All children deserve a loving, safe, permanent, and nurturing environment. In the U.
S. Today many children do not have the family structure of two parent's. Family structure is something that is built; it is the frame work and foundation of a child's beginning; its interrelated parts that work together as a whole that makes the child develop. If parts are missing they cannot function properly or develop properly. The nurturing a child receives determines the adult they will become.Penn State or The State Penn? The reality that we are facing today is our children are the ones that buffer most from the breakdown in economy, divorce, teenage pregnancy, single parent's etc.
From birth children learn through conditioning whether it be classical or operant. What type of conditioning are we giving our children in the U. S.? I'd say very poor conditioning! What effects is the village having on the development of our children?What's going on with our village here in the U. S.? The Children's Defense Fund (CUFF) reported on the family structure here in the U.
S. Or should I say the lack of structure; below is a chart that details their findings as it relates to Black children and all other races. From the data presented below you can see that the Black children are in a world of hurt. They are damned from the beginning. Yes our children - it takes a village to raise a child.
Fewer than 40% of Black children live with two parent's; among White and Hispanics, Black children are twice as likely to live with neither parent and are 5% likely to with other relatives or non-relatives; more than 60% of Black and American Indian children are born out of wedlock; and 48% of Black teen girls get pregnant before the age of 20 at least once (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2012). Interesting fact not listed below - in 2005 there were 123 Black teen pregnancy of that 117 were from the state of Indiana, my hometown. Living Arrangements of Children 2009 All our children here in the U.S. Are affected by the declining lack of family structure, however, the numbers are so high for Black children that if we don't act fast it will be detrimental to our society as a whole. Family structure is important for children's physiological well-being and it affects their development.
According to Duane Alexander, M. D. , Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, "Child care clearly matters to children's development, but family characteristics ? and children's experiences within their families ? appear to matter more" (Bock, 2006).From birth newborns are able to imitate the behavior of others and this is something that helps them to develop social relationships and social competence, how can they imitate someone that's not there? These broken family structures affects children's cognitive development, communication development, emotional development, self awareness development, and sociable development Just to name a few. Family structure is the foundation of who they will become, their personality, tenet temperament, tenet contractor. I Nell environment nurtures want they will develop into.
What roll does this data play?The data provided by CUFF and other creditable sources alerts us to where we need to begin to make changes. It prepares us for the influx of patients that will need counseling due to broken family structures. It helps us to identify problems and know how to treat them in order to assist these children to have a better quality of life. It lets us know where we need to be directing our resources. It educates us so that we may educate others on preventive measure to put in place to ensure that children or born in to good family structured homes - with two loving parent's.
In conclusion the home children grow up in is what their normal is - if the family structure is a broken home the children will grow up likely to have a broken home as well if they don't break the cycle. Children did not ask to be born; therefore we must do everything in our power to ensure that they have all the opportunities to develop in a positive, loving, nurturing environment.
