Consequences of Stress on Children’s Development

In Puerto Rico children that lives in public housing experiment high level of violence . My ex husband was a victim of this violence. Because of his strong family support(he uses to live with this grandmother) he grew up as a healthy child, but he was exposed to drugs and murders . He grew up to be a member of the US Forces and he is currently disables. Even though we are no  longer married I feel really proud of him because he became one of the exceptions of the children that live in public housing in Puerto Rico....

Violence also affects the countries of Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The war as reported in the article" Violence 'Affecting Afghan Children's Mental Health"affect 1 of every 5 children in these countries who  suffers  from anxiety and depression and 30% do not go to school.

To  access the article

http://www.rferl.org/content/violence_affecting_afghan_childrens_mental_health/24333449.html

Healthy Water

1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one-sixth of the world's population.
• 2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.
• Half of the world's hospital beds are filled with people suffering from water related illnesses.
• In the past 10 years, diarrhea has killed more children than all the people lost to armed conflict since World War II.
• Despite the size of the problem, we have made little progress against it.  There were only 181 million fewer people living without safe drinking water in rural settings in 2004 (899 million) vs. 1990 (1.08 billion)
• 50 percent of people on earth lack adequate sanitation. Another way to look at it: Nearly half of the world's population fails to receive the level of water services available 2,000 years ago to the citizens of ancient Rome.

Water is essential for living is really heart breaking to see how many children cant received the education they need or even dying because they don't have access to clean water or they need to help their families.

Water crisis is affecting the world and it is or responsibility to use it reasonable . As an educator and as a parent it is my responsibility to teach students the importance of maintaining our natural resources and to use them adequately .

For more information and facts you can  access the following websites :

http://www.globalissues.org/article/601/water-and-development#Thescaleofthewaterproblem

http://blueplanetnetwork.org/water/facts

My Birth Experience

  

I want to share with you these two pictures of my son Jeremiah Yahir who was born October 29 2006. He is my only son and the only grandson in the family. He came into my life went I thought I was no having more children. He is now 4 and my daughters are 16 and 13 years old. My 16 year old is a Senior and he just started Pre-K.

 My whole pregnancy was very different from my other two since I developed Gestational Diabetes and after delivery I developed Post Eclampsia. The labor lasted more than 24 hours and it was induced due to the diabetes, but my body reacted as if I was a first time mom.

One factor that affected my labor was the fact that the nurses failed to call my doctor in time since they didn’t believe that I was about to give birth. My son was delivered by a nurse form the emergency room; it was her first time …

The first picture he turned completely blue and unable to cry or breath , I was scared to death  I remember one of the nurses telling another nurse to put him on my chest and as soon as they did he started crying and it was fine …

Since I knew it was my last pregnancy and I didn’t have any pain medications, I decided to breastfeed. Now I have a healthy, lousy, smart, happy, little boy that we love to death. I believe that my decision of not using any drugs during the labor and the fact that I breastfed until he was 2 years old are the main reasons of him being sol healthy today…

I read an article form Bolivia that births take place in home but they prefer to go to the hospital but can’t due to financial strains, distance and other factors.

Others prefer to give birth at home because they feel more secure and don’t trust the doctors. I identified myself with the statement; I believe based on my experience that as in every profession there are authentic professionals devoted to their careers and others lack of that passion.

My doctor didn’t fail it was the nurses and their incompetency, their lack of professionalism that put my son and my life at risk. And this is the same fear that some women in Bolivia feel in regards to hospitals.

References

Otis, K. E., & Brett, J. A. (n.d.). Barriers to hospital births: Why do many Bolivian women give birth at home ?. Retrieved from journal.paho.org/uploads/1218139293.pdf