How Does Hunger Affect Children

In the United States many citizens face hunger, starvation and malnutrition on a daily basis. This food insecurity affects millions of Americans. Food insecurity is caused when Americans don’t have enough money to purchase food for themselves and their family. When children experience hunger if affects them both physically and psychologically. “Children who are denied an adequate diet are at a greater risk of not reaching their full potential as individuals. Undernourished youngsters have trouble concentrating and bonding with other children and are more likely to suffer illnesses resulting in school absences.” (Karger, p 371) It is important for children to meet their full potential in order for society to continue thriving into the future. If children are not receiving an adequate education because they have an empty stomach, then they will not continue to higher education or they will do poorly. In order to combat hunger in children the federal government responded with several major programs. Two of the programs the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) are targeted towards school age children. These programs provide students with breakfast and lunch while they are at school.

Furthermore, federal assistance is also a cause of hunger. According to a study from the nation’s largest food bank operator, the number of Americans in need of food aid has jumped 46 percent in the three years. A growing number of people have had to make difficult choices about what to spend their money on. “These are choices that no one should have to make, but particularly households with children” (Escarra). The government and the community can help in many ways. Insufficient nutrition has adverse effects on the physical, behavioral and mental health, and academic performance of

Another cause for child hunger is unemployment. Many parents have lost their jobs due to the recession. Just like people that live in poverty, they don't have enough money to pay housing bills and are lacking food. In some cases, the decision has to be made between electricity or eating. This causes parents to fight about money problems and this effect kids because they start to worry. ("Hungry Kids")

A. How many of you are worried about where your next meal will come from? Are you unsure of how you’re going to purchase next week’s groceries or what you will be feeding your children for dinner tonight? This probably isn’t something most of you think about from day to day. When you are hungry, you eat. It’s easy for you to grab a sandwich, order a pizza, or run through the drive thru when you are on the go. However, there are many families, not just in other countries, but here in the United States as well, that are going hungry every day. According to kidshealth.org, a child dies from malnutrition and related causes every 6 seconds.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports 16.7 million children under the age of eighteen live in a household where consistent access to adequate amounts of nutritious food for a healthy life is not obtainable. This is called food insecurity. Although this is harmful to any individual, it has major implications for children. Nutrition establishes

It was difficult to read that countless millions of federal dollars and many of our country's most successful efforts to halt the spread of childhood hunger and starvation have recently been withdrawn. And as a result, this problem of childhood hunger is not getting better but is actually getting worse. The most recent estimates compiled by the USDA in 1999 indicate that 36.2 million Americans live in food-insecure households, which means that their access to adequate and safe food is limited or uncertain. This too is very disturbing information.

Johnny gets home from school and makes his way straight to the kitchen. He is hungry and wants a quick, yummy snack, but when he opens up the fridge, there is nothing there. Now he has to wait until his mom brings home dinner at six o'clock. Can you imagine what it would be like to experience this every day? Unbelievable, right? Well, for many children and families, this is their reality. What could possibly cause this, what are the effects, and what are people doing to help these poor families? A large number of children do not have access to fresh and nutritious food, due to lack of supermarkets or living on food stamps. This lack of healthy food can affect childhood development immensely and can lead to obesity and other diseases. Many people are doing what they can to help, like opening community gardens, connecting farms, restaurants, and hotels with food banks, and organizing food drives.

Hunger is considered huge issue in the United States. When it comes to managing food sources, it is easy to get predications from children based on their immediate experiences of food rather than parental reports that rely mostly on the economic value such as mother, households etc.… because such predications for instance, cannot be more accurate as children express their felling just in daily basis. In the published article at San Diego State University on February 20.2017, "Children Are Aware of Food Insecurity and Take Responsibility for Managing Food Resources’’. Farm et al made extensive research about this important topic, and wrote surveys addressing their reports after the information they collected from the

Children in need of these nutrients can suffer from stunted growth never reaching potential height. Statistics have shown stunted growth children score significantly lower on intelligence tests than do normal children. Hunger interferes with physical, emotional and academic development. According to Freedom from Hunger, “more than 4 million children will die due to hunger related causes.” NASW(2016) shows an important connection food security and nutrition play in physical and mental health.

Most people in the United States today are unaware of the increasing numbers of child hunger throughout the country. Today, a staggering one in five kids struggle with hunger in our own country (Francisco 18). Not only does it affect their concentration and grades in school, but also their overall health. Over 1.02 billion people in the world are considered to be malnourished, and hunger and malnutrition is the leading cause of child deaths, which accounts for 6 million children each year (Nah and Chau). When most people think of children and families going hungry, they think that it is just a problem in other countries. However, there is an increasing amount of children and their families in North Carolina

Fifty-five percent of boys and sixty-six percent of girls miss out on at least one of the three meals were meant to have a day. Child poverty in the first three years of life is related to substandard nutritional status and poor motor skills; poverty is also associated with childhood obesity- as they get older, poor children are more likely to have chronic health problems, such as asthma and anaemia. (American Psychological Association, 2018).

A recent study conducted by the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP) recorded that nearly 8% of American children under the age of 12 years old continuously experience hunger each year. The project also concluded that childhood hunger could be related to a lack of resources. The study also examined the relationship between food insufficiencies found in low income school aged children and their abilities to mentally function. Alarmingly, the study found that hungry and at-risk for hunger children were twice as likely as children receiving adequate meals to be classified as having impaired functioning. The study also reported that Teachers noted increased levels of hyperactivity, absenteeism, and tardiness among the lower

In the state of Nevada 1 in 6 children are lacking access to enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle. In the summer the problem becomes much worse as more than 50% of school aged children lose access to the school lunches they rely upon. Often parents of these children must make major compromises to reduce food insecurity in their homes. That means feeding their children or paying other expenses vital for their family’s wellbeing. Although food insecurity is harmful to all it is especially harmful to children. Research has demonstrated that food insecurity is devastating to a child's cognitive development, health, and overall welfare. Child hunger is a huge societal issue that needs to be addressed. With the help of community partners

I suggest that food insecurities will not be ‘eliminated’ in quite some time. It is not possible because of an increase in population and reasons from poverty. However, many food banks try to find ways to provide for the homeless, the less fortunate and those experiencing difficulties with their wages to provide a stable balance in life and for them and their families. From the many problems associated with a food bank, this also affects children. With more and more people, not being able to provide for their family with a healthy income or an income at all, it is starting to impact the nutrition of a child. “The lack of a healthy and a regular diet for children can result in unwanted weight loss, fatigue, headaches, and more frequent illnesses” (Rodgers & Milewska 2007: p 75). Ways in which children are helped with the issue of a food

The U.S. department of agriculture defines hunger as a physiological state of discomfort resulting from a chronic shortage of food intake (Agnew, 2017). Most Americans would think that childhood hunger is something that lingers in the developing countries around the world, not in the classrooms of schools throughout the United States. But according to the nonprofit Share Our Strength No Kid Hungry campaign, one in six kids in America are living in households without consistent access to enough food (Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry, 2016). This statistic comes from surveys conducted by the campaign, who surveyed low income parents, students and teachers, from all across the country.