective actions and active and passive roles. Peer culture, central assumptions, collective actions and active and passive roles of children and childhood are thoroughly depicted in various ways in Perstein’s first chapter. Applying IRT to instances of childhood experiences and children in general, is beneficial in understanding the experiences of children in the United States more broadly. After reading Linda Perlstein’s first chapter, not much, just chillin’: the hidden lives of middle schoolers, of her book, “i can’t believe the day’s almost over” the components of IRT are easily identifiable. Perlstein illustrates how children think, act, talk, behave and more, whilst demonstrating that children experience life and the world around them, contributing to society and culture, at their own levels.

It’s kind of tough to talk about oneself, when it comes to remembering old memories and the old you, it could be such a bittersweet feeling for some people, looking back at memories which creates the person you are now helps reflect on why you are the person you are in the present. Childhood and adolescences years are periods of growing and development, genetics and environmental factors have big influences during those time of life. Culture, religion and society play a big roles when it comes to environmental influences in the lives of a child. Many adolescents face challenges and difficulties that make them a more mature person. In addition emerging adulthood is the stage that mostly reflects the way people were raised and how cultures influence identity and decision making.